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Meeting Christ in Humility

4/16/2025

Palm Sunday
Philippians 2:5-11
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 13, 2025

St. Paul teaches us to think like Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is true God, yet He humbled Himself and took on the form of a slave, suffering and dying on the cross. Therefore, God highly exalted Him above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Yet, there are some essential things we need to clear up here.
When Jesus humbled Himself, He did not stop being God. Jesus is just as much true God as He hangs on the cross as He is true God sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. St. Paul says that he emptied Himself of the form of God, but He did not stop being God. He did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, because He is equal to God the Father and the Holy Spirit, sharing in the one and same divine essence. But Jesus never for a moment stopped being God. That is impossible. Likewise, when the Father highly exalted Christ, so that He sits at the right hand of the Father receiving honor and service from all beings in heaven, earth, and hell, He remains just as much a man as He was when He was crucified. Christ is true God and true man at all times and everywhere.
Many people think that Christ humbled Himself by becoming a man. However, Christ is a man today, yet He is by no means humiliated anymore. Others mistakenly think that Christ stopped being a man when He ascended into heaven. Yet, St. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (vs. 5) If Christ ceased to be a man, then He would cease to be our crucified Savior. Then He would not be able to intercede for us with His scars. Then He would not be able to give us His body and blood to eat and to drink. Yet, if Christ ceased to be God when He humbled Himself and suffered and died for our sins, then His death would be an insufficient price for the sins of the world, as Psalm 49 states, “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit. (vss. 7-9) Yet, the same Psalm states, “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me. (vs. 15) And Jesus says of Himself, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) and St. John writes in 1 John 2, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (vs. 2) Christ’s death was able to take away all sins, because He is not only a man, but God as well.
So, Christ is true God on the cross even as He is true man. Yet, He humbles Himself. But if Christ is true God and true man both before and after He suffers and dies, why does He humble Himself? Why does He empty Himself of the form of God? He does this for our sake. He humbles Himself, so that He could condescend to us and join Himself to our misery, yes, even to our sin and death, so that He may bear condemnation for us. This is called Christ’s humiliation. The humiliation of Christ is when Jesus hides His divine glory. He doesn’t shed His divine nature. He covers it up in humility, weakness, hunger, sweat, blood, and death.
Christ knew no sin, yet He became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). This does not mean that He Himself was a sinner, but He took on all our sins and suffered for them in our place. He became a curse, so that we might be blessed. As Jesus enters Jerusalem lowly and riding on a donkey, He enters as the perfect Passover Lamb ready to cause death to pass over all of us on account of His sacred blood.
Therefore, God has highly exalted Jesus. Jesus was already God. How then was He exalted? He no longer bears the form of a slave or sinner. He has nailed the sins of the whole world to His cross. The exaltation of Christ is when He always displays His divine glory. He did this in His resurrection and ascension. And we will see His divine glory when He returns to judge the living and the dead. Even those who hate Him, will look on Him whom they have pierced and confess Him as Lord and God to their great shame with Satan and his angels. Yet, we who trust in Christ will confess His glorious name with great joy as He lifts us up to be with Him forever.
And it is this Christ whom Paul tells us to imitate. That is, we should humble ourselves out of love for one another as Christ humbled Himself out of love for us. Yet, shamefully, we find this too difficult. Paul tells us in humility to consider others more significant than ourselves. Yet, how often do you consider yourself the most important person? Christ meanwhile, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, because He is God. Nevertheless, He humbled Himself for the sake of others, serving them in His death. We are sinners and cannot claim to be better than others, yet our sinful pride drives us to exalt ourselves above others, as if we were gods and they were our subordinates. Christ is our God, yet He humbled Himself and covered Himself with our filthy sins and guilt, so that He could suffer in our stead. How far we are from Christ’s example.
