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Jesus, the Bread of Life

3/28/2022

James Tissot, The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish, 1886-94. Public Domain.

Lent 4 Laetare Sunday
John 6:1-15
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 27, 2022

Last week, my son Thomas caught a centipede. It was the biggest centipede I’ve seen around here. He put it in a jar with a stick and some dirt, and much to the chagrin of his older sister, he put the jar in his bedroom. Then, desiring to feed his newfound pet, he asked me, “What do centipedes eat?” I didn’t know. I still don’t know. I didn’t bother to look it up. But you know who does know what centipedes eat? God does. Not only does he know what centipedes eat, he provides them with the food they need to eat every day. So, I was confident when we convinced Thomas to let the creepy little hundred-footed bug go, that it would find plenty to eat in the backyard.

And that’s something to think about. God provides for the bodily needs of all animals, even creepy little bugs. How much more will he graciously provide us with all that we need. Jesus tested his disciples, asking them where they could buy food for the people. His disciples stressed out about this. Of course, they did. How on earth were they going to feed five thousand men, not including their wives and children? Yet, this was a test. Jesus knew what he was going to do. He knows what he is going to do every day that he provides for the needs of every living thing.

Food prices are going up. Gas prices are going up. Prices for everything are going up. And there’s a good chance prices will continue to go up for quite a while. It is going to be more expensive for farmers to grow our food and it’s going to be more expensive for the truckers to get that food to us, along with everything else we need and want. So, we’re stressed out about that. And we’re planning for how we’ll deal with this challenge. And there is nothing wrong with making plans. Yet, it is certainly wrong to obsess over these plans, to think it all depends on you, to act as if God doesn’t care or doesn’t know, and that these earthly things are more important than our heavenly needs.

Jesus taught this great crowd in the wilderness as he healed their sick. And among the many things he taught them (Mark 6:34) was certainly the lesson to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the rest will be added unto you, and to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and how God provides for the entire earth, so he certainly will provide for your needs as well. And then, Jesus not only teaches this with words, but he teaches this with deeds. Jesus proves himself to be the Son of God through whom all things are created and kept alive. He feeds the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two small fish.

This should have taught them to abandon their worries, to put their trust in God, to seek first the heavenly things Jesus was offering them. But for most of them, this was not the case. Rather, they wanted to force Jesus to be their king; not the King God had appointed him to be, but a bread king, who would fill their bellies and fix their illnesses until they run their course and die. They rightly called Jesus the Prophet, meaning the Christ who is coming into the world. But they think God sent the Christ, so that they could be content to stuff their faces with bread and fish!

Yet, this is how people think of Jesus Christ today. You’ll notice that very few churches teach the Gospel of Christ anymore. They won’t speak of his dying on the cross for the sins of the world, of the need for sinners to repent and to abandon their sinful ways, of our need to be forgiven and to grow in faith and be distinct from his world as God’s holy people, and of God’s willingness to forgive our sins and save us for Christ’s sake. No, this Gospel is too controversial. The topic of sin is too divisive. Repentance is too archaic. The crucifixion is too barbaric. So, churches will rather teach their own gospels that focus on solving worldly problems, that seek to be relevant to the here and now, and to people of various backgrounds and beliefs. The gospel has evolved. People aren’t concerned about eternal salvation. They’re concerned about salvation today in this world.

Yet all this garbled foolishness is just the same old regurgitated mammon worship of those who want to stuff their faces with bread. Oh, it may not be barley loaves, it might be environmental, racial, or LGBT justice; it might be solutions to help your marriage today or how to fix your finances. But all these new gospels are the same as searching after a bread king. They’ll perish. All who strive after these gospels will perish with them.

So, Jesus leaves this crowd and crosses the sea to Capernaum. But the crowd catches up to him. Here, Jesus confronts them saying, “You did not seek me because you saw the signs (that is, because they wanted to learn what these signs meant and grow in faith), but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

Here Jesus rebukes them for worshiping the bread. And he rebukes us for worshiping our bread, whatever that bread may be. It will perish. It won’t do you any good tomorrow. “Seek after that which will help you today, tomorrow, and into eternity! Don’t worry about what you need to eat. Didn’t you see that I was able to feed you all until you were satisfied, even when we were out in the wilderness with nothing but five loaves and a couple fish? Seek first the kingdom. Seek that spiritual food, which lasts forever. God will look after your body in this life.”

