The Second Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7

In Christ Jesus, who calls us to live not for ourselves, but to live through Him and for Him, dear fellow redeemed:

When the Apostle Paul traveled through parts of Asia and Europe on his three missionary journeys, he visited cities and towns that were mostly pagan in their culture. Paul visited some Jewish synagogues in these places, but much of his work was conducted among the pagan Gentiles. These people were polytheistic—they worshiped many gods. And although they had the moral law of the true God imprinted on their hearts, they promoted and engaged in many things that God calls evil.

One of the major problems Paul encountered was a porneia problem. He found it in Rome, he found it in Corinth, he found it in Galatia, he found it in Ephesus, he found it in Colossae, he found it in Thessalonica. We know he found it in these places because he wrote letters to the Christian congregations warning them about this.

The porneia problem that Paul wrote to them about includes every kind of unchastity, prostitution, and fornication. Our word “pornography” is related to this word. In today’s reading, porneia is translated as “sexual immorality,” which encompasses any sexual activity outside the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman.

Paul wrote that it is God’s will “that you abstain from sexual immorality.” This is a completely different message than the one we hear from society and the one our children and grandchildren are taught in public schools. We almost never hear about abstinence any more. What we hear about now is primarily two things: “always use protection” and “make sure there is consent.” These are seen as the most important standards—protection and consent.

The messaging is that protection equals safety. But what these false prophets in our society will not tell you is that sex is never “safe.” It involves the most intimate parts of a person—not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Sex always has consequences. Not all those consequences are bad, but sex is nothing to enter into lightly or casually. And if “consent” is all that is needed for sexual activity, then we are looking at a future where marriage and family as we know it will no longer exist, or it will be found only on the fringes among small groups of people.

In many respects, the permissive culture of today is a lot like the culture Paul encountered. If Paul were here today, how would he address these issues? He would say today what he said two thousand years ago, “that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.” And, “that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” He would tell us to live as Jesus taught us to live, that the way we live should look different than the way non-Christians live.

But why focus on this porneia problem in particular? What about the people who lie and cheat, what about murderers and thieves, what about the rich and the greedy who care nothing for the poor? Paul wrote plenty about these sins too. But to think that sexual sin between consenting individuals is not as bad as sins that cause harm to others is not right. In fact, the Bible describes sexual sin as causing the deepest kind of harm. 1 Corinthians 6 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (v. 18).

These are hard words. It is hard for me to say them, and it may be hard for you to hear them. We think of friends who are living in sin, or siblings or children or grandchildren. What can we say to them? We don’t want to offend them! But where will your closest loved ones hear the truth if they don’t hear it from you? You can send them to the pastor and pray that the meeting goes well. What happens if they don’t like what they hear? Then things may be peaceful with you, but not so peaceful with the church.

Sometimes we feel like we can’t speak up about these things because of the stains on our own past. If we warn others about sins that we freely pursued ourselves, doesn’t that make us hypocrites? The reality is this: not one of us here is unstained by sin. That puts us all in the same boat. Maybe we have not acted on all our sinful desires, but we have had the sinful desires. Jesus says that looking at someone with lustful intent is committing adultery in the heart (Mat. 5:28).

Every single one of us has sinned. Every single one of us deserves to feel the wrath of God for our sin. Every single one of us deserves to suffer in hell eternally. None of us should think we are better because we have not committed the outward sins that others have. Just as dangerous as pursuing unrighteous activities, is taking pride in our self-righteousness.

The right approach is illustrated for us by the Gentile woman in today’s Gospel reading (Mat. 15:21-28). She was not “like the Gentiles who do not know God,” who are called out in today’s Epistle lesson. It is clear that this woman had a firm faith in God the Father and in Jesus as His Son in the flesh. She came to Jesus with a problem—her daughter was severely oppressed by a demon. But she did not come with reasons why Jesus should help her. She did not say, “I am a good woman,” or “I do nice things for my neighbors,” or “everyone agrees that I don’t deserve this trouble.”

She simply said this, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.” Receiving mercy has nothing to do with having the right qualities or being deserving. Mercy has to come from outside us, from someone who is not obligated to do what we want. And for a while, it seemed like Jesus did not want to help the woman. First He ignored her. Then He told His disciples that He was sent “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then when the woman knelt down right in front of Him begging for mercy, He said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Maybe that is how you feel when thinking about your sins, as no better than a mangy dog. You might feel a lot of guilt for what you have done in your past, things you would be ashamed for others to know. How can you expect mercy and forgiveness from God, when you have broken His Law?

Listen again to the woman, “Yes, Lord. As You say, it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. I don’t deserve the children’s bread. I am a Gentile, not an Israelite. I don’t deserve anything good from You. But I trust in You. I trust that You are good and faithful and true. I will gladly be called a dog, if only You will give me some crumbs of Your grace. For dogs are always happy to “eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

This is what Jesus calls a great faith. It was not that the woman was better than others, or that she had sinned less. It was that she put all her confidence and trust in the mercy and grace of God. That is what we do with our own guilty conscience. We bring our sins before God in repentance and leave it to Him to wash us clean.

He promises to do this. Jesus went to the cross with all our sins, including our sins of living contrary to His will, and our sins of failing to warn others of the same temptations. Jesus died for these sins. He did have mercy upon us. Because of what Jesus has done, God the Father forgives us every stain and blemish on our record, and He sees us as though we have never done, said, or thought anything wrong.

To confirm us and strengthen us in this forgiveness and righteousness of His Son, He invites us to partake of the holy means of grace. Through the Word and Sacraments, Jesus comes to us to cleanse us from our sin and apply His holiness to us. He takes from us what is ours—our sin and guilt—and He gives us what is His.

This is how we are sanctified. We are drawn closer to our holy Savior Jesus by the power and work of the Holy Spirit and are strengthened in the faith to both say and do what is right. But the less we prioritize our Lord’s Word and Sacraments, the more we are drawn to the ways of the world, and the harder it is to see our own sin.

We must never forget how weak we are. Whatever immorality and impurity we see around us is rooted in our own heart. Jesus makes this clear. He says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Mat. 15:19-20). And His holy blood and righteousness applied through the Word, these are what sanctify a person.

Jesus suffered and died for you to make you His own. He is not ashamed to know your past. He forgives all this sin, and He calls you to join Him in His kingdom of holiness when your short time on this earth comes to an end. Whatever may be said about who you were, through Jesus you are God’s holy and beloved child. As St. Paul wrote in another letter, though you may have once engaged in many unrighteous things, “you were washed [baptized], you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co. 6:11).

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from 15 century French Gothic manuscript painting)