Heaping Burning Coals

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 16th chapter.

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From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

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And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, Far be it from You, Lord, this shall never happen to You.

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But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan. You are a hindrance to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man.

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Then Jesus told His disciples, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow

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Me. Whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

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For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

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For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done.

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Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Alright, so in the military we've heard of these things that happen and it's a terrible thing when it happens.

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It's called a friendly fire incident. Don't you like the way the government talks about it? Our troops shot at each other and soldiers died.

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How does this happen? How do soldiers on the same team, wearing the same uniform, for the same country, end up killing each other?

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Well, it's actually quite easy to do. I know that when it comes to military hardware, that many military systems have something called an

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IFF. In government talk they always have to reduce things down to like, you know, these little words, these little letters.

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An IFF. An IFF is designed to identify friend or foe. So if your

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IFF system is wrong, and maybe you're out there flying an F -22 Raptor and the IFF isn't working right, and you see a target on your radar system, you might fire off a missile at that target and when the

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IFF finally starts to work correct, if you just knocked it a few times, you'd recognize, oof -da,

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I just shot down one of our F -15s. You'll know, an IFF is an important thing to have because you don't want friendly fire incidences.

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They're not a good thing. But our epistle text challenges us in ways that I don't think we're ready to be challenged.

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But yet, we are challenged nonetheless by what it says here. When we think about how we treat each other as Christians, we've got a very long and extensive list of third use of the law commands from Christ to give us the good works that we are to do with each other.

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But you're going to note there's talk in here about what to do with enemies.

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And you're going to note something. If you read this carefully, you're going to note that we as Christians are not allowed to pick enemies.

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Every target on our IFF must be seen as friendly if it's human.

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If it's demonic, that's a different story altogether. Clearly you're dealing with an enemy.

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But listen to what the scripture says. If possible, so far as it depends on you, who's the you there?

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You! Me! This is applying to each of us. As long as it depends on you, live peaceably with some.

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You guys accusing me of twisting up the scriptures? I cannot believe what is happening here. You're holding me accountable.

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Good. It says live peaceably with all. All. Everybody.

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Beloved, never avenge yourselves. Leave it to the wrath of God.

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For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, here's our standing orders.

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This appears twice in the scriptures. Once here, and the second time is in Proverbs 25.

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And boy, I had a hard time understanding this text earlier, but let me explain what it says. If your enemy is hungry, punch him in the face, knock him out, knock him to the ground, and tell him, how dare you treat me like that?

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Let this be a lesson to you. I'm twisting the scriptures again.

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James, you're just not buying it. What is going on here, man? Good. You shouldn't buy it. If your enemy is hungry, feed him.

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If he's thirsty, you give him something to drink. And note here, you haven't chosen this enemy.

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This is an enemy who's chosen you to be your enemy, but we are not allowed to have enemies.

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For so by doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.

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What is that supposed to mean? What kind of idiom is that? I know, I'm gonna get vengeance on you, you, my enemy, and I'm going to treat you kindly in order to punish you and cause coals of fire to fall on your head.

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It doesn't make any sense when you kind of put it together. But then you've got this last admonition.

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Do not be overcome by evil. Overcome evil with good.

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So what's with the burning coals bit? How are we to understand that?

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And so I did some digging. I did some poking around this week, reading some of the church fathers, doing, looking at some pastoral helps, just trying to figure out what am

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I supposed to do with this boring burning coals bit? Because ever since I was a kid and every time

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I heard this text, it never made any sense because it sounded like I'm going to really get vengeance on you by doing good to you.

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Ha ha ha ha ha. I will get my revenge and revenge is a dish best served warm.

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You know, it doesn't make any sense, right? So let's work this out.

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When I work this out, looking at just several of the cross references, I realize that this burning coals bit is far more than meets the eye.

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First cross reference is found in the prophet Isaiah. In the prophet Isaiah, this is a text

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I go to with some frequency, Isaiah is commissioned. He sees the

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Lord high and lifted up in Isaiah six. And here's what it says. The year that King Uzziah died,

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I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple.

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Hmm, we're working our way through the book of Ezekiel. You'll note that Ezekiel saw the same throne.

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This is what we see in chapter one of Ezekiel. We'll also see it again in chapter 10.

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So here, Isaiah sees the throne of Christ and the train of his robe filled the temple.

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Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with two he flew, and one called to another, congregational singing, if you would, here, holy, holy, holy is the

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Lord of hosts, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, Yahweh sabaoth, in the

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Hebrew. And the whole earth is full of his glory, and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called.

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And the house was filled with smoke. This is the type of vision that undoes a sinner, and rightly so.

