In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We Christians are not at home in this world. That’s what Saint Peter is getting at in our Epistle lesson today from 1 Peter chapter 2 when he tells us that we are sojourners and exiles. A sojourner is someone who is on a journey away from their home, and an exile is someone who has been temporarily removed from their home. Our true home, of course, is in heaven. It’s not the 2000 square foot ranch we have here in Denver Iowa, nor is it the 4-bedroom farmhouse out in the country. It’s the place in our Father’s house, which Christ prepared for us through His death and resurrection. It’s eternal life with Jesus and all of His saints in glory, an inheritance that we receive through faith alone. That’s where we belong. And that’s where we’re trying to go.

And the point of our reading this morning is how we’re supposed to live on the way there. Given the fact that heaven is our home, and that this earthly life is not all that there is, but only a temporary trip and a momentary journey towards our true destination, what does that mean for us Christians here and now? We get three different things in our reading.

First, Saint Peter reminds us that we should abstain from the passions of our flesh and not indulge our sinful desires. As he writes in verse 11 of our text, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” 

How do most people think about their life here in this world? Even if they don’t say it out loud, they act as if the point of it is simply to enjoy yourself as much as possible. They give little thought to the reality that someday their life will come to an end and that no matter what they’ll have to face God’s judgment. Instead of asking questions like, “what must I do to be saved,” they assume that everyone goes to a better place when they die anyway, so what’s even the point? That’s why they ignore the cries of their conscience and don’t pay any attention to God’s Word. It’s why they don’t make a habit of regularly going to Church to receive God’s forgivness, and barely ever come to receive the Sacrament. It’s why they live in their sin on purpose and do things that the Bible expressly forbids without any remorse at all. They devote themselves to money, work, fame, and pleasure, because, in their mind, that’s what this life is all about. 

But, in the end, that sort of attitude leads to their eternal ruin. And the same would be true for us if we lived in the way that they did too. That’s why Saint Peter tells us in our text this morning that we need to abstain from the passions of our flesh which wage war against our soul. You and I, and every baptized believer in Christ, is engaged in an ongoing spiritual struggle that isn’t over until the day we die. It’s the struggle between what’s called our “Old Adam” and the “New Man.” Our “Old Adam” is the fallen and sinful nature that we’ve inherited from our first parents Adam and Eve. Elsewhere in the Bible, like in this passage from 1 Peter 2, it’s referred to as the “flesh.” Even after we become Christians, and the Holy Spirit enters into our hearts, giving us the gift of faith, our flesh continues to cling to us and refuses to go away entirely. We have to keep on putting it death over and over again so that it doesn’t kill us instead and destroy our faith in the process.

If you remember, that’s exactly what the Catechism teaches us in the fourth part on Baptism. I know that we love to talk about how Baptism forgives us of our sins, and that’s true, but what else is our Baptism for? What does such baptizing with water indicate? “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” The way that you put your Old Adam to death, so that he doesn’t kill you and destroy your faith, is by repenting of your sins and looking to Christ for forgivness. We don’t just do that one time. We have to do that all of the time. Otherwise, if we give into our passions, and follow them wherever they lead, they’ll lead us away from Jesus and off the narrow path that leads to heaven. If we try to build a permanent residence here in this world by doing whatever feels best to us in the moment, forgetting that everything in this world is ultimately passing away, then we risk the possibility of passing away along with it. 

So, we’re called to conduct ourselves as if we aren’t really at home here, and not lose sight of the real goal. When the cares and pleasures of this life pull our attention away from what actually matters, we listen to God’s Word and let it pull us back of what truly does. We remember that nothing in this life, no matter how enjoyable or satisfying it may seem, lasts forever, but thank God, because none of it can even begin to compare to what He has prepared for us in heaven. 

Next, Saint Peter tells us that beacuse we are not at home in this world we should also be careful give a good witness to unbelievers. As he writes in verse 12 of our text, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” This is almost identical to what Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew chapter 5. “In the same way,” Christ says, “let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

One of the primary reasons why God keeps us in this world as long as He does, and doesn’t just take us out of it immediately, is for the sake of our neighbor. It’s so that others, who don’t yet know the Gospel like we do, would be able to hear about it and come to faith as we have. And yet, nothing stops people from wanting to listen to the Gospel more than when false Christians give it a bad name through their sinful behavior. 

This, of course, can happen in a lot of different ways, but think about the example that Saint Peter uses in our text. He singles out as particularly important how we treat those in authority. Peter says, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.”

