LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 72

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“And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little
faith?’ Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was a great calm” (Matt. 8:26).

“Father, I’m not worthy. Father, I’ve squandered it all. I’m
not worthy to be your son. Let me be the hired hand,” he
says.

What’s the pig’s slop we slurp up? Oh, Prodigal Church! A
prodigal is a “squanderer.” How we sin and squander
relationships, squander lives in the parish, squander
ministries, squander families, squander church families,
squander opportunities to share Christ. How we worry
and fret as if this church were our boat, and Jesus were not
within it.

The father says, “Kill the fatted calf. Get the ring. Get the
sandals. Let’s get the party started. Let’s get the party
started.”

“For all the people wept as they heard the words of the
Law.”
But “there was a man who had two sons. And the younger
of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of
property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his
property between them. Not many days later, the younger
son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far
country, and there he squandered his property in reckless
living” (Luke 15:11–13).
Squander — diaskorpizo. Literally, “sow your wild oats.”
Like the seed is cast about, he squandered his sustenance.
One church father used this word to mean “a madness
that knows no bounds.”
How much time and energy do we squander in church, in
family, in Synod on “a madness that knows no bounds”?
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us.” “If your brother sins against you, go
and tell him his fault” (Matt. 18:15).
“And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose
in that country.” God always has His way of reminding us
of who’s in charge and who brings whom to their knees.
“And he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself
out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him
into his fields to feed pigs.” A Jewish kid feeding pigs!
“And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs
ate, and no one gave him anything.”
And then the text says, “But … he came to himself.” This is
not working! He said, “How many of my father’s hired
servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here
… . I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. …
Treat me as one of your hired servants.’” And he rose and
came to his father.
And then, in one of the greatest sentences in the entire
Bible, the greatest Gospel sentence in all of Luke, I believe:
“And seeing him far off, the father ἐσπλαγχνίσθη
(esplanksnisthey) had deep compassion on him. And
running (participle), and running, he fell on his trachela,”
the text says, “and started καταφιλέω (kataphaleo) —
kissing him over and over again” (own translation).
72 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION

My friends, you are the prodigal. I am the prodigal. We are
the prodigal Synod. The prodigal congregation. The
prodigal district. And the Lord Christ invites us back time
and time again. Back to the Word and the testimony, says
Nehemiah. Back to the source: the Holy Scriptures.
And we cry out again, “Father, we are not worthy to be
called your sons.” And He delights to tell you today, “Too
bad — I already got the party started.”
My dear friends, your sins are forgiven. Look at that altar.
See the lamb? The blood of the lamb. Behold, the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sins of the whole Missouri Synod
— and far, far more (John 1:29).
You are beloved. You are forgiven. You are baptized. You
have Christ as your own. You are absolved. You will bear
Christ’s body and blood in moments — again for
forgiveness.
How shall we live, then, this week? How shall we be
joyfully Lutheran, the party having started? There’s
nothing I can preach more profound than the epistle.
“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among
you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and
to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers,
admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the
weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays
anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one
another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without
ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the
Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything;
hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1
Thess. 5:12–22).
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you
completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body
be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Brothers,
pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put
you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to
all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you” (1 Thess. 5:23–28).
Let’s get the party started!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.

Convention Sermons