Crooked Speech vs Godly Rebuke

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 Minnesota.

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

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according.

To St. Matthew chapter 18 verses 1 through 20.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and he said, Truly I say to you, unless you

become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to

have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come.

But woe to the one by whom the temptation comes.

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off, throw it away.

It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be

thrown into the eternal fire.

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out, throw it away.

It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes and be thrown into the hell of fire.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones.

For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

What do you think?

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety -nine in the mountains and go

in search of the one that went astray?

If he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it.

He rejoices over it more than the ninety -nine that never went astray.

So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you so that every charge may be established by

the evidence of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

And again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by

my Father in heaven.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

In the name of Jesus.

There's a lot of options with today's text.

We could talk about cutting off arms and gouging out eyeballs and talk about paying taxes.

Combine them together and you end up feeling like paying your taxes costs you an arm and a leg.

I wrote that myself.

As you can tell.

I've decided to not go down that road.

In fact, today we actually have a very serious matter that we need to attend to.

We're going to focus on the last half of our gospel text as it relates to what you do

when your brother or sister, this is an equal opportunity text if you would, sins

against you.

Now I hate to break this to you.

Saints in Christ.

That you, this side of the resurrection and Christ's return, still have a sinful nature.

So do I.

That being the case, there are going to be times when you are going to sin

against your Christian brothers and sisters.

And they likewise may sin against you.

Let me tell you the standard procedure, the way this now gets resolved today because of the internet.

Somebody sins against you.

Solution to problem.

Go onto social media and let everybody know what that sin was.

Out here in the rural part of Oslo, Minnesota, the internet isn't as

reliable.

So they still use these things.

Although I think they have wires and things out here.

And here's how it usually goes.

Somebody has sinned against you or you become aware of somebody's sin.

And so you get on one of these devices and you dial up a number to one of your close friends or maybe they're on your

starred favorite list.

And you call them up and you say, did you hear what so and so did?

Oh, you haven't heard.

Let me tell you.

I hope you're sitting down.

Are you sitting down?

Oh, yeah.

Good, good, good.

Are you ready?

Here's what he did.

He did this.

He did that.

He did the other thing.

And the person on the other line is going oh, no.

Really?

Yes, really.

Oh, my goodness.

I can't believe he's he'll never be able to show his face in public again.

And as soon as the person hangs up the phone, the person who received the phone call, what do they do?

I just heard the most terrible story.

I hope you're sitting down.

This is how this goes.

Let's talk about just how serious this is.

If I were to give you a pop quiz today, you being conservative Christians, you

believing that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, authoritative word of God.

If I were to put you on the spot and say, name for me one sin in Scripture that is

singled out as an abomination before God, what would come to mind?

Say it louder.

Correct.

Homosexuality.

Homosexual sins.

The book of Leviticus clearly says this, that for a man to lie with another man as he

would a woman is an abomination before God.

This is most certainly true.

And what I find fascinating is that conservative Christians very much correctly

point out that that sin is an abomination to God and then

do not pay attention to the other sins that are mentioned as

abominations before God.

The ones that, let's just say, involve them.

Let me explain.

If you would turn with me to Proverbs chapter 6, we're going to take a look starting at verse 12.

Very important part of Scripture.

Here's what it says.

A worthless person worthless is a very dangerous word in the Old Testament.

If you've been in Sunday school, as we've come across this phrase, a description of

those who are idolaters, those who are impenitent, those who are sexually immoral, they are described in the Old

Testament with the word worthless.

A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech.

Winks with his eyes.

Signals with his feet.

I'm not sure what that looks like.

Points with his finger.

And with perverted heart, he devises evil.

Continually sowing discord.

So notice this person is described as worthless.

You can recognize them by their fruit.

Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly.

In a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

Next verse.

There are six things Yahweh hates.

Seven that are an abomination to him.

So notice what comes next in this list.

These are things that God hates and they are an abomination to him.

And you're going to note in this list, three of the things listed have to do with lying and gossiping.

The things are haughty eyes.

He's talking about arrogance.

A lying tongue.

Note that.

Hands that shed innocent blood.

A heart that devises wicked plans.

Feet that make haste to run to evil.