But then, Jesus goes on and identifies that food which we should seek, which endures to eternal life. He says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) Jesus himself is the bread of life, which we should seek. Here he draws a helpful point of comparison. The one who comes to Jesus shall not hunger, the one who believes shall not thirst. So, later, when Jesus tells them that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, he is speaking of a spiritual eating and drinking. Yet, even with this point of comparison to explain Jesus’ figure of speech, the crowd gets ever more frustrated with Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t back down. He says:

“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:48-51) Here, people think that Jesus is speaking in riddles so convoluted, no one can decipher his meaning. But actually, Jesus speaks plainer to them than he has to anyone yet. Jesus plainly declares that he is the Christ who has come down from heaven. No more telling healed lepers and blind men not to tell anyone what he has done. No, here Jesus says, “You wonder who I am? How I am able to heal the sick and feed the multitudes? Yes, I am he! I am the Christ come down from heaven!” This should open their ears to listen, but they can’t handle it. Jesus says that the bread he will give for the life of the world is his flesh! How can they eat his flesh?

Yet still, Jesus does not let up. He goes on:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)

How will Jesus give his flesh and blood for us to eat and drink? By giving his body up to be crucified for our sins and by shedding his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is speaking of a spiritual feast. We must feast on the Gospel that Jesus was crucified for our sins. The flesh is of no help at all. Jesus’ words are spirit and life. We cannot live by bread alone. We cannot live by anything on this earth. We only have life if we in faith feast on Christ, on his passion and death for our sins.

Listen to the promise! “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” What you strive after day in and day out will not make you live forever. It may put food on the table and clothes on your kids back and gas in the car. But all these things run out, and besides, God promises to give you what you need. But only Christ’s flesh and blood given into death for you can make you live forever. Only if you feast on these words in faith will you rise to eternal life on the Last Day.

Now few can listen to these words without thinking of the Lord’s Supper, which is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine. Now, in the Lord’s Supper, we feast on Jesus’ flesh and blood in two ways. The first is orally. The Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ true body and blood whether you believe it or not, because Jesus’s words say they are. This is why St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.” This is why we practice closed Communion and do not give the Lord’s Supper to those who have not been instructed and examined, who continue in sin without repenting, or who confess a different faith. If a child thinks medicine is candy, it doesn’t turn the medicine into candy. And the child could get very sick if he eats the medicine. In the Lord’s Supper, everyone eats orally of the body and blood of the Lord, whether they are worthy or not.

The second feasting is spiritually, that is, by faith. This is how one worthily eats of the Sacrament, by first feasting on Christ’s flesh and blood through faith in Jesus’ passion for our sin. In this way, we recognize the Sacrament of the Altar as the medicine of immortality and desire it more than the finest meal at a high-class restaurant.

I have my concerns over the high prices of food and goods. I know you do too. But God promises to take care of us. He feeds the centipedes for crying out loud! How much more does he care for you. But our Lord offers us a meal that endures to eternal life. This is the food we should make sure we never do without, but should confess with St. Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Amen.

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Casting Out Satan

3/21/2022

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James Tissot, Blind and Mute Man Possessed by Devils, 1886-94. Public Domain.

Lent 3 Oculi
Luke 11:14-28
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 20, 2022

In Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve fell into sin, the LORD God said to the serpent, who deceived them, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal.” This is known as the protoevangelium, that is, the first proclamation of the Gospel in the Bible. Jesus is the seed of the woman, who will crush Satan’s head even as his heal is bruised on the cross. Yet, this proclamation of the Lord predicts another truth that is often overlooked. “I will put enmity between you and the woman” predicts that Satan will establish his kingdom here on earth and wage war against the children of Eve. Satan is the strong man Jesus mentions in his little parable, fully armed, guarding his own palace, so that his goods are safe. Yet, Satan’s kingdom is not a geographical place with borders, so that you can leave his dominion by crossing a line in the ground. Satan is a spirit. He establishes his palace in the hearts of Eve’s children, so that they become his children. That is why when John the Baptist preached repentance to the scribes and Pharisees, he called them “brood of vipers,” (Luke 3:7) that is children of serpents. Satan is the great serpent, who tempted our first mother Eve.