Yet, we must humble ourselves, or God will humble us eternally. Jesus says repeatedly, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12), which is the consistent teaching of Scripture. Psalm 147 states, “The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked to the ground.” St. James exhorts us, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10) When we are prideful, we lie to ourselves and we insult God. Yet, when we are humble, we tell ourselves the truth and we honor God who exalts the humble. Those who exalt themselves follow the path of Satan, whom God cast down to eternal humiliation in hell. Yet, when we humble ourselves, we follow the path of Christ, who is exalted forever as the King of heaven.
The only way to truly humble yourself is through faith in Christ. You do not earn your salvation by humbling yourself. Christ has already earned your salvation through His humiliation. Rather, you humble yourself when you acknowledge your sin to God and that you are a beggar before Him, as King David said is Psalm 32, “I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” The one who has faith in Christ, does not trust in himself, but in Christ. And so, the one who has faith in Christ has no need to exalt himself, because he receives everything as a gift from God.
Yet, those who are self-righteous, that is, those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, exalt themselves. And because they are insecure in their own righteousness, they tear other people down, so that they may exalt over them. This is why the Pharisee belittled the tax collector. He trusted in himself that he was righteous, and to protect that delusion, he treated others with contempt. Pride is always a lie. It is lying to God and lying to yourself. And to protect itself, pride tears others down by pointing out their faults and the specks in their eyes.
Yet, if you have faith in Christ, you have humbled yourself before God and repented of your sins. You have pleaded guilty of your sins and you beg God to exalt you for Christ’s sake, who has paid the debt of your sin. The faithful are not insecure; therefore, they have no need to exalt themselves over others as those who do not have faith do. Why was Christ not afraid to humble Himself? Why was He so confident to lay down His life, to give up His spirit as He did? Because He knew He was God. He knew He was righteous. He knew that though He descend into the filth of our sin and die for them, God would raise Him up to sit at His right hand.
And you, through faith in Christ, should have that same confidence. If your sins have been placed on Jesus and Christ died for them all, what have you to be afraid of? If Christ is ascended to the Father’s right hand, and you are joined to Him as a bride to her bridegroom, what have you to prove? Pride comes from unbelief. Pride comes from insecurity. But you don’t need to tear others down to build yourself up. Christ permitted Himself to be torn down, so that He could take you up again with Him!
And so, through faith in Christ we learn to humble ourselves not only before God, but before one another. We learn to love others by putting their needs before our own, even considering them more important than ourselves. We can’t lose anything by it. Rather, by living selflessly toward others, we show true love toward them, helping them when they have need. We learn to forgive and not hold grudges, to be patient instead of condemning. And so, we demonstrate the love of Christ to one another. When you live in such a way to your neighbor, your neighbor will hold you in high esteem. But much more, you will be following Christ’s example. By humbling yourself, you tear down your pride, which will only drag you to hell.
How is it that we can refuse to humble ourselves before God when our sins are so great, yet Christ being equal to God humbled Himself to the point of death on the cross? How is it that we can refuse to humble ourselves before each other, when we truly are not better than each other, yet Christ who is better than all humbled Himself before the chief priests and Pilate, indeed before every sinner by taking their sins away? So, you see that you cannot humble yourself and have the mind of Christ without faith in Christ. Before you can follow Christ as your example, you must first recognize that He humbled Himself for your salvation and that His exaltation paves the path for your exaltation. Christ’s humiliation is not just an example to live by, it is the Gospel message that gives us hope for salvation. Do not be afraid to humble yourself to God, yes, to plead guilty to God of your worst sins. You have no sin which Christ did not descend to take away. And so, in our humiliation we find Christ, who exalts us. Let us pray.
Lord Jesus,
If my sins give me alarm
And my conscience grieve me,
Let your cross my fear disarm;
Peace of conscience give me.
Help me see forgiveness won
By your holy passion.
If for me He slays His Son,
God must have compassion!
Graciously my faith renew;
Help me bear my crosses,
Learning humbleness from You,
Peace mid pain and losses.
May I give you love for love!
Hear me, O my Savior,
That I may in heav’n above
Sing Your praise forever. Amen. (LSB 440:5-6)

