November 3, 2023

Today's Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 14:1-2, 22-23, 14:18-15:15, Matthew 13:24-43

We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:12)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Paul throws this verse in at the end of telling everyone how great a job he and his fellow pastors have done.  I can hardly read it. I feel guilty.  I am guilty.  I have not worked as hard, walked as purely, or served as well.  When I look at my works, I have not walked in a manner worthy of God.  Lord have mercy.  Not just on me, but on the people I’ve been charged with caring for.  

It’s so easy to mark our failures in the face of other’s success.  It’s not even jealousy.  It’s shame.  It’s compounded when I read Paul’s words.  My sins didn’t just hurt me and the people around me.  They hurt the witness of Christ.  You hear it everywhere.  The world loves our hypocrisy. We believe in a Law we don’t walk in.  We love commandments we break daily.  They imagine our sin proves our faith wrong because we are not by our works what God commands us to be.  But we are what God commands us to be by His works.  He forgives our hypocrisy.  He forgives my sins and yours.  

And this is a greater witness to the power of our religion than me being a good person.  I really still wish I was. I really still wish I did better, and I really do want to do better.  But the walk in a manner worthy of God isn’t about your steps. It’s you being carried home by the Good Shepherd who seeks those who have strayed.  He daily seeks us in our rebellion. Daily gathers us and carries us home in mercy.  That’s actually the bigger miracle.  That God would forgive me. I hope that’s what I can be known as. I hope that’s the witness. Jesus forgives sinners, of which I am numbered.  God be praised.

When it comes to Christian witness, let it be the Law and the Gospel, and not just the Law.  Let it be not our works, but Christ’s mercy.  None of us can by our own works be worthy of God.  All of us, by our Baptism, are worthy already.  We walk as we have been made to be.  Redeemed.  Faith in Jesus goes to Jesus.  We seek the Lord in His mercy when we have failed to live up to the standards of the Law.  It isn’t just a place God covers your shame.  It is a place He demonstrates the worthiness of our faith.  The worthiness of His name.  We have a God who forgives sinners, and invites more to receive the same. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in love He sought me  And on His shoulder gently laid  And home rejoicing brought me (LSB 709:3).

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.