Now Christ, the seed of the woman, has come to wage war against Satan. It’s interesting that Jesus points out that Satan would not divide his own kingdom, when he is accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Satan certainly wouldn’t divide his own kingdom to lay it waste, but that is exactly what Christ has come to do. We learned two weeks ago how Jesus strove with Satan in the wilderness and overcame each temptation. Then, as he begins his ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick, demon possessed persons cry out in every city against him, until he casts the demons out. The devils know that they are at war. Jesus, the stronger man, has come to strip Satan of his armor and divide his spoils.

Of course, casting a mute demon out of a poor man only foreshadows the great exorcism Christ will perform on Good Friday, when he will strip off all of Satan’s armor by bearing our sins on the cross and redeeming us with his blood. Satan’s armor in which he trusts are his lies. He lies to lead us to sin and unbelief. Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the life. He overcomes Satan’s lies with the truth of his Gospel. He takes our sins away, undoing Satan’s work and removing our guilt, so that Satan may no longer accuse us before God (Revelation 12:10).

Yet, there are those who see Jesus cast out this demon and they accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Jesus points out the absurdity of Satan dividing his own kingdom and laying waste to it. But then he points out, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” These are sobering words.

In Numbers chapter twelve, Moses’ older sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron, opposed him. God appeared in a cloud, as he would, and rebuked Miriam and Aaron, pointing out that unlike the other prophets, to whom he spoke in visions and dreams, he spoke to Moses face to face like a friend. Then he concludes, “Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” They should have been afraid to speak against Moses, because they weren’t speaking against their little brother, they were speaking against God, who spoke through Moses.

Well, how much more should these blasphemers be afraid to speak against the Christ, God himself in the flesh! Yet, they don’t see Jesus as the Christ, even though he fulfills every prophecy Scripture says of the Christ. All they see is the man. They think they’re speaking against plain flesh and blood. But no, they are speaking against God himself. And so, they have found themselves on the wrong side of a cosmic war between God’s Kingdom and Satan’s Kingdom. “The Kingdom of God has come upon you, and you opposed it! You should be afraid.” That is what Jesus says to these blasphemers, who accuse him of being in league with Satan.

Yet, people continue to find themselves on the wrong side of this war. Jesus said to his disciples in the previous chapter of Luke, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16). And so, people continue to speak against Jesus without realizing it, because they are speaking against one of his ministers whom he sent. All they see are two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. But if they would consider Jesus’ words, they would take the words from that mouth more seriously. Certainly, every Christian should speak against false teaching, especially if it is spoken by a pastor. Yet, we only know the difference between true teaching and false teaching from the Bible. Yet, most people look at the Bible as just an ordinary book. It’s just paper bound together with ink on it, like any other book. So, they dismiss anything in it that they don’t like.

Beware that you do not behave that way. God’s Word written on paper is still God’s Word as if Christ spoke to us from heaven. And when Christ’s minister speaks God’s Word as it is taught in Scripture, Christ himself is speaking to you. If you speak against God’s Word, no matter who speaks it, you are opposing God’s Kingdom.

God’s Kingdom comes to us today through the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. This is because Christ has accomplished everything to win our salvation. He has fulfilled the Law for us. He overcame Satan in our stead. He suffered and died for the sins of the world. He is risen and ascended to the Father’s right hand, from which he showers the Church on earth with his grace. So, until Christ returns to establish us in his Kingdom of Glory for eternity, we live in Christ’s Kingdom of Grace here on earth. That means, we receive God’s Kingdom through faith. As Satan established his kingdom on earth by stealing the hearts of Eve’s children, so Christ today evicts Satan from our hearts through the Gospel. The preached Gospel, which declares the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which also declares the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake, are received through faith alone. So, God’s kingdom comes to us through the preached Gospel and administration of the Sacraments, and his kingdom takes root in our hearts through faith alone.

And here it is important to point out that it is not only those who actively speak against God’s Word and Christ, who are on the wrong side of this spiritual war. Jesus says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” There is no neutral ground in this war. You are either a Christian or you are an unbeliever. You are either a citizen of God’s Kingdom and at war with Satan, or you are in league with Satan and at war with God.