A false witness who breathes out lies.

And one who sows discord among brothers.

Have you ever stopped to consider that scripture so clearly teaches that homosexuality

and gossip and slander are equally abominable before God?

And it is an absolute, and I mean this, an absolute terrible travesty

on the part of conservative Christians who believe the Bible to be the word of God that they do not

equally go after gossips as they do homosexuals and call them to repent and to be

forgiven.

Scripture is so clear on this.

Proverbs 16 .28 says this.

A dishonest man spreads strife.

A whisperer separates close friends.

Proverbs 18 .8.

The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels.

They go down into the inner parts of the body.

And isn't that how gossip usually, the tone of it works?

Yeah, did you hear this?

Tell a story like that.

An evildoer, Proverbs 17 .4 important verse, an evildoer

listens to wicked lips.

You'll note that Proverbs 17 .4 condemns not the gossip, but the one who listens to the

gossip.

An evildoer listens to wicked lips.

A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

So note the blame there is on the one listening to the gossip.

Proverbs 25 .9 -10 says this.

Argue your case with your neighbor himself.

Do not reveal another's secret.

Lest he who hears you bring shame upon you and your ill repute

have no end.

Yeah, you're going to note scripture is very clear that when you have an issue with your neighbor or your

neighbor has sinned you are not behaving in a Christian manner if you decide that what you're going to do

is call everybody up and let them know about that sin.

You go and argue your case with your neighbor himself.

And our gospel text will explain why, but let's do a little bit more work here.

If you would turn over to Colossians chapter 3.

I'm going to look at verses 1 -10.

And I want to make a note here of how the gospel has set us free and that

because we have been forgiven and united with Christ in His death and His resurrection in the waters of

baptism that we have an obligation to do particular things.

Here's what it says, Colossians 3 verse 1.

If then you have been raised with Christ have you been?

Let me ask you, have you?

Well, scripture says that if you've been baptized you've been buried with Christ and you've been raised with Christ.

So if you've been raised with Christ and you have, then seek the things that are above where Christ is

seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in

God.

And when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in

glory.

So, brothers and sisters, have you not been united with Christ?

You have been, therefore, watch the next part, put to death, therefore, what is

earthly in you.

You'll notice that because you have been united with Christ in His death and resurrection you now have a

mortifying work to do yourself.

And that mortifying work, mortifying is just a fancy way of saying putting something to death.

You are instructed according to scripture to put to death what is earthly in you.

And it goes on, if you're not sure what that means, to describe in list form what earthly

things are in you.

Sexual immorality, and every one of us says no duh.

Impurity, passion, the Greek word pathos here is talking about sinful lust

passions, evil desires, covetousness, which is idolatry.

Yes, that's right, lusting after your neighbor's combine is idolatry.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming, and then notice these words, in these you too

once walked.

Greek word peripateo has its antecedents in the Old Testament

the Hebrew word halakh, which means to walk.

And it means how you conduct your life.

You, at one time, once conducted your life, you walked in these things

when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.

Anger, wrath, malice,

slander, obscene talk from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and you've put on the new

self, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator.

There is no room for bearing false witness against your neighbor.

And as we're about to see, Scripture actually teaches the concept of

innocent until proven guilty.

And the reason for it is quite simple because of our sinful natures, our sinful natures

lie.

And you're going to note this, the gossip is gossiping in order to make

himself or herself look good.

Gossip is selfish but what we're instructed in Scripture to do is to reach out and

help a person who has fallen into sin.

The one who goes and airs somebody's sin to the whole world does so to make themselves look

good.

And they assume guilt and it then becomes the job of the person being

blamed for something to prove their innocence.

But you're going to note this, in our court system, nowhere in our court system is somebody required to prove their innocence.

They are always innocent until proven guilty.

Now, case in point would be in the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

You want to start flipping over to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

The Apostle Paul, I want you to consider this for a moment.

The Apostle Paul is the fellow who, on an evangelistic tour of the ancient world,

planted a church in the city of Corinth.

He's the one who preached the gospel there.

And as a result of the preaching of the gospel in the mouth of the Apostle Paul, God brought

people to penitent faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and a church, a

congregation was born.

He's the one who planted it.