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Son of God or Demoniac

4/10/2025

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Judica (Lent 5) Sermon
John 8:46-59; Genesis 22:1-14
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 6, 2025

Jesus is either the true Son of God, whose teaching gives eternal life, or He is a demon possessed imposter, whose teachings should be rejected. Some try to play the middle ground and say that Jesus was a good teacher, a good man, but He is not God and is not the Redeemer of the world, and a person does not need to believe in Him to be saved. They want to reduce Jesus to His teaching, “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.” (Matthew 7:12) And if that were the case, Jesus could be praised by any person of any religion, but no one would need to trust in Him as their savior. But Jesus cannot be reduced to His teaching of the golden rule. The golden rule teaches us how we ought to live with one another. Yet, we cannot ignore what Jesus teaches about Himself. Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Now, the student of Scripture knows what Jesus is claiming with these words, as did the Jews who picked up stones to stone Him. In Exodus chapter 3, Moses asked God at the burning bush what His name was, so he could tell the people who sent him. God answered, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14) By saying, “before Abraham was, I AM,” Jesus claimed to be God Himself. So, no, we cannot say that Jesus was a good teacher, but not the Savior. Jesus is either the Savior of the World, or He is a lunatic with a demon. You either should hold fast to all of Jesus’ words, or you should ignore Him.
Yet everything Jesus says is true, so He cannot be a servant of the father of lies. And since He rose again from the dead, He proves that everything that He said about Himself is true. And since Jesus’ words are true and He is the Son of God who gives life to those who believe in Him, you cannot be lukewarm about Christ. You are either a child of God who believes in Christ’s words, or you are a child of the devil who opposes them. You either are a free disciple of Christ, or you are a slave of Satan. This is clearly what Jesus is teaching these Jews who refuse to believe in Him. In this chapter Jesus says to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of My own accord, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My Word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convict s Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:42-47)
And so, the contrast cannot be greater between those who believe Jesus’ Word and those who reject it. Those who believe Jesus’ Word are children of God. Those who reject Jesus’ Word are children of the devil. Those who listen to Jesus’ Word are Jesus’ disciples. Those who refuse to listen to Jesus’ Word are disciples of Satan. Those who keep Jesus’ Word will live forever. Those who do not keep Jesus’ Word are already dead in their sins and will endure eternal death in hell.
And this is not the opinion of some radical preacher. This is the teaching of Christ Himself. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my Word, he will never see death.” Now what does Jesus mean by death? In this chapter, Jesus speaks of death in two different ways: spiritual death and eternal death in hell. Earlier in this chapter, Jesus said, “unless you believe that I AM HE, you will die in your sins.” (vs. 24) Here, Jesus speaks of spiritual death. Spiritual death is unbelief. This means that you do not believe that Jesus is your Savior. If you do not believe that Jesus is your Savior, you are dead in your sins. It means that your sins are bound to you, unforgiven and that you are spiritually dead, incapable of believing in God or doing anything to please Him. Jesus told the Jews who did not believe in Him that they were still dead in their sins.
The second type of death is eternal death in hell. Jesus says that those who keep His Word will never see death. That does not mean that their bodies will not die. But the death of their body will be temporary, like going down to sleep. But those who keep Jesus’ Word will not experience eternal death, which is not sleep, but rather being eternally separated from the source of life, Jesus Christ. Eternal death is punishment in hell.
Jesus’ opponents mock Jesus’ claim that if anyone keeps His Word, he will never see death, because Abraham and the prophets died. They laugh at the idea that Jesus is greater than Abraham and the prophets and that He could have seen Abraham. But they are wrong on two counts. First, Abraham and the prophets are not dead. Yes, they died bodily (except for Elijah). However, they lived spiritually and now live forever, as Jesus elsewhere explained, “But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him.” (Luke 20:37-38)