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We sinners have no right to stand in the presence of our holy God. We have sinned and transgressed against him so greatly that what we deserve is to never see his face, what we deserve is to have our scrawny carcasses thrown into the lake of fire, and for God to wipe his hands and say,

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I'm done with you. That's what we all deserve. And here Isaiah gets that very profound sense of that as well, and he realizes just how awkward the situation is because he's a sinner in the presence of the holy

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God. He says, woe is me, I'm lost, I'm a man of unclean lips,

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I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the king, Yahweh Sabaoth.

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So then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

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Gotta tell you here, pay attention, we've got a burning coal about to touch

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Isaiah's head. So he touched my mouth, and he said, behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, your sin is atoned for.

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Now wait a second. If I'm reading this correct, and I think

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I am, I'm in good company with people throughout ages that the church has been on the planet, pouring a burning coal on somebody's head is a reference to the sacrifice that's on the altar.

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The coals from the altar were the place where these animals were sacrificed for our sins, and if you were to think of Christ's death on the cross, the cross was, in fact,

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Jesus's altar, the place where he was consumed in the fires of the wrath of God and suffered for your sins and mine in our place.

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And so pouring a burning coal on somebody's head who is an enemy is not about getting vengeance.

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It's about them recognizing their sin. And them, like you, being pardoned and forgiven.

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Think of it this way. What did the text say? It said overcome evil by doing good.

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Isn't that exactly what Christ did for us on the cross? I've been working my way through a wonderful book written by a fellow by the name of Chad Bird.

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The name of the book is called Limping with God. It's a fantastic study of the life of Jacob.

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And in one of his chapters, he says these words regarding Christ.

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There was a man who was more than a man, and we killed him.

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He was the greatest man who ever lived, and we killed him.

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He was the kindest, most gentle, most truthful and upright and compassionate man who ever lived, and we killed him.

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Hands that healed, we wounded. The face that glowed with the glory of God, we spit upon.

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The heart that beat with love, we pierced. There was a man who was more than a man.

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He was God. God, and we, you, and I, and all of us, and all of us lost in hopeless humanity, we killed him.

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But what we meant for evil, God worked for our salvation. You'll note that God practices what he preaches.

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I wish I did, consistently. I pray that we all do.

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But Christ overcame evil by doing good, by laying down his life. He did not get vengeance on his enemies.

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Instead, he bled and died so that they can be forgiven and pardoned. There's another set of texts

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I would like us to consider in this regard when it comes to pouring burning coals on somebody's head.

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It's the account of Peter. Y 'all remember

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Peter? Man, do I like Peter. Because Peter is an idiot, just like I am. Peter just completely screws up, constantly, and yet he, rather than getting what he deserves, he also gets grace and mercy from Christ.

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If you remember on the night that Jesus was betrayed, Christ said to Peter, this very evening you're going to deny me three times.

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Of course, Peter does his great impersonation of The Rock, Sylvester Stallone, yo, he's serious, no,

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I love her, man, you know, just puts out that stupid masculine thing. I'm never going to forsake you,

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Lord, even if it means that I have to die, and it's like, come on, seriously, right? And so when push comes to shove, the way

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John tells the details of the story are important because you'll note that God, the Holy Spirit, is the greatest storyteller of all.

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And when he sets a scene, when he puts a prop into the scene, it's not there just to kind of make the scene look better.

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He's not about making it work with the right color theory and making sure everything's balanced in the composition. Details are there for a reason, because it has to do with a particular theme that we're talking about, burning coals, if you would.

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And so John records in his gospel, Simon Peter followed Jesus after he had been arrested, and so did the other disciple, and since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.

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But Peter stood outside at the door, so the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and then brought

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Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, you also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?

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He said, I am not. Liar, liar, pants on fire, right?

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Denial number one. I think Jesus knew what he was talking about. Now the servants and the officers had made, and here's the detail, a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing, warming themselves.

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Peter also was with them standing, warming himself over a charcoal fire, burning coals, if you know what

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I mean. And then you'll note that Peter goes on to deny Christ. So Simon Peter was standing, warming himself, so they said to him, you also are not one of his disciples, are you?

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He denied it and said, I am not one of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off.

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That happened just moments ago. Did I not see you in the garden with Jesus? And Peter again denied it, and at once the rooster crowed, and we learned from the other cross -references at this point, he went and wept bitterly.

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Here these charcoal coals that were now warming his hands referenced the pouring out of the charcoal, the coals upon someone's head, convicting him of his sin.

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But this isn't where Christ leaves him. The story continues after Jesus' resurrection.