Yes, the ultimate authority in our life is God. We are citizens of heaven above, and our first allegiance always belongs to Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, when earthly authorities try and get us to disobey God’s Word, we don’t not have to obey them in that specific matter. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to listen to them at all. It doesn’t mean that we can disrespect them, and just do whatever we want instead. In every matter that is not sinful, even if we don’t like it, or think its dumb, we’re called upon to obey it. Even though we are free in Christ, as Saint Peter says, we don’t use our freedom as an excuse to do evil things, but live as servants of God.

When those who bear the name of Christ act as if this privilege entitles them to ignore those in authority, they end up teaching others to despise all authority, even the authority of God. This exact thing has happened in our time with words like “submission.” Because of certain ideologies, like the feminist movement, which taught people to hate that word and think it’s always bad, nowadays many people don’t even like it when they hear it in the Bible. And yet, submitting to Jesus, and letting Him be in charge is the most wonderful thing that there is. It literally means allowing Him to serve you with the forgivness of your sins and lead you to heaven. 

So, we lead others to Christ, and prepare them for the day of His visitation, when we show respect to those in authority, and give the word “authority” a good name. We do it when we obey our earthly leaders, even the ones we don’t like, and willingly submit to them, as long as they don’t ask us to violate our allegiance to God. Then we give a good witness to the world, and don’t put a stumbling in front of them believing the Gospel. In fact, we get them ready to listen to the Gospel, and give ourselves more opportunities to preach it. We represent our homeland well and serve as good ambassadors of our true King.

And, finally, the fact that we are sojourners and exiles here on earth, and that heaven is our true home, also teaches us to patiently bear our cross, and willing accept any suffering that we might experience along on the way. As Saint Peter also writes in our text this morning, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.”

Just like any trip you go on, as we journey through this life towards our eternal dwelling with Christ, we can expect to face certain things before we get there. That’s what happens every time that you travel. Who has ever been away from their home for a long period of time and not run into something difficult or challenging on the road? We should expect nothing different while we’re traveling through this fallen and sinful world.

And yet, we can also use that truth to comfort ourselves along the way. If we have to deal with difficult or unpleasant people who makes our life bitter and hard, we can remember that that’s how it goes sometimes when you travel. Sometimes you have to put up with an unfriendly host, who doesn’t always treat you very kindly. But we have a kind Father waiting for us above, who’s mercies are new every morning, and who’s steadfast love never comes to an end. Yes, right now, it’s like we’re staying at a cheap hotel in a dangerous part of town. But soon, we’ll be with Christ in paradise, and the former things will be forgotten.

If we see other people living securly in the world, having what look like a good time in life, while nothing seems to be going our way, then we can encourage ourselves with the truth that not every trip is the same. Sometimes you coast down the road at 70 miles an hour, and at other times you have to wait in traffic at a dead stop. But eventually the cars start moving again, and you don’t have to sit there forever. Regardless of how long we have to wait, our wait will be worth it. Eternal life in heaven isn’t that far away, and we’ll have plenty of time to rest once we get there.  

And if we experience so much temptation in this world that we think we can’t bear it any longer, we can take heart that we are not on this journey alone. Just as Christ was with His disciples in the boat during the raging storm, He is with us in the boat of His Church too. Our Great Captain is still at the helm, and He promises never leave us or forsake us. In His holy Word and blessed Sacraments, He gives us forgivness for all of our sins, and makes a sure and certain pledge of our salvation. No matter what we suffer with, or who we suffer from, we know that Jesus suffered the true price for our sins on the cross already, so we can suffer anything that we need to. God wont forsake us in our suffering, but will even use it to bring us closer to Him.

We Christians are not at home in the world. We are sojourners and exiles on our way to heaven. That simple truth should change the way that we live and act here and now. For one, it should compel us to abstain from the passions of the flesh and not indulge our sinful nature. Since Jesus has prepared for us a place in our Father’s house, we should put everything in our life in the right place too. We shouldn’t live in the moment, as so many people do, but we should live for that one moment when we see Christ face to face in glory. Likewise, we should give a good witness to our neighbor. God has allowed us to stay in this world a little while longer not for the sake of serving ourselves, but for serving others and bringing them to Christ. One of the ways that we do that is by obeying those in authority over us and teaching them that authority is a good gift that comes from God. It’s not degrading to submit to someone else, that’s exactly what we do as Christians with Jesus, because He gives us everlasting life. And no matter how hard our life is at times, it won’t last that way forever. If we cling to the Lord and His promises, forsaking our own righteousness, and trusting in His alone, then regardless of how our journey went, and the end of it we will hear, “Welcome home, though good and faithful servant.” In Jesus’ Name.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” That’s what Jesus says about Himself in our Gospel lesson today from John chapter 10, and with these words our Lord introduces us to what is without a doubt the most beloved metaphor for His relationship to the Church in the whole Bible. Christ is the Shepherd, and we, His Christians, and the sheep.