Jesus tells a simple parable to explain this. If an unclean spirit is cast out of a man, but returns to find him swept clean and put in order, then he returns with seven more spirits eviler than himself and the last state of that person is worse than the first. This is to say, that if you repent of your sins and turn to Christ, but do not continue with Christ, but become apathetic, then Satan will return with a vengeance! You can’t stand on the sidelines. Jesus says that whoever confesses him before men, him also will he confess before his Father in heaven, but whoever denies him before men, he also will deny before his Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33) Silence is denial. Indifference is enmity. Neglecting God’s Word is despising God’s Word. Apathy is unbelief. This is why Jesus says to the church in Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

Last week, I exhorted you to win when wrestling with God by clinging to the promise he gives you. This is a good exercise when reading the Bible or listening to a sermon. Where is the promise? What is Christ promising me? What must I cling onto? Here is the promise in this lesson, which should give you great comfort and joy. After a woman blesses Jesus’ mother for his great teaching, Jesus says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” Blessed means to be eternally blessed, to be saved, to be an eternal citizen in God’s kingdom. The word, which we know saves, is the Gospel. No one will be saved by works of the Law. We believe in Jesus; we trust in his forgiveness, and we are saved. Christ Jesus is the strong man, who plunders Satan and rescues us from his kingdom. The word keep, I think would be better translated as guard. It is not that Jesus is promising eternal blessedness to those who keep the Law. That is hardly a comforting promise, since we fail to keep the Law. Rather, Jesus is teaching us to guard the Gospel given to us. We do this by hearing it, learning it, and taking it to heart. And of course, those who trust in the Gospel bear good fruits and perform works of the Law pleasing to God.

This word for guard is the same word used to describe Satan, the strong man guarding his palace. Satan guards his palace with lies. He keeps us captive by tempting us to sin and causing us to doubt God’s grace for us in Christ Jesus. Yet, the Gospel of the free forgiveness of sins for Christ’ sake disarms Satan. We guard and hold fast to the Gospel by continuing to hear it and apply it to our guilty conscience, by receiving the Sacrament and trusting in its benefits. “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it” says very much the same thing as Jesus’ saying, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The Gospel is true. It sets us free from the lies of Satan. Those who hear the Gospel, believe it, and guard it against Satan’s lies by continuing to hear it and trust in it are blessed. They are citizens of God’s Kingdom. And they will dwell in God’s Kingdom of glory forever. Amen.

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Wrestling with God

3/16/2022

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Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Cristoforo Roncalli, early 1620s. Italian. Public Domain.

Reminiscere (Lent 2) Sunday
Genesis 32:26
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 13, 2022

“Then [God ] said, ‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’” Genesis 32:26

Last week we learned how to strive with Satan and win through faith in Christ. Today we learn how to wrestle with God. If Satan seems like an intimidating opponent, how much more God! Why is it that God lays such heavy crosses on those he loves? And doesn’t it seem like God fights dirty? He knocks Jacob’s hip out of joint. That certainly isn’t a legal move in the rules of wrestling. Why does God hide his face from us in trials? Why does God wrestle with us? The answer is simple: because a person is saved through faith alone. You are not saved by your own good works. You do not earn your salvation. You are saved solely through trusting the promise of forgiveness and salvation for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Now, how does that make sense? Why then the trial? Because faith that does not go through trials grows faint and weak and dies. God must put faith to the test in order to keep it alive and focus the faith on the promise, which alone gives life.

We learned about this a few weeks ago in Jesus’ parable about the sower and the seed. The seed that fell among the thorns and was choked out were those who heard the word of God, but the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life choked the word, so that the fruit failed to mature. Now think of it; the thorns are cares, riches, and pleasures in life. They don’t seem like thorns in real life, although they are! They seem like a busy and even productive life. We chase after our cares. We pursue riches. We strive after pleasures. And we enjoy it all. We call them good gifts from God as a pretense for our idolatry, but we fail to give God thanks and praise for them. Meanwhile, the thorns grow ever thicker, choking and strangling until the Gospel is squeezed out of our hearts to make room for the transient pleasures of life.

God sees this, and he rushes to rescue us, as a parent rushes to save his child from drowning. And he rips the thorns off of us in order to save our souls! Yet, we don’t see it that way. We liked the thorns. We thought we needed them. We thought they were proof that God loved us. So, when the thorns are ripped out, we assume that God must hate us; he’s turned his back on us. We wonder whether God will ever give us a good thing again.

Yet, it was the thorns that were killing us. God certainly knows what we need and will eagerly provide it for us. But by laying a burden on us, or by taking something we like away, he is actually directing our attention to his promise in order to save our faith from destruction. God knows how much to give and how much to take away for your own good, as the Proverb goes, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:8-9)

Jacob certainly has reached the extremes of that prayer. He crossed the Jordan with nothing and now he goes back with two camps. God has made him rich and has promised him even more, to make him a great nation and to bless all nations of the earth through his seed. Yet, here again, Jacob is brought low. He is in danger of losing everything. His brother Esau, whom he had cheated twice, now comes to meet him with 400 men. Jacob fears he will lose his wives, his children, his servants, and his flocks and herds. It appears that God is taking away everything that he had given him, and worse, that God was revoking his promise to make him a great nation and to bless the world through the Christ, who would be born from him.