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After Jesus' resurrection in the Gospel of John, it talks about Jesus appearing to his disciples at the

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Sea of Galilee. It's called the Sea of Tiberias in John's Gospel because John wrote his Gospel much later and wrote it for a

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Gentile audience. But here's what it says in chapter 21, after this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the

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Sea of Tiberias. And he revealed himself in this way, Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin,

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Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

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Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. And they said to him, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

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This sounds very familiar, right? Isn't this how Peter was originally commissioned by Christ to be a disciple?

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He was on, Jesus was on Peter's boat preaching a sermon, and then afterwards he said, you know, let your nets down for a catch, and all that night he had not caught anything.

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He said, come on, Jesus, seriously, dude, I'm the fisherman, you're the preacher man, but fine, if you say so,

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I'll do it. He catches this large catch of fish, so big he can't even haul it in, right? And he says to Jesus at that point, you can find this in the

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Gospel of Luke, depart from me, I'm a wicked man. And Jesus says to him, do not fear, from now on you'll be catching men.

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And so I'm detecting a repeat here, this similar details, they went out fishing, caught nothing all night, the setup is perfect, the

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Holy Spirit knows how to tell a good story. And so Jesus was on the shore, and they didn't recognize him, they were still about a hundred yards out, so they didn't recognize it was

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Jesus, and said to him, children, do you have any fish? And they answered him, no, and you can hear the despondency in their voice, right?

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So he said to them, well, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you'll find some. What kind of advice is that, right?

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Apparently from Jesus it's good advice, so they cast it. And now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.

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That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord, and when Simon Peter heard it was the

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Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and he threw himself into the sea.

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The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

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When they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place.

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There it is again. Peter denied Christ over a charcoal fire.

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And now the question is, what's Jesus going to do? And you're going to note here, the way the world thinks, the way this is supposed to happen, you know, it's like, so I follow baseball, right?

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And every single year during spring training, you have athletes, you have baseball players who are doing their best to make the team, right?

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And always when you get towards the end of the spring season and right before opening day, there's got to be cuts.

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Some guys are going to make it to the big leagues, other guys are going to be kicked back down to the minors.

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Maybe next year, right? And you would note that as far as I'm concerned, if Peter were playing for the

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Dodgers, Jesus should have kicked him all the way back down to single A if not washed him out altogether.

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Is that not right? Because there we are, we're right at game day here. Jesus is about to be crucified and Peter flat out denies that he's going to deny

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Christ, then denies him three times, and he's just completely biffed it. How is he supposed to be the great apostle

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Peter? And what should happen at this point is that Jesus warming his hands over the charcoal fire says to Peter, dude,

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I got to cut you, you didn't make the team, okay? We're going to bring up some other guy and he's going to take your place.

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But it's been nice knowing you, we have some lovely consolation prizes to give to you, and here's a bus ticket back to your house.

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That's the way this is supposed to go, the way the world thinks. But you remember this, in our gospel text,

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Peter did not understand what Jesus was about. When Jesus, after he had made that great confession that Jesus is the

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Christ, the son of the living God, Jesus then began at that point to tell his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem, that he was going to suffer many things, and that he was going to be killed but on the third day be raised.

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Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Who rebukes the son of God? Good grief.

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I always like to point out, at this point the text should say, thus perished Peter. This is like an eternity limiting move, right?

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He rebuked Jesus, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me,

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Satan, you are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man.

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You'll note then, it is the glory of God to pardon sinners. It is the glory of God to forgive those who are ungodly, rebels, who have transgressed his holy law, to pardon them, reconcile them to himself, and to adopt them back into the family of God and give them hope of the resurrection to eternal life.

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All is a gift because Christ has paid the cost. Peter was thinking in worldly terms.

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Christ was thinking in terms that only God can think. Take up your cross then,

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Jesus says. But back to our story here. Do you have any fish?

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No. So Peter now recognizes it's the Lord after the big quantity of fish that they had caught and he put out his armor and he threw himself into the sea.

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The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far off. There's a charcoal fire now in place with the fish laid out on it and bread.

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And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them.

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And although there were so many, the net was not torn. And Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Now none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you?

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They knew it was the Lord. And Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

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And when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you agape me more than these?

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Now agape is a big word when it comes to love. Now when we think about love, kind of three main ways we think about it.

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And unfortunately in English, we only have like one word that's supposed to catch all of this, right? When we think about love, we could start with the city of Philadelphia, Phileo is one of the terms for love.

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And it has to do with brotherly love and brotherly affection. Indeed, you know, that's a thing.

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You'll note that men who fought in battles together, who've been trench buddies or, you know, their foxhole together and been shot at by the enemy, they have a bond that's super hard to break.

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They are a band of brothers. This is what brotherly love is talking about here. Then there's the one that everybody knows about because it's everywhere and that's

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Eros, okay? And let's just say that has to do with human sexuality and everybody everywhere is always having their sexual appetites scintillated and tempted by all this kind of stuff.