The reason why people love this illustration so much, and rightly so, is because it’s easy to understand. As Martin Luther once said in the Smalcald Articles, “[Even] a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.” My little kids might not be able to explain you the difference between consubstantiation and transubstantiation, but they can still tell you who belongs to Jesus and who doesn’t. It’s the believers. It’s those who actually trust in Christ and look to Him for forgiveness.

We hear things all of the time nowadays about who the true Church and where you find it. One of the favorite talking points of Roman Catholics, and you see this all over the internet, is that they’re the Church that Jesus founded. Since they can trace the ordination of their priests back to the time of the Apostles, or so they say, the claim is that this somehow automatically validates everything that they say and do. It proves the legitimacy of their doctrine. And yet, you don’t have to be an expert in the Bible to know that many of the things that they teach aren’t in it. What about purgatory and the idea that after you die you have to go to a place of cleansing in order to be made holy enough to enter into God’s presence? Where is that in the Scriptures? And doesn’t that completely undermine what the Bible actually says about the death of Jesus? Doesn’t God’s Word tell us clearly that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all of our sin? So, why on earth would we need to be cleansed from it even more, and even if we did, how on earth could our own suffering ever do that? It’s ridiculous.

Or what about praying to the saints, and sacrificing the Mass on behalf of those who are already dead? Sure, God’s Word does suggest to us that those in heaven might pray for us, but where does it ever say that because of that we should pray to them? The Bible tells us to pray to Christ alone. It says that there’s one Mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. And who is Communion for? Is that gift for people who can’t even eat it and drink it anymore because they’re already dead? Of course, not! It’s for the living, so that when they die, they can die in Christ and go to heaven.

Just because a certain denomination looks old, and does things that have the appearance of ancient tradition, that doesn’t mean that those traditions are right. That’s the same dumb argument that the Pharisees made in the Bible. They opposed the Ministry of Jesus because they said that their Rabbis from the past had always been doing things their way. They appealed even to Moses and the Prophets, as if the Scriptures were on their side, even though they ignored large portions of them. And the same thing is true today. We don’t find the true Church just by looking for things that look old, we do it by listening to the voice of our Good Shepherd. We follow after God’s Word, and derive our beliefs from clear Biblical teaching. Human traditions, and ancient ceremonies, may be helpful to remind us of God’s Word, but when they get in the way of it, we need to get rid of them. We embrace them only insofar as they actually point people to Jesus, because He is the Good Shepherd, and no one, and nothing else.

Besides helping us see who the real Church is, the illustration of a Shepherd watching over His sheep is also good for teaching us about sin and how the grace of God works. If you know anything about sheep, you know that they are not very bright animals. Lots of times they wander away from the flock and put themselves in danger. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it before, but a few years ago there was a great video going around online of a shepherd trying to pull one of his sheep out from a crack in the ground. He’s literally yanking on its back legs, but the dumb thing keeps going further and further into the hole. And when he finally pulls it out, what does it immediately do? It takes two hops and jumps right back into the same crack.

We laugh, but that is a very accurate depiction of our sinful condition. In fact, our sinful condition is much worse. Sheep are animals that don’t have the use of reason. They can’t think and talk like we can, and yet, what have we done with all of our “big brains?” The prophet Isaiah tells us, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned – every one – to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Even though God made us to be a people of his pasture and the sheep of His hand, and gave us special privileges that were given to no other creature in all creation, we didn’t use those gifts in the right way. We didn’t use them to follow His Word; we used them to turn away from it. Just like Adam and Eve before us, we too thought that we knew better than God did, and went on our own way instead. We jumped over the fence of His holy commandments, thinking that the grass would be greener on the other side, and instead, we found ourselves on the edge of cliff, hanging over the abyss of hell. We wandered so far away from the herd, that we could never find our way back. And the devil, that wicked wolf, who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, almost had us completely consumed in his jaws before Christ came along and pried us loose. 