Second, they are wrong about Jesus. Jesus is indeed greater than Abraham and the prophets and He has seen them. Every sacrifice offered in the temple foreshadowed Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. The Levitical priesthood, which lasted for just 1500 years was only a shadow of Christ’s priesthood, which lasts forever. Likewise, everything Abraham endured was done to show us Christ, even as everything God did to Abraham was for Him to see Christ and rejoice in Him.
What does it mean to keep Jesus’ Word? Father Abraham shows us. It means not only to listen to Jesus’ Word, but to believe it and trust in it against all trials. God made a certain promise to Abraham concerning the Christ. “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” Which offspring? The offspring through which all families of the earth would be blessed. But God told Abraham to kill this same Isaac. He did this to test Abraham to see if he loved Him more than his own son, which Jesus teaches us still today, “Whoever loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37) Yet, He also did this to see whether Abraham trusted that God would keep His Word. And Abraham passed this test with rejoicing.
Abraham believed that God would fulfill His promise through Isaac, even if he killed Isaac, because he believed that God could even raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). We know that Abraham had this faith, because he told his young men, “I and the boy will go over there and worship and we will come again to you.” And in this story, we see a wonderful testament of Christ Jesus. Isaac carried the wood of his offering up the mountain, just as Christ labored under the burden of his wooden cross. Isaac willingly permitted himself to be sacrificed, as he surely was strong enough to overpower his elderly father, and so Christ Jesus prays to His Father, “Not my will but Yours be done,” before willingly going to the cross. For three days Abraham walked to that mountain mourning the death of his son, although he would not die. And for three days, Jesus lay dead in the tomb for His followers to mourn His death, although He said He would rise. And Abraham received Isaac back alive, just as God the Father received His Son Christ Jesus alive and well after He obediently went to the cross.
The ram too foreshadowed Christ to Abraham’s eyes. Abraham prophesied that God would provide a lamb for the offering, and here He sees a ram caught by his horns. The word horn in Hebrew is synonymous with power and strength. Yet, this ram is caught by a thicket by his horns. Christ Jesus is the Lamb of God caught by His horns, that is, by His strength and power. Christ’s strength and power is His love for His Father and for us, which brought Him to do the greatest deed of selflessness for our salvation. Abraham would have cut the ram out of the thicket, leaving a crown of thorns on its head as he brought it over to be sacrificed. And so, our Lord Jesus wore a crown of thorns as He was sacrificed on the altar of the cross for our sins.
Abraham saw all these things. And being a prophet and a preacher, the significance was not lost on him. Rather, he rejoiced at seeing God’s promise of a Messiah, as God Himself declared to Abraham, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the sea shore. And your offspring shall posses the gate of His enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Here God spoke to Abraham about Christ, the Offspring of Abraham and the offspring of Abraham who are Abraham’s children through faith in Christ (Romans 4:12-16; Galatians 4:7).
Not only did Abraham see Jesus’ day through faith when he believed God’s promise concerning Him, but Abraham still lives and rejoices in the Gospel in heaven. So do all the prophets. God glorified Christ in the eyes of Abraham, by revealing Christ’s death to him. And God glorifies Christ in our eyes by revealing the suffering of His cross to us. The unbelieving Jews hated this. They wanted only the shadow without the fulfilment in Christ. They wanted a dead Abraham and dead prophets, not those who rejoice from beyond the grace. And the world we live in feels the same way. They are happy if we celebrate a man who teaches us to love our neighbor. They do not want us to celebrate a man who died for our sins. They want Jesus’ glory to be an uncontroversial guy who offends no one. But Jesus’ glory is His suffering and death for the sins of the world, which offends everyone who does not repent of his sins.
Good Friday is almost hear. Next Sunday we will remember Jesus marching to Jerusalem for the last time before He is crucified. Jesus reminds us today that His glory is found in His cross, because there He won for us everlasting life. The Jesus we worship is the Son of God who died for us, as all the prophets foretold. This is the word we keep in our hearts, so that we may never see death as Jesus promises. Amen.

