September 28 2025 —

Words can hurt. Many of God’s words hurt our pride. But that’s not bad—not if our pride is hurting us. Just as a skilled surgeon takes a deadly sharp scalpel and cuts through flesh and muscle in order to remove a cancerous tumor, so the sharp words of God are designed to cut out the cancer of sin so we can heal. After the surgery, God pours on the soothing, healing balm of the Gospel. God wounds so that He can heal us.

 What do John D Rockefeller, King Solomon, Henry Ford, and Joseph Stalin all have in common? Two things. First, they are all in the list of the twenty wealthiest individuals who ever lived. Second, they are all rotting in the ground. The reality is that while money may help you achieve some objectives, it fails to prevent death.

So Jesus speaks some sharp words this week, warning that those who live with hearts filled with love for money and void of love for God will receive the only eternity that money can buy— one void of God and filled with torment. Money seems helpful, but it fails in death.

Conversely, what often seems of little help in this life will be our only source of help in death. The world scoffs at those who set aside plenteous time to listen to Jesus’ words and eat his holy meal. “Of what practical good are such things?” Only this. Such things enable us, at death, to receive a reward that dwarfs even the best things money can buy.

Join us for our sermon on Luke 16:19–31

“Satisfaction & Salvation Come Through the Word of God”