As the prophet Amos says in Amos chapter 3, “As the Shepherd rips a pair of knees or a piece of an ear out of the loin’s mouth, so also shall the children of Israel be safely ripped away.” That’s what Jesus, our Good Shepherd did for us, but He didn’t do it in the way you’d think he would. Christ didn’t overcome the devil, and deliver us from our sin, by overpowering him physically. He did it by taking our place and dying in our stead. Jesus defeated our enemies, by letting our enemies attack him instead of us. He became a sheep Himself, the Lamb of God, in order to take away the sins of the world. As Christ tells us in our Gospel lesson, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” This is what distinguishes Jesus from every other false god and every other false shepherd that there is. It’s what makes Him different than the hired hand. He is the only one who can save us.

Yes, all religions claim some sort of salvation for their followers. The Buddhist’s teach about Nirvana. The Hindu’s talk about reincarnation. The Jews say they’ll be an afterlife. And the Muslims make their claims about terrorists getting a bunch of virgins. But for all the differences among those different religions, one thing is the same in them all. They way that you get to have whatever their version of heaven is, is through the way that you live your life. It’s through your own good works and your own good deeds, whatever those works and deeds might be. But that’s not how it is with Jesus. Our good shepherd, the Good Shepherd, doesn’t deliver His sheep by showing them the way to do it themselves. He knows His sheep. He knows that no matter what He showed them, they could never do it on their own. So, He does it on His own. Christ takes care of every part of what’s needed for our salvation so that we can have complete and total confidence in it. He proves His mercy and love to us, by saving us while we were still sinners. He gives us what we don’t deserve.

We don’t stop being sheep once we become Christians. On the one hand, that means we’re still helpless little lambs. We don’t stop falling into sin and getting ourselves into trouble just because we’ve been converted. That’s not an excuse to sin on purpose, but it is just the plain truth of how things go. Despite our best intentions and efforts, we still wander into danger and make all kinds of bad decisions. Time and time again, we hop over the fence, and do the same stupid things over and over. Our Old Adam clings to us to the day that we die, and we never get rid of him until this life is over.

But that’s why we listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd, and put of faith in Jesus. We do that because of what He’s already done for us and what continues to do for us even now. Christ not only paid the price for our sins once and for all, and went out and found us when we were doomed and lost, but He keeps on gathering us to Himself through His Word and Sacraments. By the preaching of His Law and Gospel, He leads us away from our sins to the green pastures of the Church where He feeds our souls with the forgivness that we need to be healed. As King David says in Psalm 23, he leads us in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake and prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Jesus gives us His holy Body and precious Blood for true food and true drink, so that we would have no doubts that He is ours and we are His. Surely, His goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives, and because of it, we know that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

That’s what Jesus does for His flock. That’s what He promises to those who believe in Him. Faith in Jesus is what makes you part of the Church. It’s the only that that does that. It’s also the only thing that saves. Not because faith is something special on its own, but because faith looks to Christ. Faith relies on the work of Jesus and Jesus is the One who does the saving. Christ is the Shepherd and we are His sheep. And there’s nothing better to be than that. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

By far one of the most controversial things that we do in the Lutheran Church is what happens at the beginning of our Communion services. The pastor stands in front of the congregation and, after making confession with them, he turns around and says, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you all of your sins.” Now, this might not be something that you see as that big of a deal, probably because you’re used to it, but I assure you, that in other Christian circles, especially among other Protestants, it very much is. In fact, sometimes when people hear it for the first time while they’re visiting us, they get so offended that they never want to come back. I can still remember a conversation I had with a relative of mine once about why he left the Lutheran Church. The very first thing that he pointed to was the fact that our pastors say these words in front of the congregation. Now, he wasn’t mad about the idea that they can announce God’s forgiveness in a general way, like “Jesus died for your sins,” or “God loves you,” but what ticked him off was the specific language of “I forgive you.” His argument, which is always the same one that you hear, is that only God can forgive sins, so why is the pastor doing that? Who is he making himself out to be? Does this guy think he’s God, or something? Shame on him! And shame on all the Lutherans! They should have left their Roman popery back in the 16th century where it belongs.

