September 6, 2026

Matthew 18:1-20/Romans 13:1-12

It’s Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer, and we usually think of backyard cookouts and pool gatherings that lead into the start of the new school year. In the midst of whatever plans we may have for this 3-day weekend, this federal holiday recognizes and pays tribute to the men and women of our nation’s work force who have contributed so much to the development and achievements of our society. A favorite children’s book is What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry. It’s a great book that helps young children understand the mysterious world of work that their parents are involved in. This is a real question that kids ask: what do people do all day? Sometimes when we as adults get home at the end of the day, we ask ourselves that same question: “What did I do all day?” Some days are like that. Work and labor for many people mean different things. Today, the Word of God calls us to a different kind of work – work that seeks “to do no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).  Labor Day is not on the church’s calendar, but there is something here that the church would do well to pay attention to. Work, the daily offering of ourselves and our God-given skills and abilities, is meant to be more than just drudgery; just counting the days until the weekend rolls around. After God created Adam and before the fall into sin, we read in Scripture that “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). This means that work came before sin, and it was intended by God to be something fulfilling, satisfying, and rewarding.

On this Labor Day weekend, we can compare two words that have vastly different meanings: vocation and career. Both come from the Latin language. The word vocation comes from a Latin word, vocatio, meaning “calling.” The calling to a particular occupation comes from outside us; it comes from the Lord. A vocation is anything that is honorable and that serves not only our needs, but those of our neighbor as well. The other word, career, also comes from a Latin word, carrera, meaning “to run, a race,” and by extension, to run that race around a racetrack where you just sort keep going in circles over and over again. How do we understand the work that we do? Is it an offering of ourselves to God? Is it a calling that comes from God that utilizes our God-given skills and abilities? Or is it running some race that just keeps us going round and round?

Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans somewhere in the mid- to late-50s of the first century A.D. So when Paul wrote from today’s Epistle lesson, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1), he wrote this while living under Roman rule and when Nero himself was Emperor (54-68 A.D.). This is the same Nero who proved to be no friend to the Christians, and under whom Paul himself was executed (ca. 64 A.D.). And yet, Paul wrote what he did about being subject to the governing authorities, and paying to those authorities what is owed them: “taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:7).

All of our readings today really touch on, in one way or another, God’s good gift of authority.  Ezekiel is set to be a prophet, one who speaks a hard word, an authoritative word, to wicked people.  And God charges him that whether they listen or not, it is still his duty to speak God’s word to them.  He speaks for God, with authority from God. In Matthew 18 we have a number of topics, different aspects of sin and forgiveness.  But in verse 18 Jesus reiterates that what His representatives, His pastors, “bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.”  He’s speaking of the authority to forgive and withhold forgiveness of sins.  A weighty authority given to His ministers, indeed.

Luther called this the “Right Hand Government”, that is, how God exercises and delegates His authority in the church.  Through the preaching of the word, the forgiveness of sins, and the administration of the sacraments, God’s appointed representatives serve Him by serving His people. And then there is the “Left Hand Government” or kingdom, through which God governs everything in life that has to do with the earthly, the physical, the bodily.  And so earthly government, as shown in Romans 13, really functions as an agent of God.  All authorities are ultimately derived from God.   It means that when we obey the authorities, we are really obeying God.  And when we rebel against authority, we rebel against God.  And so this informs us on how we regard the president, the governor, the judge, the police, and so forth, as well as all authorities we find over us in life.

From our earliest years we learn God’s good gift of authority through our parents.  They are God’s representatives to both love and protect, but also discipline us in all things.  What chaos ensues when parents shirk this authority – as we see in the crisis of missing fathers, or in parents who let the child do the parenting.  Choose your own school, choose your own religion, choose your own gender! But a good parent balances law and gospel, trains the child up in the word of the Lord, and knows that even these children of ours are not ultimately our own, they are the Lord’s.  On loan, to us, for a time. Luther explains the Fourth Commandment in the Small Catechism, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.” Easier said than done.  Especially when we figure out that the people holding those positions of authority are also sinful. You see it in adults who despise their boss who they perceive treats the employees unfairly.  Or in a wife who dishonors her husband as God-given head of the household, even though he may well deserve her criticism.

Other times we abuse God’s good gift of authority by taking authority for ourselves when it is not given.  We put ourselves in the place of God over against others.  We make ourselves the judge, jury and executioner of our neighbor, without recognizing and honoring those who are truly given those roles.  Humble submission to authority is a difficult thing to do, but we are called by God to do it.  When it comes to the 10 commandments, there are only 3 that we have that have to do with our relationship with God (1-3). 7 deal with our relationship with other people (4-10). Do you ever wonder why? There’s good reason. Well maybe this poem gives a clue,

To live above with saints we love, will certainly be glory.

To live below with saints we know, well that’s another story.

It can be hard, to live with saints we know, here. We have a hard time from time to time living with those we know, hence the need for commandments 4-10. And really it’s no different here in the Church. Satan works hardest here in the church. And so there’s disagreements and there’s fighting in the church and there’s backbiting and there’s rumors even, in the church. It’s no wonder Jesus gives us a little practical help in Matthew 18 and Paul in Romans 13 because we need a little help in what to do.

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law… Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8, 10). Can we love those whom we do not like? Can we love those with whom we disagree? Can we love those whom we find it hard to respect? Yes, with God’s help. This is exactly what God in Christ has done for us, even when we were dead in our sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:4-5). God owes us nothing, but has given us everything. Jesus loved us literally unto death, “even death on the cross” (Philippians 2:5-11), where He died the death that we deserved because of our sins and trespasses. In the death of Jesus, we have been given a new life – life that looks beyond our own selfishness to the things of God. Life that looks not only to our own interests, but to the interests of others. We are now called to love our neighbor, no matter who that neighbor is, what that neighbor looks like, or where that neighbor comes from. To love another, including a person whom we do not like or respect, means that you are choosing to do good rather than evil. It is a conscious decision that goes beyond emotions. Such love comes from outside us. As we have been loved by God in Christ, so we are to love each other – period.  Remembering that “we love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It is the saving love of Jesus, who has fulfilled all the requirements of God’s Law in our behalf, that opens our hearts to love one another. It is this love that moves us to humble ourselves and become like little children for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:1-4). It is this love that causes us to despise and cut away the temptations to sin that come to us as radically as if we were amputating one of our very limbs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:7-9). It is this love that moves us to seek out the one member of the flock who has gone astray for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:10-14). It is this love that moves us to speak the truth in love to our brother or sister (Ephesians 4:15, 25), including and especially when there is a grievance and one has sinned against the other for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. It is not a question if this will happen, but when. This is to be expected within the Body of Christ, and Jesus’ admonition for handling this is our own roadmap to this day (Mathew 18:15-20). It is this love that moves us to follow what Jesus has told us to do here. It is this love – Jesus’ love – that moves us, with God’s help, to repair fractured relationships in the Body of Christ, remembering that “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). As Jesus has loved us, so we are to love one another. This is our calling in Christ. This is the law of love. May God help us to do this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.