But, the problem with being a minister of the gospel, or being somebody

sent by Christ, is that the devil, wherever a church is truly planted, sets up shop

in order to destroy that church.

I've seen it over and over and over again.

Different pastors that I know who are in the ministry who have been accused of all kinds of strange and

bizarre lies and falsehood.

And people gossiping, destroying their ministries.

The Apostle Paul had the same situation because after he left, who came

into the void?

A group of fellows who called themselves, get this, not apostles, but super

apostles.

Apparently they had a big S on their togas.

These were the super apostles.

Now, let me explain what these super apostles were like.

These were the pretty people.

These are guys in their 30s that can afford a $200 haircut and can fit in skinny jeans.

Now, I can't.

You would have to get the jaws of life to get me out of them if I tried them on.

This would not go good.

But, these fellows, they were good looking, had the best clothes, fine jewelry,

good haircuts, and in the days before radio and television, their skills at

public speaking and oration were off the chart.

These guys could literally take an audience and draw them in and then emotionally bring them to the

highest heights so that they feel like they're tiptoeing on the very clouds up in the atmosphere and then

at the next moment take them down into the depths of despair to where they're weeping

tears of grief in the middle of their orations.

Compare these fellows to the apostle Paul, who the church fathers

described as short, cross -eyed,

had a hook nose, and wasn't very good at speaking.

In fact, I've mentioned this before, it's worth mentioning again, the apostle Paul actually killed somebody

while preaching a sermon.

It's recorded in the book of Acts.

Some poor fellow fell asleep during a sermon, fell out of a window, and died.

Now, luckily, the apostle Paul, being an apostle of Christ, went and raised him from the dead and dusted him off and said, I'm

very sorry.

Next time I'll try to keep my sermon under three hours.

The super apostles would never kill anybody in their sermons, at least not like that.

Here's the interesting part of the story, is that the super apostles they commanded the

highest prices for their speaking fees.

How much did the apostle Paul charge when he would go to Corinth to preach?

Answer, nothing.

Here's the interesting part of the story, is that the super apostles took the

fact that Paul never charged for his preaching and his teaching, they used that as

evidence that he was up to no good.

That he was somehow deceiving the people of Corinth.

That he was being, well, less than forthright.

Because the way they operated, if he were truly an apostle, and he's probably

not.

After all, he never really hung out with Jesus.

Was he there when Peter walked on the water?

No.

Was he there when Jesus was on the cross?

No.

Well, see, that's the reason why he never charges money.

He's a fake.

He's a fraud.

He's been deceiving you.

That's how the gossip went.

So note, there was a charge.

A charge that the apostle Paul was a fraud.

Proof, he never charges any money when he comes and preaches.

See, that's the reason why.

Now, is it true that the apostle Paul never charged money when he preached?

Yes.

Fact.

Was he a fraud?

No.

Not at all.

And so the apostle Paul was put into the very awkward situation of having to defend himself against

lies and slander.

And the charge that he was a false apostle.

Not a good place to be in.

Kind of having to prove his innocence.

And so writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we see Paul's defense against the slander in 2 Corinthians

chapter 11.

And here's what he says.

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness.

So he's prepping us.

What's going to come next is intentionally foolish.

He says, bear with me.

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

But I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you received a different spirit than the one you

received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles,

even if I am unskilled in speaking.

Notice he is unskilled.

He's admitting that, right?

He says, but I am not so in knowledge.

Indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be

exalted because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge?

The super apostles were saying he was up to no good because he was not charging.

So the apostle Paul asked the logical question, did I commit a sin in humbling myself by preaching the gospel to you free?

I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone.

For the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs, so I refrained and will refrain from

burdening you in any way, as the truth of Christ is in me.

This boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

And why?

Because I don't love you?

Well, God knows that I do love you.

And what I am doing I will continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who would

like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.

For such men are false apostles.

The super apostles are them.

They are deceitful workmen.

They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ.

And no wonder.

Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

Their end will correspond to their deeds.

And the sad reality is that the church of Corinth should have never listened to the

charges of the super apostles who were saying that Paul was sinning and that the proof

of that was that he never charged money.

They should have never listened to it because Jesus himself said that when your brother sins you go to him

privately.