So, here’s what we’re going to do in today’s sermon. First, I’m going to a give a biblical defense of this practice based primarily off of our Gospel lesson from John chapter 20, which, by the way, is the main place we get it from. And then I’m also going to explain a few things about confession in general, and how we still offer private confession in our church as well. Because that’s the other thing that going on here. Besides people not understanding why the pastor says “I forgive you” in front of the whole congregation, lots of people don’t even know that you can go to the pastor individually and he’ll hear your confession and forgive your sins there too. I’ve encountered life-long Lutherans who didn’t even know that we still practice private confession and absolution. They thought that was just a Catholic thing. One time, I had a kid in Confirmation class who told me that the reason why he wanted to be Lutheran and not Catholic was precisely because he didn’t ever want to have confess his sins to some priest. Yikes! Well, what about the thing that we literally just said in the Catechism like 5 minutes ago? “What sins should we confess?” Answer: “Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer; but before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts.” Or here’s something else. Turn with me real fast to page 292 in the hymnal. What’s it’s say there right at the top of that page? “Individual Confession and Absolution.” Folks, this is not just some Catholic thing. We got rid of a lot of junk during the Reformation, but we didn’t get rid of this. At least, we didn’t get rid of the good parts of it.

So, again, those are the two things we’re going to deal with in this morning’s sermon. How come our pastors say “I forgive you,” and what are the benefits of private confession and absolution? 

The reason why our pastors use the words, “I forgive you,” when they absolve the congregation, instead of just pronouncing a general statement of forgivness, is actually pretty simple. It’s because that’s what Jesus says. On the same day that our Lord rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples in the Upper Room and told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Notice the language that Jesus used. It’s the same language that our pastors use today. 

Now, sometimes you’ll hear people object to this idea by saying that when Christ first spoke these words from our text, He was only saying them in references to the Apostles. It’s okay for Peter, James, and John, to say “I forgive you,” and for that to count before God in heaven, but it’s not okay for your regular pastor to do it. And certainly, we would agree that there are some differences between our pastors today and the twelve Apostles. For one, the Apostles had an immediate Call from Jesus. That means that Christ Called them directly to their Office without any involvement or participation from anyone else. He just said, “Follow me,” and they did. That’s not how it works today. Nowadays, as we read in Titus chapter one, God Calls men into the Ministry through the mediation of the Church. “Appoint men in every place,” Saint Paul says. Or here’s another one. Some of the Apostles were also inspired to write down the Scriptures for us. God the Holy Spirit communicated to them in a special way so that they could provide us with the Bible that we have now. Our pastors obviously don’t do that.

But just because they aren’t inspired to write Biblical texts anymore, or that they don’t have an immediate Call from Jesus, that doesn’t mean that they don’t share in the same Ministry of preaching the Gospel. Saying that only the original Apostles can forgive sins in Jesus’ Name, is like arguing that only the Apostles can do baptisms and give Communion. What was the original audience present when Christ instituted the Sacrament of the Altar and gave us the formula for Christian Baptism? Both times it was only the Apostles. And yet, anyone with a brain who reads the Bible can recognize that Jesus wanted those Sacraments to continue on in the Church today. So, why is it any different when it comes to proclaiming the forgiveness of sins?

It's not. In fact, I’ll show you three other places from the Bible that prove it. First, you’ve got what happened in Corinth with the man who was living in adultery. After that guy repented, here’s what Saint Paul said to them, “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ.” The guy in Corinth didn’t do anything to Saint Paul himself. Paul wasn’t the one he committed adultery against. And yet, Paul still talks about how he forgave him. That’s because the forgivness that comes from the Church through its pastors is the same forgiveness that comes from Jesus. God speaks to us by means of them. Confession and absolution is just one of the means of grace.

Or think about the account when Jesus healed the paralytic man. What were the Pharisees mad at our Lord for doing that day? They weren’t mad at Him for healing the guy, at least not this time, they were mad that He forgave him of his sins. They literally said the exact same thing that people still say now, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But then what does it tell us at the end of that text? It says that the people that saw it glorified God “who had given such authority to men.” Does God still give such authority to men? Is He still present with His Church today, and does He still speak to us now? Of course, He does! And one of the ways that He does is through the Called and Ordained servant of the Word.