This is what this wrestling match is about. The man, whom Jacob wrestles through the night is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ, God himself before he has become man. Christ has taken the form of a man and wrestled with Jacob through the night as if to say, “The promise is lost. You’re done. God has forsaken you.” Yet, despite God knocking Jacob’s hip out of joint, Jacob still holds on. He causes God to plead with Jacob to let him go, but Jacob won’t let go until God blesses him. Why? Is Jacob just a stubborn old man? No. rather because when Jacob is on the verge of losing everything, the only thing he can hold onto is the promise.

God promised Jacob to make him a great nation. God promised to bless the whole earth through Jacob, meaning that the Christ would be born from his lineage. And moreover, God promised that he would not leave Jacob or forsake him until he had done what he had promised. (Genesis 28:13-15). Jacob believed the promise (Genesis 32:12). So, he clings to the promise. As he clung to the body of the man he wrestled even as his hip sat out of joint, so his heart clung to the words of his Savior even though it felt like it would break. Jacob may have been limping at the end of his match, but his faith was never stronger.

And so, Jacob teaches us to cling to the promise. There is nothing that you are worried about that Jacob did not worry about in his struggle with God. Are you worried about your property, your children, your spouse, your eternal salvation? Jacob was set to lose everything he owned, to watch his children murdered and his wives taken as slaves, to see the Gospel itself snuffed out in front of him. Yet, he endured. Follow Jacob’s example. Cling to the promise!

And has God given you a promise to cling to? Has he ever! Are you worried about the needs of your body and of your children? Listen to these words from our Lord Jesus, “Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, owe you of little faith.” (Luke 12:27-28) Put these words to memory. Imprint them on your heart. And when you worry, say them back to Jesus. Tell him what he said. And don’t stop telling him until he gives you what he promised.

Do you fear that God will not answer your prayer? That he has hidden his face from you? Learn these words of our Lord Jesus, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) Learn this saying of Jesus by heart. Remind yourself of it whenever it looks like God has forgotten you. Hold on to this promise and don’t let go.

Are you afraid of your enemies? Hear the words of Saint Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will ne not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31) Say that to your doubt. Confess this when your enemies come for you.

Do you have a guilty conscience? Are you afraid of being condemned to hell? Commit these words of Scripture to memory, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) You don’t need to memorize the entire Bible. But there are many passages you can easily put to memory that will strengthen your faith, drive you to prayer, and comfort you in trial.

God renamed Jacob after their match saying, “No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel”. The meaning of the name Israel has confused many Bible scholars throughout the centuries. Some have suggested that it means, “Man who sees God.” Ish is Hebrew for man. Raah is Hebrew for sees. And El is Hebrew for God. Ish-raah-El. That sounds nice, but that isn’t what God said. God said, “for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” A better translation would be, “He who rules God.” Sar in Hebrew means chief or prince. Sarah means to rule as a prince. So, the name Yi-Sra-El would mean, “Ruler of God.” Yet, this seems almost blasphemous. How can we say that a man can rule over God? But it is not that God is conquered against his will! No, God wants to be ruled, so to say, in this particular sense. He wants to be ruled by his promise, because that means that he has our complete trust.

If a thug holds a loaded gun to my chest, I would willingly hand over my wallet and the keys to my car to save my life. In that sense, I’ve been mastered. The thief has the upper hand. But God certainly cannot be caught in that way. Yet, I will gladly give much more than the contents of my wallet or my car to my child throughout my life, even though my children are weaker and smaller than me and can’t force me to do anything. Yet, their trust in me and my love for them drives me to empty myself for their sake. This is how God is ruled by us, when we trust solely in him from the heart. No good thing can he deny us.

This is what Israel means. This is why the Canaanite woman with the demon oppressed daughter was truly a daughter of Israel. She caught Jesus in his words and clung to his promise, even if his promise called her a dog. And her great faith received much more than help from a demon. She received eternal life!