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And everybody claims that that's the most important love, belogna, right? Okay. Now granted,

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Eros is truly a gift from God, but it's to be used in only a one context and that is marriage between a man and a woman.

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But agape love, holy smokes, that's like this unconditional sacrificial love.

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God so agape -ed the world, right? That's what we're talking about. So Jesus asked Simon Peter, do you agape me more than these?

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Do you think Peter can answer that question in the affirmative? No. I just denied you three times,

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Jesus. Of course I can't say that I agape you. So he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you.

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And then Jesus said to him, feed my lambs. Wait what?

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He made the team? No way. Not Peter.

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Now this charcoal stuff is important. Feed my lambs. So he said to him a second time,

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Simon son of John, do you agape me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you.

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Tend my sheep. Huh, I'm beginning to catch something here. How many times did

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Peter deny Christ? Three times. He's now had this question asked of him twice and been told to feed

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Christ's sheep twice. So he said to him a third time, Simon son of John, do you phileo me?

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Now Jesus matches the word that he keeps using, right? Do you phileo me? Now Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you phileo me?

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So he said to him, Lord, you know everything and you know that I love you.

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And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. And truly I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.

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But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you to where you do not want to go.

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And this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. Not only did he forgive him because Christ has bled and died for him.

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He was the sacrifice on the altar for Peter's sins and yours and mine. He restores him to his disciple ministry and makes him one of his disciples and assures him.

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You remember all that bragging and bravado that you gave saying I will never deny you and even if they have to kill me, guess what,

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Peter, you're right. Because when he was old, he was arrested by Nero, the

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Roman emperor. He and his wife, his wife was crucified the day before him and then he was crucified the next day upside down because he didn't see himself worthy of dying the same death as Christ.

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Burning coals indeed, let's come back to our epistle text. Repay no one evil for evil.

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No one. Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. And if it is possible so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

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Never avenge yourselves. Leave that to the wrath of God. And God's wrath isn't for now.

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Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of God's mercy. The day of wrath is coming when

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Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. But today is the day we get to preach the gospel.

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We get to call sinners to repentance. Tell them the good news that Christ has bled and died for their sins. Forget the vengeance bit.

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That's not your responsibility. The vengeance bit belongs to God. So mind your own business.

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Stay in your own lane. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, you feed him.

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If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.

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And now we know what that means. By so doing, we'll convict him of his sin.

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And maybe like you and I, and like Isaiah and Peter, our enemy will be forgiven.

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And we no longer have to call him enemy, but instead can call him brother or call her sister.

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Do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Indeed. And so brothers and sisters, that's exactly what has happened for us. As evil and wicked as we are and have been and continue to be,

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Christ has bled and died for our sins. And he wills for us to forgive as he has forgiven us.

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Is that not what we pray in the Lord's Prayer? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

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Yeah, people are going to hurt your feelings. People are going to punch you in the face.

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People are going to annoy you. They're going to do things that you don't like, that you don't approve of, and they're going to do things against you.

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So what are you going to do about it? Let your love be genuine.

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You're agape. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection.

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Outdo one another in showing honor. Have you ever stopped to think that every single church conflict is a friendly fire incident?

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Tragically so. Sinfully so. We are admonished by virtue of the fact that we are the forgiven to excel in forgiving and loving the way we have been loved and forgiven by Christ.

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Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit.

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Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer.

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And contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

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And bless those who persecute you. Bless them. Do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice.

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Weep with those who weep. Isn't that exactly what Christ did? There He's nailed to the cross.

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He's being murdered. And as soon as they hoist

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His corpse up so that everybody can see it, Jesus prays,

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Father, forgive them. They know not what they're doing. Notice He didn't rally the armies of heaven and send fire and brimstone from outer space to burn up Jerusalem.

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Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty. Associate with the lowly.

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Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil. Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

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If we had no other list than this list of the good works that Christ has called us to as baptized, penitent, forgiven, pardoned sinners, if we had no other list than this list and you applied yourself to it every day of your life with all of your heart, you would still not succeed in sucking the marrow out of every bit of it and truly obeying it.

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And it's a beautiful picture. Imagine what a wonderful church, a world this would be if only we heeded the voice of our

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Lord. May He grant us forgiveness for every single infraction of this text where we have sought our own way, where we have pushed back with gruff against those who have annoyed us or done something that's slighted or upset us.

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May God have mercy on us and forgive us and take our heart of stone and give us a warm heart of flesh not only for God but for each other.

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May He grant us true repentance and may this be exemplified in us to the glory of His name.

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In the name of Jesus. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. And again, that address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. We thank you for your support.

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