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Daily Bread and The Bread of Life

4/3/2025

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Laetare Sunday (Lent 4)
John 6:1-15
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 30, 2025

At the beginning of John 6, a crowd of 5,000 men, not including their wives and children, advance on Jesus to make Him their king by force, because they loved Him so much for feeding them bread and fish in the wilderness. At the end of John 6, all of Jesus’ disciples have abandoned Him except for the twelve, one who was a devil, because Jesus offered them the true bread of life from heaven, His own flesh and blood. The multitude was eager to make Jesus their king for feeding them bread which perishes. Yet, the crowd abandoned Him when He offered them the bread of life, which if one eats it, he will live forever. And so is the epitome of all human existence. Man in his sin and unbelief craves that which perishes, but desires not that which grants everlasting life. Today it is anathema to miss work to worship God, but it is considered perfectly reasonable to skip church, where one feeds on the bread of life, even for months at a time, in order to work for the cares of the body.
A few weeks ago, we witnessed Satan offer Christ all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in exchange for Christ’s soul. Yet, Satan is too good of an economist to offer the whole world for every human soul. He’s going to offer the lowest price he can get for it. In the old German story Faust, Satan offers the titular character hedonist pleasures such as money, power, and a beautiful wife in exchange for his soul. In the end, Faust loses everything and goes to hell. Yet, Satan has found that for many people, he can get their soul at the bargain price of a loaf of bread. As Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of red soup, so most are eager to sell their soul for that which fills the belly for a moment. Yet, had Esau considered that if he waited just a little bit that God would provide for him and not let him starve, would he have sold his birthright so cheaply? And if people recognized that God gives daily bread to everyone without our prayer, even to all wicked people, would they spend their souls on bread for the body, instead of seeking that food for the soul which grants everlasting life?
Jesus tested Philip by asking him where they could buy bread for the massive crowd, because He already knew what He would do. God always tests us with daily bread. The Lord declares in Exodus 16, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.” (vs. 4) The purpose of a test is to teach. Moses later explains what this test meant to teach them in Deuteronomy 8, “And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus quoted this same passage to Satan when he tempted Him to teach us how to respond to Satan’s proposition for our soul.
God will provide for your daily bread. He promises to do so. Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 men plus their wives and children with only five loaves and a few fish. Yet, there were twelve baskets of fragments left over after everyone was full, more than they had started with. This indicates that if the crowd were 50,000 or 500, 000, Christ still could have satisfied all their hunger. In fact, Christ provides for the billions of people on earth every day, both those who worship Him and those who don’t, along with all the animals. And He does this to teach you to seek first the kingdom and God and His righteousness and the rest will be added unto you. God’s kingdom and righteousness come to you through His Word.
Yet, it is only those who realize this and receive their daily bread with thanksgiving, who pass the test. That means it is only those who have faith in Christ, who can pass the test of daily bread, receiving it with thanksgiving and not selling their souls for it. Yet, those who do not have faith in Christ can only labor for bread which perishes, while they refuse the bread that lasts to eternal life. The Christian sees that every good thing comes from the hand of God in due season. The unbeliever can only see the means by which God provides: the hours of labor, the steel, the fuel, plowing, planting, and trucking. Yet, all this labor would be in vain had God not blessed it.
Yet, this is not simply a matter of converting the unbeliever to faith in Christ. St. Paul points out that Ishmael was born of the slave woman according to the flesh, while Isaac was born of the free woman according to the promise. And so, their mothers represent two covenants, the slave woman represents the covenant of the Law which keeps its children in slavery, while the free woman represents the New Covenant of the Gospel, which grants freedom to her children through faith. Those born according to the flesh are always under the old covenant of the Law, because the Law can only govern your flesh. Yet only those born of the Spirit can enter the covenant of promise, because the promise can only be received through faith. As a Christian here on earth, you have both the son of slavery and the son of promise living in you. You have your old Adam, born according to the flesh, and your new self, born according to the Spirit. This is why St. Paul commands you to cast out the slave woman and her son. Because the son of the slave woman cannot inherit with the son of the free woman. You cannot receive the kingdom through promise and through works. If it is by works, it is no longer through promise. If it is by promise, it is no longer through works.