You see, when there is sin involved Christ has put a procedure in place

that is to be followed.

And these super apostles, they were what?

Stirring up dissension, discord, sowing disunity,

whispering that he

doesn't even charge.

You know why?

They should have immediately said no, these guys are from the devil.

Because the devil is the one who traffics in lies.

The devil's native language is lying according to Jesus.

And these fellows were fluent in the devil's native tongue.

So the apostle Paul says their end will correspond to their deeds.

So he says, let, I repeat, let no one think me foolish.

But even if you do accept me as a fool so that I too may boast a little.

What I'm saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool.

Since many boast according to the flesh, I too am going to boast.

And notice he said, please excuse me, I'm about to do something foolish.

And it's foolish on purpose and it's foolish to make a point.

For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves.

For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you.

And this next part is a description of the behavior of the super apostles.

They make slaves of you.

They devour you.

Devour is talking about how they take your money, rob you blind.

They take advantage of you.

They put on airs.

Even to the point of striking you in the face.

This is the behavior of the super apostles.

Because after all, they are super.

They are up here.

You are down here.

And so they mistreated people, which should have been a sign that they were not really apostles at all.

So the apostle Paul says, to my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that.

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool here, I also dare

to boast of that.

Are they Hebrews?

Well, so am I.

Are they Israelites?

So am I.

Are they the offspring of Abraham?

So am I.

Are they servants of Christ?

Now watch what happens.

He doesn't answer this question directly.

Are they servants of Christ?

He says, well, I'm a better one.

And he says, I'm talking like a madman.

With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, often

near death.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned.

This means having rocks thrown at you, not taking marijuana.

Three times I was shipwrecked.

A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers,

danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from

false brothers, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,

in cold and exposure, and apart from the other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Who is weak and I am not weak?

Who is made to fall and I am not indignant?

He clearly was not having his best life now.

And the super apostles would have never put up with this.

I mean, they might have broken a nail or something.

And that's his point.

So notice what he's boasting in.

He's not boasting in how great he is.

He's boasting in all the things that have shown that he is destroyed, that he is weak.

He says, if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

At Damascus, the governor under King Eratos was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I

was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

In other words, he slunk out of town like a coward, and he's admitting it.

So if I must go on boasting, though there's nothing to be gained by it, I'll go on to talk about visions and

revelations of the Lord.

I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body,

I don't know.

God knows.

And I know that this man was caught up in the paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know.

God knows.

And he heard things that cannot be told.

He's talking about himself in third person, which man may not utter.

On behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not, except of my weaknesses.

Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it, so that no

one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given

me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, but he said, my grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities,

for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I have been a fool.

You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you, for I was not at all

inferior to these so -called super apostles, even though I am nothing.

The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and

mighty works, for in what were you less favored than the rest of

the churches, except that I myself did not burden you?

Forgive me for this wrong.".

Notice how many times he keeps coming back to the big proof that he was up to no good.

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you, Paul says, and I will not be a burden, for I

seek not what is yours, but I seek you.

For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents are obligated to save up for their children,

so I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of

you by deceit.

Isn't that weird?

I was crafty and got the better of you by deceit by not charging you anything.

That was the claim.

Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?

I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him.

Did Titus take advantage of you?

Did we not act in the same spirit?

Did we not take the same steps?

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you?

It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may not find you as I wish, and that you may find me not

as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility,

slander, gossip, and conceit, and disorder.

And the reason he fears that is because they listened to these super apostles and their preposterous claims

that the apostle Paul was up to no good because he wasn't charging them.

I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who have sinned

earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they

have practiced.

This is the third time I am coming to you, and watch these words.

Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three

witnesses.

Scripture clearly teaches someone is innocent until proven

guilty.

The way gossip always works, you are guilty.

Why?

Because the person called you up and whispered, that proves your guilt.

No, it does not.

It proves theirs if you know your Bible.

So with that, let's return to our gospel text.

Matthew chapter 18, we're going to pick up at verse 10.

Very important context.

Remember this pericope begins with, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those who are like

little tiny children.

See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that's you.

You are one of Jesus' little ones.

For I tell you in heaven, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Yeah, that's right.