God does not wrestle with us to be cruel to us. He wrestles with us, because he loves us. He wants us to trust solely in him. God has sent his Son to die for us, so that our salvation is purchased with God’s own blood. He promises that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved and to seek first his kingdom and righteousness and all the rest will be added unto you. In so many simple and clear words that you can carry around in your pocket or in your heart, God has promised forgiveness, protection, and eternal salvation to you. God wants you to learn these promises and cling to them, so that when he tests you, you have something to hold on to, so that you may overcome and be victorious.

So often we neglect prayer, because we don’t know what to pray for, or we think it won’t do any good. But when you cling to God’s promise, you find strength to pray, and you find that your prayer has power to bend God down to earth to hear you and answer you. And that is exactly what God wants to do. Amen.

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Striving with Satan

3/7/2022

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The Temptation of Christ, Maestro Bartolemé, 1450-1493. Public Domain.

Invocavit Sunday (Lent 1)
Matthew 4:1-11
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 6, 2022

When people think of Satan, they often think of two extremes that are both false. The first extreme is that Satan is a harmless spirit, who couldn’t hurt you if he tried. (This is why many so flippantly play around with the occult, visit psychics, and try to make contact with the dead or other spirits). The other extreme is that Satan is an unconquerable foe against whom no one can help you, not even God. With this view, many look at Satan as God’s equal, an evil god, against whom all resistance is futile.

Both these extremes of course are wrong. Satan is not harmless. He is our evil foe. Scripture calls him a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and a dragon, who claims many lives. Satan is our arch enemy, our number one problem. His goal is to lead you into sin and unbelief and to send you to hell. And he’s very good at it. He has claimed countless victims in his millennia long career, and he is not done. Yet, Satan is certainly conquerable. He is not all-powerful. He is only a fallen angel. He is not able to do anything beyond what God permits. And, our Lord Jesus Christ himself has defeated Satan for us in human flesh, so that we too might share in Jesus’ victory over Satan.

Likewise, as with Satan, there are two extreme opinions about Jesus, both of which are false. The first extreme is that Jesus came to earth only to be our example, to show us how we can make it to heaven by our works. In this way, Jesus would be nothing more than a second Moses, a lawgiver. And he wouldn’t be any better than Moses, because Moses didn’t give any command that God himself didn’t give. This extreme leaves us with little hope of salvation, because our salvation would still depend on us.

The second extreme, is that Jesus did not come to be our example at all; we do not need to learn from Jesus how to behave; since Jesus has overcome temptation in our stead, we can freely fall into temptation without fear; our sinning doesn’t matter; we don’t need to resist Satan. This extreme is equally wrong, because it gives the victory back to Satan after Jesus has won it for us! If you continue in sin without repenting, then you lose your salvation, as Hebrews 10 states, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (25-26) Jesus did not come to earth only to be an example to follow. He came to earth to be our Champion and to defeat Satan in our stead. Yet, Jesus also is our example, whom we should learn from, so that we can withstand Satan when he attacks.

Correcting these extremes about Satan and Jesus is important when confronting our own battle with Satan in this life. You’ll notice that immediately after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be temped by the devil. And so, we too, when we are baptized into Christ and become Christians through faith, the Holy Spirit leads us through this wilderness to be tempted by the devil for an appointed time. We must recognize that Satan is our deadly enemy, who desires to destroy our saving faith, and Jesus is our example in how we must fight against him.

“If you are the Son of God,” Satan jeers at our Lord. And so, Satan accuses us saying, “If you are God’s own child…” But Jesus did not need to prove himself to Satan or meet Satan’s standard. And neither do we. We are God’s children, because God says so in our Baptism by the merits of Christ. So, Jesus teaches us not to be thrown off our footing when sparing with Satan. A key you find in every answer Jesus gives to the devil, “It is written.” We don’t fight Satan with lofty human wisdom, eloquent speech or convoluted philosophical arguments. We use the same sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) which our Lord took up in human flesh, the holy Word of God. Scripture was written for us to use it against Satan and his lies.

The first word of Scripture Jesus employs is, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” as quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3. This statement is often misunderstood to mean, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but also by what proceeds from the mouth of God.”, as if bread isn’t sufficient, God’s Word must be added. But that’s not what it says. Man lives by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God alone. Yes, you need to eat. Yes, the grain must grow; the livestock must be raised; the oil must be drilled, etc. But not a kernel will sprout but by the word of God. Not a loaf of bread, not a bite to eat, nor a shred of cloth to cover your naked body will be produced outside of the Word of God. God produces all these things by his omnipotent Word. And if he desires for you to live without them, he could sustain you by his Word alone. Yet, if God were to cause the earth to be filled with bread and every other delicacy we crave, as we now experience, yet were to withhold his saving Word from us, we would be lost. It would be better to starve in the wilderness, staring at rocks, than to live in a land full of bread without the Gospel of Christ, which alone gives life that will never die.