Your flesh wants to serve your flesh without helping the spirit. The son born of slavery picks on the son born of promise, telling him he’s younger and less important. And so, it is with your flesh. So, you must cast out that slave boy, so that you might be a free child of God. This is why Christians fast. It is good to tell the flesh that it’s not that important, that the needs of the soul come first. Your flesh will let your soul starve to death rather than feel hunger for a moment. So, it is good to let the flesh hunger in order to feed the soul and to put the flesh in its proper place.
And it’s not just fasting from food. Your flesh craves all sorts of things, and it deems them all more important than the needs of your soul. So, you must regularly tell your flesh, “No.” And like a spoiled three-year-old, it’ll fuss and complain and throw a fit. Don’t give in. Man does not live by bread alone. “Do not labor for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27) Put your flesh to the test, not the Lord, so that you may learn from the Lord that He will provide for your needs in due season, while your soul is refreshed with food lasting to eternal life. If God provides living bread from heaven, His only Son Jesus Christ to be given into death for us, how certain can you be that He will provide the bread you need for the body. Your sinful flesh will never be confident in this. So, your spiritual self must tell the flesh who is the true heir.
The body hungers for bread, because it thinks it needs it. If your spirit does not think it needs the bread of life, it will not hunger for it. So, God must bring you to realize your need. Jesus does this very simply by telling us not to labor for bread which perishes. What is bread which perishes? Bread which perishes is whatever you may consume that does not give you everlasting life. Everyone who eats bread dies. Everyone who eats fish dies. Everyone who works as a farmer or engineer or teacher or trucker dies. People who eat processed food die along with vegans and carnivores. Baseball players and wrestlers die. Do not labor your soul for these things! And why does everyone die? Because everyone is a sinner! The wages of sin is death and death is everyone’s wage.
Everyone dies and then comes judgment. Those found guilty of sin will suffer eternal punishment. And since the wages of sin is death, all who die will be found guilty. I hope you see that you have a more pressing problem than your next meal or even your next mortgage payment. The flesh, whose cravings drive you, is flesh guilty before God. You deserve death and punishment on account of your flesh and its evil deeds, yet your flesh continues to only crave that which leads to death. This is why your soul’s hunger is so much more important than your body’s hunger. If you do not hunger for the bread of life Christ offers, then you are oblivious to the situation you are in! Then you do not take seriously your sins against God! Then you are so shortsighted, you are worse than blind! When you recognize that your time is very short on this earth and that the reason your time is so short is because you are a sinner deserving of death and judgment, you should crave the food Christ offers that leads to everlasting life.
Jesus said to the Jews who had come to Him to get more bread for their bellies, “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 6:50-51) Christ offered His flesh as bread by being baked on the cross for our sins. His blood is true drink, because He poured it out for our redemption. Jesus is speaking of feasting on Him spiritually through faith. When you believe God’s Word concerning Christ and His redemption for you by offering up His body and blood for your salvation, then you feast on the bread of life, on Christ’s flesh and blood.
Some erroneously believe they are sated, because they have heard the Gospel once or twice. They ignore that they are constantly harassed by their old Adam and Satan and burdened with their sins. They think, “I already know what Christ tastes like, I don’t need to keep hearing His Word.” Yet, they continue to stuff their faces with the same perishable food. Yet, Christ bids us to eat of the bread of heaven often. He teaches us to pray for forgiveness every day. And when He offered His Church His very body and blood to eat in the Sacrament of the Altar, He instructed us to receive it often in remembrance of Him. As there were twelve baskets left over after the 5,000 had eaten, so until the end of the age, there will be more Jesus available for hungry souls to feed. Jesus makes Himself available, because we need Him! Unless we eat of the bread of life, we have no life in us and will perish eternally! So, let us not abandon our Lord to sell our souls for bread which perishes, but rather let us confess with St. Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Amen.

