"If You Had Faith"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

How many of you are of like mind? Chances are, not many, if any at all. Being of like mind is not something that happens much these days. In fact, in some circles, it is labeled as conformity, groupthink, or mindlessness. One might argue that it is the American way to be un-like-minded, to intentionally hold thoughts and opinions contrary to the rest.

It has been asserted in various contexts that the Church is merely a voluntary association of like-minded individuals, coming together around a common cause. If that is the case, then we should consider the Masonic Lodge, the AARP, the Farm Bureau, and a great many other organizations to be Church. After all, they are all voluntary associations of like-minded individuals.

And, on the other hand, we should not consider most congregations in the world who do call themselves Church to be so, since most of them are filled with people who are not there particularly voluntarily, nor do they have much in the way of like minds. Every person in every pew in every congregation in the world has a different mind-set, a different set of experiences and prejudices and filters through which to see the world.

You show up here, probably out of some sense of obligation or moral duty. You sit next to the people around you, people you have known for a long time. But do you know their minds? Do you share their thoughts, or do they know yours? Are you of like mind with your pastor?

No, you do not have like minds. You do not hold common thoughts or desires or wishes or ideals. Your minds, like the rest of you, are soiled with sin and corrupted beyond belief or repair. You think only about what you want, what you wish, what you would like to be so, and how to get that to come about to your perceived satisfaction. Your neighbor takes second place to your ambitions and felt needs.

And as each of you go about in this sin-addled state, you will sin against yourself and against your neighbor. Likewise, your brother will sin against you. He will do it over and over again. He will think hateful thoughts about you. He will envy you and covet your things. He will think impure things about your wife. He will wish that you thought like him. He will think all manner of evil, and some of it will come out of his mouth and into life, and you will not like it.

But pay attention to yourselves! Guard yourselves. Watch over your own lives and minds and hearts. Be careful about what your mind is saying, about what you think about your brothers and sisters in Christ. “Scandals are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” The devil, his minions, and the unbelieving world are good enough at causing scandal and temptations to sin; you do not need to help them to harm your brother.

Rather, “if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” Your brother will sin against you, just as you will sin against him. Just as you already have. Rebuke him, but gently, with an eye always toward the goal of repentance and restoration.

For there is no love in letting your brother fall into sin and doing nothing to stop him. Love rejoices in the truth, and the truth sets you free from sin. Rebuke him in love and kindness, always desiring to restore him, to receive him back in love and peace. For is this not what you would have him do unto you when you sin against him? This is not like-mindedness, but same-mindedness. This is having the mind of Christ about you, the mind of forgiveness and sacrifice.

But forgiveness is difficult. What if your brother sins against you over and over again? What if it is seventy times seven times? What if he has injured you deeply, wounded your emotions and reputation? What if he has disagreed with you? What if he has acted according to the way you acted toward him? “If he turns back to you, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him.”

This is easy to say, but difficult to do. Why is that? Because you suffer from the same problem as the apostles. You suffer from weak faith. In a few moments we will confess the Church's faith, and you will say “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” You may say that you believe in the forgiveness of sins, but do you believe the forgiveness of sins?

Do you believe that your sins are forgiven in Christ? Do you believe that He died for you to take away your sins, canceling the record of debts that stood against you? Do you believe that He did the same for your brothers and sisters gathered here today with you? You speak the words, but your sinful heart has trouble believing that these words are for you. And because you deceive yourself, you have trouble believing that they are for your brother, either.

“And the apostles said to the Lord, “Confer upon us faith!” Give us faith, Lord Jesus! That was the prayer of St. Peter, and that is your prayer. That is your only prayer and your only hope. That our Lord Jesus Christ would give you the faith to believe that what He says is true. That our Lord would give you the faith to believe that His Word is true and certain.

And He does just exactly that. He has given you faith, the faith strong enough to move mulberry trees. He has given you faith to move heaven and earth. Because He has given you Himself. He has poured out for you His Holy Spirit, who filled you with faith by the washing of regeneration in your Baptism. There, our Lord gave you the faith needful to lay hold of all the blessings of heaven. There, He first forgave your sins and He gave you the faith to believe that the forgiveness of sins is for you!

Our Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross because His Word is true, and He is true to His Word. Our Lord cannot lie, nor can He do other than He has promised. And so He sent His Son to die the death due for your sins. He has shed His blood to purchase the forgiveness of your sins. The forgiveness of your sins is a reality, an historical fact, because you are in Christ. You believe it, because your mind is now captive to Christ, filled with Christ, shaped by Christ.

And so, because you have this mind about you, this mind which is focused on the cross of Christ and on the salvation of His people by the forgiveness of their sins, it is no burden for you to forgive your brother whenever he sins against you. It is a light and easy thing to release that weight, to cancel that debt, to forget that trespass. For as surely as your sins are forgiven by your Father in heaven, so also are your brother's sins removed from him.

Because you do have faith, the faith once delivered to the saints and now poured into your heart, you can forgive your brother seven times a day, seventy-times-seven times a day, seven thousand times a day. You can, and you will, forgive your brother, your sister, your pastor, yourself, as many times as necessary, because Christ has already forgiven you. Because Christ has already shed His blood for you, “you too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against you.”

You are not like-minded. You never will be this side of heaven. But you are same-minded. Therefore, “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:2-5).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.