And so, when Satan lies to you and tries to convince you that you need things other than or more than God’s Word, employ this dagger to his heart: “Man lives by the word of God alone.” And trust in God to provide for you.

Second, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” After Satan tries to get Jesus to prove himself to be God’s Son, he then tries to get Jesus to test his Father himself. He did this by misquoting Psalm 91, yet leaving out the important line, “To guard you in all your ways,” as if God’s angels were sent to play games with Christians who like to jump off buildings and not to protect them from evil thrown at them by the devil and the sinful world.

And this is how Satan tempts us. He tempts us to put God to the test. We put God to the test when we purposefully do what God forbids with the attitude that if God loves me, he’ll protect me. So, Satan fools people into neglecting going to worship and hearing God’s Word, participating in unchristian activity like drunkenness and fornication, all the while thinking that God won’t let the saving faith depart from their hearts. God’s angels will attend me, even if I purposefully walk down the path of unrighteousness and unbelief.

Yet, Jesus teaches us to use Scripture: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. God indeed promises to send his angels to us and to provide for us an escape out of temptation, but we must not test him by fleeing from his angels and ignoring the way of escape he provides.

Finally, Jesus quotes, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve (Deuteronomy 6:13).” This word teaches us to serve our Lord in every faction of our life. Husbands and wives serve the Lord in your homes, workers at work, students at school. This word will remind us who we are and why we are doing everything in our life. It brings a constant check to our actions and a curb to Satan’s lies.

Jesus certainly is our example in battle against Satan. And as angels attended him in his physical weakness, so God sends his angels to minister to us as we battle Satan in this wilderness. Yet, unlike Jesus, we do not finish every bout untouched. We don’t seek to live by God’s Word alone, but we crave after bread in all its forms, even neglecting to hear God’s Word and find strength in the Gospel, so that we can pursue more wealth. We test God’s patience and love by going longer and longer without prayer, longer without hearing and meditating on God’s word, further down dangerous roads, dabbling in our vices, indulging in sins, confident we’ll turn back when we need to, the angels won’t let us go too far. We pray, “lead us out of temptation,” but only halfheartedly, while our eye is already on that sin we long to commit. And we worship and serve other gods, who have found a place in our hearts. It might not seem so brazen as prostrating ourselves before Satan and worshiping him, but we serve and trust and love other gods, wealth, power, comfort, the affection of others, more than God.

It's not that Jesus isn’t the perfect example, but that we fail to follow his perfect course. But Jesus didn’t come to be a mere example. He came to be our champion. During these forty days of Lent, we spend much time focusing on the passion of Jesus on the cross. Yet, here on the first Sunday in Lent, we see that Jesus overcomes Satan already in the wilderness. Jesus does not sin. And this we must keep in mind as we walk with Jesus to his cross on Good Friday. That Sacred Head there wounded is the same one who silenced Satan in the wilderness, who overcame every temptation. Our Jesus is without sin. Our Jesus is righteous, holy, perfectly obedient. But he suffers for sins he has not committed. Jesus is our perfect High Priest, able to sympathize with us in our weakness, yet he is not limited by his own sin, because he has none. Jesus is the perfect Sacrifice, a Lamb without spot or blemish, who can take our place under God’s punishment and satisfy his righteous wrath. Jesus makes atonement for our sins on the cross, because he defeated Satan in the wilderness. Jesus’ passive obedience on the cross was made perfect by his active obedience in the wilderness when he obeyed God rather than Satan.

And so, Jesus proves himself to be the Seed of the Woman, who crushes the Serpent’s head, even as his heal is bruised on the cross. And this grants us the greatest and only sure victory over Satan. We have Jesus. As long as we have Jesus, Satan loses. We only lose to Satan if we lose Jesus, because even if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who has made atonement for all our sins. Do not underestimate Satan. Yet, do not fear him. If you have Jesus, you have already won. Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

Jesus, the Bread of Life

Casting Out Satan

Wrestling with God

Striving with Satan

Rev. James Preus

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