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Soldiers in Christ's Kingdom

3/26/2025

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Oculi Sermon (Lent 3)
Luke 11:14-28
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 23, 2025

“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you,” says Jesus. The finger of God is the Holy Spirit. When a work is done by the finger of God it means that the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Holy Trinity has done it. And when the Holy Spirit casts out demons, that means that God’s Kingdom has arrived. Christ casts out demons in your life. When you were Baptized, you received the Holy Spirit, who washed you in the washing of regeneration and cast Satan out from you. And when you hear the preaching of the Gospel, through which the Holy Spirit works to create faith, there too Satan is cast out. The Holy Spirit works through Baptism and the proclamation of the Gospel to join you to Christ’s victory over Satan and sin when He died on the cross for all sins. St. Paul tells us that those who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death and resurrection (Romans 6). And the proclamation of the Gospel is the message of how Christ, the stronger man overpowered Satan the strong man by taking away all our sins.
And so, since you have been baptized into Christ and you have believed the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, the Finger of God has cast out demons before you, and therefore, the Kingdom of God has come upon you. This is what St. Paul means when he says, “He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14) So, what does it mean for you that God has delivered you out of the darkness of Satan’s kingdom and transferred you to Christ’s kingdom of light? It means that you should walk in the light. St. Paul again writes in Ephesians 5, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are the light of the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).”
Jesus says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” He then explains that when an unclean spirit is cast out of a person, but returns to find the place empty, it returns with seven more spirits more evil than itself, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. And so, we learn that there is no neutral ground in this spiritual battle between Christ’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom. When Christ casts out demons before you by the finger of God, He places you into the safety of His Kingdom. If you have been placed in God’s kingdom, how then ought you to live? Should you live as a citizen of God’s kingdom or as a citizen of Satan’s kingdom? Obviously, you ought to walk according to Christ and follow the Holy Spirit.
St. Peter warns about those who have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and placed in the kingdom of light, yet go back to living in darkness. He writes, “For, if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.” (2 Peter 2:20) Yes, instead of being tormented by one unclean spirit, they are tormented by seven more eviler spirits!
If God has cast Satan out from you and delivered you from his kingdom of darkness and placed you into Christ’s kingdom of light, then you must walk in the light. Scripture repeatedly warns that those who do works of darkness will not inherit the kingdom of God. By continuing in these works, they are leaving Christ’s kingdom of light and crossing the border into Satan’s kingdom of darkness. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.” (vss. 9-11) Paul makes clear that we must no longer live as we did before we were washed clean by the Holy Spirit, or we will not inherit God’s kingdom.
Again, in Galatians 5, St. Paul writes, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (vss. 18-21) No, if Christ’s Spirit has taken you out of Satan’s kingdom, then you must no longer do these works! Again, we heard St. Paul write in Ephesians 5, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (vss. 5-6)
Now there are many works of darkness, but St. Paul repeats three evil works in our Epistle lesson: sexual immorality, impurity, that is, uncleanness, and covetousness. Sexual immorality is fornication, that is, sex outside of marriage. The word in Greek is προρνεία (porneia), where we get the word pornography. Impurity or uncleanness refers to those works of the flesh which separate you from God. Jesus calls the demon an unclean spirit. In the Old Testament uncleanness referred to being ceremonially unclean, when you were not permitted to touch holy things or participate in the worship of the congregation. In the New Testament, unclean things refer to the sins of the flesh, often paired with sexual immorality and sensuality, that is, those fleshly desires, which war against the Spirit of God. Covetousness, St. Paul calls idolatry, because whatever you trust in most is your god. When people are greedy for money, property, prestige, and an easy life, they worship false gods.
These three works: sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness are the works of demons. That does not mean that if you engage in these works that it is not your fault and you can say, “The devil made me do it.” No, rather, what I am saying is that if you have sex outside of marriage, or view pornography, or engage in other unclean behavior like drunkenness and drug use, theft, and sexual perversion, or if you let greed consume you, you are engaging with demons. And you are opening yourself up for demonic oppression. Demons are real. This means that you are dealing with creatures, which are more powerful than you. To engage with demons is to play with fire, to work in Satan’s kingdom, and to become a slave of darkness. Those who continue to do these evil deeds will lead themselves out of the kingdom of Christ into Satan’s dominion of darkness, to become slaves of the evil one again.
Jesus warns those who have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and placed into His kingdom of light that if they do not walk in the light, they will fall away and become even more enslaved in the kingdom of darkness. And for this solemn teaching, a pious woman in the crowd shouted, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed.” To which Jesus replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” Certainly, the Virgin Mary is blessed, but Jesus says that His mother and brothers and sisters are those who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:21). So, Mary is blessed because she treasured up God’s Word and pondered it in her heart, even more than she is blessed for being the mother of God! For it is only through faith that we receive blessing and honor from God.
It is by the Word of God that the Holy Spirit cast Satan out from you and transferred you from the dominion of darkness into Christ’s kingdom of light. And so, it is by the Word of God that you remain in the kingdom of light. But what does it mean to keep the Word of God? It means to use it! To read, mark, learn and inwardly digest it. To trust in it. To pray according to it. To live according to it, applying it to your life according to your station, as a Christian, husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, worker. As citizens of God’s Kingdom of Light, we are armed soldiers equipped by God to fight against the forces of Satan. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 6, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” (vss. 10-18)
The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, by which you fight back the demonic hordes, which seek to drag you back into the kingdom of darkness with the lies that sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness will satisfy you. By living according to the Word of God, you can keep yourself busy, so that you do not give yourself the opportunity to gratify the desires of the flesh, as St. Peter exhorts us, “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing (that is, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love), they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:7-8) Yet, while we sojourn in this life, we will not keep ourselves entirely without sin. Satan will catch you without your armor. So, you must remember that the Word of God which casts Satan out from you and secures you in Christ’s kingdom is not the Law, which depends on your works, but the Gospel, which is the Work of God. This is why St. John writes in Revelation 12 of the saints, who have conquered Satan, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (vs. 11)
The Word of God by which the Holy Spirit casts Satan from you and transfers you to Christ’s kingdom is the Word that declares Christ’s victory over sin, death, and hell. Satan binds us in his kingdom by our sins. Christ’s blood washes our sins away, melting away Satan’s bonds. And so, as we war against the kingdom of Satan, we must employ the weapon of the Stronger Man, which is the very Gospel of Christ by which the Holy Spirit works. Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. But Christ Jesus sets us free from our sins by forgiving us. Yet, He not only sets us free from the consequences of our sin, but from our sins themselves. So, we must continue to flee to Him for forgiveness and strength to resist sin, until we are finally set free from the clutches of our sins forever. Amen.

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How to Wrestle God and Win

3/20/2025

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Reminiscere Sunday (Lent 2)
Genesis 32:22-32 and Matthew 15:21-28
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 16, 2025

