September 13, 2026 | 16^th Sunday after Pentecost
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church — Buffalo, NY

References

Scripture: Romans 14:1–12; Matthew 18:21–35; with reference to Amos and Micah 6:8
Video of worship/sermon (will soon be updated to link directly to the gospel reading and sermon)

What Actually Matters?

Do you consider yourself to be a judgmental person?

How do you know when you or someone else is being judgmental?

I’m wondering if there’s a difference between judgment and being judgmental.

We all make judgments. We notice differences. We evaluate situations. We decide that some things are good and some are harmful, some are important and some aren’t.
We can tell a Bills fan when we see them!
We can also tell a Patriots fan … or even … a Kansas City fan.

So, judgment can simply be about noticing differences. And that’s according to the Pastor Jeff “Always Correct Even When It’s Questionable” Dictionary.

Being judgmental is something different.

Being judgmental is about taking my judgments—my values, my standards, my beliefs, my understanding of what’s right—and using them to determine the rightness or even the worthiness of someone else.

In the end, what actually matters?

Mercy for Me, Judgment for You

Our readings from Romans and Matthew allow us to focus on judgment and being judgmental. They point out that we often have two sets of standards: those for us and those for everyone else.

In Matthew, a slave owed such a huge debt. He pled with the king. Because the king had mercy, he forgave ALL of the slave’s debt.

That same slave also had people who owed him money. We might expect that, because he had received such mercy from the king, he, too, would show mercy and forgive their debt. But he did not.

Now, we don’t know what was going on in the mind of that slave, but he very well could have been thinking:

“That king has so much money! I’m so very thankful that he forgave all of my debt—but the king probably won’t even miss the money I owed. I don’t have near as much as the king. I need every bit of money I can get my hands on. So, it’s only right that I demand payment from those who owe me.”

Do you see the two sets of standards? The rationale he used to justify his own actions is different from what he applied to everybody else.

In the end, what actually matters?

How Do Others Perceive Our Deeply Held Values?

In Romans, St. Paul does something very dangerous.

He says that the things people are divided about and arguing about and angry about—what food to eat or not, what day of the week is holy or not, who belongs and who does not—these are all … opinions.

Think of your most deeply held values. What if someone called them … opinions.

Doesn’t that seem to downplay the role and importance of those deeply held values?

By calling them opinions, is Paul telling us that nothing is actually important? Nothing actually matters?

If we were to make a list of the top deeply held values of people around the world, we would be here for a while! Values about sports, religion, morality, money, hospitality, how to prepare certain foods, and just about everything under the rubric of “politics.”

But Matthew and Paul challenge us to go deeper.
To ask: What actually matters?
To ask, “What matters in the moment versus what matters over the arc of time?”

Centering Ourselves on Jesus

You and I begin to answer this for ourselves as we center on Jesus.

Of all the commands and ordinances of God, of all the important things said in the Bible, Jesus says that what actually matters is this: Loving God with all that you have and all that you are, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

This is where we find mercy.

This is also where we find the moral courage to follow Jesus and prophets like Amos, who spoke strongly against being unjust and exploiting people, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Does treating people justly qualify as being what actually matters?

Or does what we eat, wear, believe, or where our political opinions lie actually matter more?

Maybe those things ultimately don’t matter as much as we think they do.

Does Love Actually Matter?

So, maybe the question we carry with us is quite directly: Do the things I do in my own life actually matter to the love of God and neighbor?

Because we can spend enormous amounts of time and energy judging things that don’t actually matter while ignoring the things that matter profoundly.

Perhaps what actually matters most isn’t whether the person standing in front of me sees everything exactly the way I do.

Maybe what actually matters is how I love, do justice, and show mercy to the person standing in front of me as I walk humbly with God.

Questions for Reflection

Where do you find yourself applying one standard to your own actions and another standard to someone else?
What deeply held belief or value might you need to reconsider by asking, “Does this actually matter to the love of God and neighbor?”
Who is the person “standing in front of you” right now whom God may be calling you to love, treat justly, or show mercy?

Worship Video – Sermon

Video will soon be updated to link directly to the gospel reading and sermon.

Epicurious Lutheran