Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 23:05 mark.

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

What do you think when you hear that God’s ways are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts? I think most people, when they hear those words, are thinking about something bad, something evil, something hard to deal with. When loved ones die, or we face unexpected diagnoses, or we go through difficult times, we can sometimes take refuge in these words: well, God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. That is, we don’t understand what’s happening, and God hasn’t told us.

But why do we put these words in the context of things we judge to be bad? Isn’t the implication that we think God is causing or allowing something to happen to us that we don’t deserve? Like Job, we want to know why this or that is happening, but we get no answers. So we say, well, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. But if we keep these words in the realm of the Law, then why wouldn’t we be able to understand? We would be able to think God’s thoughts and understand His ways, because this is what comes naturally to us. Our difficulty understanding, we think, comes because what happens to us doesn’t line up with what we think should happen to us. But that’s still in the realm of God’s Law, which says that the one who does the Law will live from it. In other words, our trouble is not that these things happen, but that they are happening to us.

Because we very well understand this sort of cause and effect relationship between what people do and what they deserve. That comes naturally to us: do well in your job, and you should get a raise and a promotion; do badly, and you should be fired. Be nice to people, and they will be nice to you. Don’t speed, and you won’t get a ticket. Etc, etc. If this were what is going on in Isaiah 55, God’s ways would not be above our ways and His thoughts would not be above our thoughts; they would be the same.

But that is not what is going on. The entire chapter is not about deserving what comes to you, either good or bad. And it’s not about our difficulty understanding why bad things happen to us when we are good. From the very beginning of the chapter, these are words of comfort: Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen to Me and eat what is good, that you may live! (Isaiah 55:1-3). Seek Yahweh while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near! This is not about the good getting what they don’t deserve; it’s about the wicked abandoning their ways and the unrighteous abandoning their thoughts, and turning to God, who will have compassion, who will abundantly pardon!

This is where God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Here’s where God acts in a way that does not make sense to us. Consider how you feel—not how you think you should feel, but how you actually feel—when you hear a scenario like this: a serial killer, who’s killed several people, is arrested and convicted, and just before he’s about to be executed, a pastor hears his confession and declares Jesus’ forgiveness of him. How would you feel if you heard that? Or maybe closer to home, some member of the church who never comes to church, and then, when he’s about to die, he calls me and I go and he confesses his sins and I say, in the stead and by the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins. And he dies, and I do the funeral, and I preach Jesus’ baptism and forgiveness of that man. How would you feel if you heard that?

Probably, you would feel about as the workers in Jesus’ parable fee. The master hires workers early in the morning, and they work all day for a day’s wages. And then the master hires other workers throughout the day, and even hires workers who only work for one hour. He pays those workers first, and they get a day’s wage. So, of course, naturally, the workers who worked all day think that they’re going to get eight times, or however many more hours they worked than those who worked one hour and got a day’s wage. But they don’t. They get exactly the same amount as those who worked only one hour. And they’re mad about it. But God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. The early workers think that this is about being good and getting bad things. But take it from the last workers’ perspective: it’s about bad workers getting good things. It’s about the wicked turning from their ways and the unrighteous from their thoughts, and being turned to the ways and thoughts of the Master, of the Lord.

See it’s only bad news if you think the Master is giving you what you deserve. But if the Master gives what He wants to those whom He has chosen, then it’s all good news, no matter when you begin to be His servant. Seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near! As God says through Isaiah, “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for Me, and I was ready to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I, to a nation that was not called by My Name. I spread out My hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own thoughts”(Isaiah 65:1-2). None of the workers, none of us, nobody is out looking for God. We’re all just following our own rebellious thoughts and our own rebellious ways, and God comes near in the flesh and blood of Jesus and holds out His pierced hands to us and everyone all day.

It is God’s compassion, His forgiveness, His pardon that is not at all like our ways and thoughts. And He chooses and gives and comes near and lets Himself be found by those who are not looking for Him or asking for Him. Here and now, to you, thinking that somehow you are an exception to the wicked and the unrighteous, at least in comparison to some serial killer or the person who doesn’t come to church. But none of us are that exception. No, to you and to me, He still holds out His hands: seek Me where I have promised to be found! Call upon Me while I am near! I bring My death and resurrection as near to you as water on your head. I bring My flesh and blood as near to you as the bread and wine you eat. For you, the Lord says, Here am I! Here am I. I do what I want with what belongs to Me, and what I want is to give it to you. I choose to give you My Christ, My forgiveness, My mercy, My eternal life. Come and buy without money and without price, come and live.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 9/23/23