Praying to Humbly Admit My Sin, and To Share my Savior Jesus With Others

My wife, Kathy, reminded our family at our evening meal the other night of a potentially divisive event which happened at the July 2025 LCMS Youth Gathering in New Orleans. On July 22, Westboro Baptist Church (unaffiliated with any denomination) from Topeka, Kansas, protested. According to Google, “Protesters held signs with hateful messages, including ‘You are God's Enemy’ and ‘God hates you,’ which targeted the LCMS attendees.” Westboro from Topeka protests at big events around the country, primarily targeting sexual and gender issues.

At supper, Kathy reminded us of the sermon by LCMS President, Matthew Harrison, during the closing worship service. President Harrison referenced the protest in his sermon and said that some protestors had told him, “You have sinners in your church.” His reply to the protestors, according to his sermon, “Well, Duh!” Jesus established the church because “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) We have all fallen short and sinned. Everyone needs a savior. Jesus came because we need Him and we need His forgiveness. The purpose of the Christian Church is to share the saving forgiveness of Jesus!

October 26 will be celebrated in many churches as Reformation Sunday, because it is the last Sunday in October, and because the precipitating event of the Reformation, the 95 Theses, is dated to October 31, 1517. HOWEVER, if churches were not celebrating Reformation Sunday on that day, the Gospel reading assigned for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost is Luke 18:9-17, which includes the well-known parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. “9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.’" (Luke 18:9-14) In this parable, Jesus commends the humble confession and faith of the sinful tax collector over the self-righteous and judgmental behavior of the Pharisee.

Did you know that when asked for opinion polls in the 1980’s “How would you describe Christians?”, one of the most common answers given by Americans to that question was “arrogant!”? In their 2007 book, ‘UnChristian’, Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnaman wrote that this generation often sees Jesus’ church as ‘judgmental.’ In other words, it is not just the people who protested at the 2025 LCMS Youth Gathering who act that way. Christians live in the tension between, on the one hand, standing for God and His law to love our Lord and to love others. Yet, on the other hand, our main message is the grace and forgiveness found in Jesus. Unfortunately, Christians sometimes do come off as self-righteous and judgmental.

Do you remember Jesus’ words in Mark 2? After eating in the home of Levi, or Matthew the tax collector, we are told, “16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’" (Mark 2:16-17) Again, everyone needs a savior. Jesus came because we need Him, and we need His forgiveness.

One of my favorite examples of Christians behaving as I believe Jesus models, comes from the 1997 Promise Keepers event, “Stand in the Gap,” in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of thousands of Christian men gathered for teaching, support, and encouragement. I watched on television news as a news reporter from one of the major television networks at that time asked some attendees what they thought about other people. “What do you think of . . . ?” and the reporter listed a number of behaviors which traditional Christians believe transgress the law of God. The answers I heard were, “I cannot condemn someone else. I know that I personally am sinful, and I need my Savior to forgive me, and to help me live for Him.”

Christians live in the middle. We are called to stand for the righteousness of God, yet our primary message is one of forgiveness, because the perfect Son of God died on the cross to pay for our/my sins. My prayer is that I know and live the words of Jesus, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." My prayer is that I can humbly admit my sin, and that I share my Savior Jesus with others.