A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. Or here. “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! They say that politics makes for strange bedfellows. That’s certainly the case here. The Pharisees—ardent nationalists who opposed Roman rule—team up with the Herodians whom they despise because of their cooperation with the Roman government. This would be kind of like the members of the Tea Party actively promoting Hillary Clinton for President in 2016. You know that something fishy is going on here. The Pharisees try to trap Jesus between a political hard place and a religious rock. “Teacher, we know that You are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and You do not care about anyone’s opinion, for You are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what You think.” Obviously, the Pharisees are not afraid of dishing up a bit of flattery to achieve...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Or here. “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).   Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! In this Fifth Commandment, God forbids us to take the life of another person (such as through murder, manslaughter, abortion, or euthanasia) or to take our own life. Only God has the authority to take a human life, to avenge wrong, and to punish crime. Now, as we heard in last week’s sermon on the Fourth Commandment, God does entrust this authority to others. Theologians call this “the power of the sword” based up Paul’s continuing instructions in Romans 13. Therefore Christians can in good conscience wage just war and punish and execute criminals under rightful government authority. God continues to protect His precious gift of human life through these human institutions. But before we go any further, we must ask an important question: “Why does God value human life?” Why does God value human beings above all His cr...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Genesis 1:27-28). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “We’re all made in the image of God.” You’ve heard that line before. It’s often invoked by those who are demanding equal rights, to demonstrate that we are all equal, that we’re all the same, and that we should all be treated that way. And, in a culture that lauds equality, it has a ring of truth. But the truth is that in our world we are not all equal. Not all life is considered the same. Today, a lot of children still in the womb aren’t considered all that valuable by many. Neither are those in nursing homes, or on life support, or...