Finally, look at Matthew chapter 18. That’s the place where Jesus tells the Church how to deal with unrepentant sinners. He says, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault between you and him alone.” Then, and I’m paraphing here, if he doesn’t listen to you, take some other people along, and if he doesn’t listen to them, bring it before the Church. And if he doesn’t listen to the Church, treat him like a gentile or a tax collector. For truly I say to you, “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” 

It's not like the pastor who says “I forgive you” is giving out his own forgiveness. We’ve never taught that. It’s not his forgivness, its God’s. But the forgiveness that comes from God, doesn’t come to us directly. Even when we ask for it in prayer, it’s not like we should expect to hear a voice from heaven saying that we have it. But God in heaven does send us people here on earth so we can know it and believe it. As Jesus also says in our reading today, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” God sends us our pastors. They’re not better than the people they serve. They’re not holier than the people they serve. But they do serve God’s gift to the people so that they can have the assurance of the forgiveness of their sins. And when they, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you of all of your sins,” Jesus is saying it too. That’s why they use the that language. It’s to show how Christ is present through the Ministry. It’s one of the ways that He still comes among us to gives us the forgiveness that He purchased on the cross.

Now, I know that was a little bit long, but bear with me, because I do also want so say a few things about the practice of private confession and absolution as well since these two things are related. Again, as I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, we Lutherans got rid of a bunch of junk during the time of Reformation. But one of the things that we actually kept was the practice of going to the pastor privately to confess our sins and hear the absolution. I already gave you those quotes from the Catechism and showed you where it’s at in the hymnal, but here’s another one from the Augsburg Confession: “Our churches teach that private Absolution should be retained in the churches, although the listing of sins is not necessary for Confession. For according to the Psalm, it is impossible. ‘Who can discern his errors.”

The problem with private confession and absolution wasn’t that the Catholics did it, it was that they gave the impression that you had to do it, and that you couldn’t be forgiven unless you literally listed out all of your sins. But no one could ever do that! That’s what Kind David means in Psalm 19 when he asks, “Who can discern his errors?” If we can’t have God’s forgivness until we literally say all of our sins out loud, then we’re never going to be able to get it. Because we commit too many sins! 

But that isn’t the purpose of private confession and absolution. It’s not about securing your forgivness through the act of confessing, or saying every single bad thing that you’ve ever done out loud, it’s about people who are especially troubled by certain sins having an avenue to get special comfort for them. The devil is a jerk! He preys upon our solitude and he wants to make us think that we’re all alone. He tries to get us to believe that our sins are uniquely bad, and that there’s no way we could ever have forgivness for them. Yes, we can get it through reading the Bible. And we can have it in corporate confession and through taking the Lord’s Supper too. But since other people get those things along with us, and we don’t take them alone, sometimes Satan can tempt us to doubt that they are really for us all, but there only for the other people. He can isolate our guiltily conscience so that we can’t have any peace.

And so, God gives us a place where we can go to hear His Word directly applied to us so that there’s no mistaking who His forgivness is for. We can go to the pastor. We can call him on the phone and set up an appointment with him in his office. Then we can tell him the sins that are bothering us, and he’ll forgive us for them in Jesus’ Name. He also promises never to speak of those sins again. All of our pastors, including myself, vowed to do that at our Ordination. Under the threat of being kicked out of the Ministry, and no longer being able ever to be pastors again, we said that we would never divulge the sins that had been confessed to us. Since Christ buried them in His grave when He died, they die in our ears too, and we bever bring them up again. We don’t use them as examples in sermons. We don’t ask you about them later. We forgive them and move on.

If you got something that’s eating you alive, and you need to get it off your chest, that’s what private confession is all about. Yes, you’ll have to get over the fear of telling someone else your sins. But I can tell you from personal experience, that that’s nothing compared to the relief of hearing God’s absolution for no one but you. And yes, for some reason there’s the idea that its embarrassing to be seen going to talk to your pastor to make confession. But you should be no more embarrassed by that than you are to go to Communion. Why do we go to Communion? What is every single person saying about him or herself when they walk up to the rail to take the Sacrament? They’re saying that they got some sins that need forgiving. The same is true when someone goes to Confession.

The main point of today’s sermon is that God wants those who are troubled by their sins and want to do better to be absolutely certain that they have the forgivness for them in Jesus Christ. That’s why the pastor says, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you” and that’s why we still offer private confession for those who want it. It isn’t for the sake the confession. It’s for the sake of the absolution! It’s so that faith, which is often a weak and feeble thing, no bigger than mustard seed, can be made strong and confident in the redeeming work of Christ. It’s so that just like those disciples, who once cowered in fear, but became glad when they saw the risen Lord, we can be glad too, and be certain once and for all that we really do have peace with God in heaven. We have it because Jesus paid for it. We have it because His Word proclaims it. And we have it because His pastor’s say it. As our Lord once said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you,” and “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.