Each and every one of us.

There are angels assigned to minister to us, to protect us, and other things.

And those angels see the very face of God.

So what do you think?

If a man has a hundred sheep, one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety -nine on the mountains and go and search the one that

went astray?

And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than the ninety -nine who never went astray.

So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

There's your governing thought going into verse 15.

It is not the Father's will that any of his little ones perish.

But we as Christians still have a sinful nature, which means we're going to sin.

What is the solution to sin?

Repentance and being forgiven.

That's the solution.

And so here, Jesus sets this up.

The picture before us is of one of Jesus' precious little ones, a sheep, that has gone

astray and has sinned.

And Christ wants that sheep back.

So this is why we as Christians are instructed to handle sin in this way when we are sinned

against.

Because it's all about Christ hunting down and returning his lost sheep

so that it doesn't perish.

It's not God's will that his little sheep perish.

So if your brother sins against you, get on Facebook and let the whole world know.

It's not what it says.

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

If he listens to you, Jesus has found his lost sheep and returned it to the fold.

You see it?

But if he does not listen, then get on Facebook and call everybody and let the neighbors

know.

Nope.

If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you so that every charge may be

established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

Notice, we've expanded the circle just a wee bit.

Everybody else in church has no clue.

Just a few people.

If he refuses to listen to them, then you tell it to the

whole community.

No.

You tell it to the church.

This is an internal affair.

If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

That means you are to treat him as an unbeliever.

He is to be put out of the church and he is no longer in fellowship.

And Gentiles and tax collectors are what?

The mission field.

People who we lovingly call to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

You'll notice that none of the steps here include, now you go and gossip

and let everybody know.

None of those steps include that.

So if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.

Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

This is a reference to the keys of the kingdom.

The office of the keys.

The ability to forgive and retain sins.

The sins you forgive will already be forgiven.

The sins you retain will have already been retained, Christ says in John 20.

So this is in the context of forgiving and binding sins.

And the impenitent Christian, the Christian who says I don't want to repent.

I don't need to be forgiven.

Well that, no, that's not how Christians are.

We are all penitent sinners receiving the forgiveness of sins.

If you don't want to be forgiven well that's foolishness.

So again I say to you, if two or three of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

For whoever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.

So, it is not God's will, the Father's will that any of his little ones would perish.

This is the reason why we as Christians among ourselves when somebody has sinned or

stumbled or done something wrong, we don't gossip about them.

We go to them for their benefit so that they will repent and be forgiven and restored.

Gossiping about them literally estranges them and puts them outside of the community.

We are Jesus' hands and feet and eyes and legs in going and looking for lost

sheep.

And there's a procedure for that.

If you are like me, then you are

painfully aware that you have transgressed this command.

That you, along with me, have done the wrong

thing in dealing with those who have sinned against you.

Let me make this painfully clear.

What we read in Proverbs makes it very clear that this sin that we are all guilty of committing

is as abominable before God as homosexual sins.

It is that abominable.

And this is where our psalm today helps us.

Psalm 32, as we read earlier, let me read it again.

I confess it as the man or the woman against whom the Lord counts or credits no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no

deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.

My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

So I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity.

I said I will confess my transgression to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

So let us then again confess that we have come up short.

That we are guilty of not just sinning against God and our neighbors, but we are guilty

of committing sins that are an abomination in the sight of God.

But we are blessed because we are in Christ.

We are blessed because we are forgiven and our sins are covered and the Lord will not count these sins against us

on the last day.

So let us bear fruit in keeping with repentance and when we are sinned against, because it will happen,

let us be the hands and feet of Jesus going after those lost sheep

and doing what Jesus said to do.

Not slandering them, airing their dirty laundry for all the world to see or accusing them

of being guilty with no evidence.

But let us go to them humbly and call them to repent so they may be restored and brought back into the fold

so that all of us on the same level may be on our knees before the feet of Christ on the cross

as forgiven sinners.

Blessed because God has covered our iniquity and forgiven us of all of our sins.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Lutheran Church, 15950 470th Avenue NW,

Oslo, MN 56744.

And again that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950

470th Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744.

We thank you for your support.

All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.

And again, thank you for listening.