Last week, Jesus taught us how to wrestle with Satan and win. This week Jesus teaches us how to wrestle with God and win. In our Old Testament lesson from Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with a man, whom he later identifies as God. This man was the preincarnate Christ. But to understand this struggle between Jacob and God, we need to fill in some context. In Genesis 28, after Jacob had cheated his older brother Esau out of his blessing, he fled to his uncle Laban’s. As he slept on a rock, God appeared to him in a vision with a ladder to heaven and said to Jacob, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and in your offspring all families of the earth will be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (vss. 13-15) And so, Jacob went with great encouragement of faith to Laban’s house, where God immensely blessed him. Despite Laban trying to cheat Jacob repeatedly, Jacob departed from Laban a rich man, with wives, children, and large herds and flocks.
However, in Genesis 32, Jacob receives reports that his brother Esau was approaching with 400 men to meet him. After dividing his camps, Jacob bows down and prays to God, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” (vss. 9-12)
You are hard-pressed to find a better prayer than that! Jacob addresses God as God introduced Himself to Jacob. He confesses his own unworthiness to receive anything good from God, but rather confesses what God promised to do for him. All Christians should model their prayers after this prayer of Jacob. Yet, how did God react to this exemplary prayer? Does He reveal Himself to Jacob and assure him that He will protect him from Esau and fulfill His promise? No. The Lord is silent. He doesn’t answer him a word. Then, to make matters worse, He appears to Jacob as a man and wrestles with him all night long. Yet, though God knocked Jacob’s hip out of joint, Jacob held on saying, “I will not let go until you bless me.” And so, God blessed Jacob, renaming him Israel, because he had striven with God and man and yet prevailed. And in the morning, Esau greets his brother in peace, and Jacob’s nightmare is over.
Thus, Jacob gives us a master class in wrestling with God and winning. Jacob teaches us three things to do to win in a wrestling match with God. First, hold fast to God’s promises found in His Word. God gave Jacob a certain promise that He would bless him with a large family and bring him back to the land of his fathers, so that all families of the earth could be blessed through His offspring (that is through Jesus). And God promised not to leave him until He had accomplished what He promised. So, Jacob held on to that promise. He prayed according to that promise, because faith holds only to God’s promises. Second, Jacob teaches us to be humble. Jacob confessed that he was not worthy of any of the good things God had given him or would give him. He relied solely on God’s promise. Faith does not depend on our worthiness, but on God’s promises. Finally, Jacob was persistent. When God was silent to him and when it appeared that God was saying, ‘no,’ and going back on His promise by wrestling him through the night, Jacob persisted. He held on to God’s promise, insisting on it, and would not let go until God had blessed him. And God did. And so, the nation of Israel and indeed all the faithful are now called by Jacob’s new name, Israel, because of his great example of faith.
Yet, 18 centuries later, a daughter of Israel gives us another master class on wrestling with God, following the example of Jacob, her father in the faith. Yet, this woman was not a daughter of Israel through blood. She was a Canaanite woman, a descendent of the people God promised to remove from the land of Israel, so that Jacob’s descendants could live there instead. However, because of the children of Israel’s disobedience, God left the Canaanites as a thorn in their side. Yet, now, this daughter of Canaan, this Gentile from the most cursed family on earth, claims a seat at the table of Israel.
She cries out to Jesus, because her daughter is terribly oppressed by a demon. Yet, Jesus ignores her, not saying a word to her. She continues to cry out until Jesus’ disciples ask him to send her away, because she is annoying them. Yet, Jesus says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” pointing out that she is a Canaanite. Then when the woman kneels before Jesus and says, “Lord, help me!” Jesus insults her by saying, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and feed it to the dogs.” So, it appears that Jesus not only says she is not of the household of Israel, but she is an unworthy dog.
Yet, the faithful Canaanite woman grasps at these words. “You call me a dog? Fine, I’m a dog. But even a dog eats the crumbs that fall from its master’s table.” With these words, the woman won her wrestling match as Jesus hoped she would. That was the pinning combination. First, she clings to the promise of God. She calls Jesus the Son of David, which means that she is confessing Him to be the Christ. She believed that He would be a light even to the nations, as Scripture promises (Isaiah 42:6). She appears to have heard Jesus’ teaching, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Next, the woman was humble. She was not discouraged when Jesus ignored her or insulted her. She did not claim to be worthy of what she asked, but only clung to the promise found in Jesus’ Word. Finally, she was persistent. She would hold on to Jesus’ words until she found the “yes” her faith was looking for. And so, she proved herself to be a true daughter of Israel, because it is not all who are descendants of Israel who belong to Israel, but those of faith (Romans 9:6).
These saints teach you to hold fast to God’s promises in Scripture, because true saving faith can only rest on God’s promises in Christ Jesus. These saints teach you to be humble, because we do not receive our salvation or any good thing based on our worthiness, but by God’s grace according to His promises in Christ. And they teach us to be persistent, because we don’t need our faith for a little while, but the entire way, because only through faith may we be saved. You have received wonderful promises from God through Jesus Christ. Yet, as with Jacob and this Canaanite woman, God has sent you tribulation. And though, you compose the perfect prayer, God is often silent to you. Then thoughts come to you that the promise was not meant for you and that you are unworthy to receive God’s grace because of your sin. So, what do you do? You say, “Yes, Lord, you are right. I am unworthy. I am a poor miserable sinner.” If the Canaanite woman can say, “I am a dog. So, give me a dog’s due.” Then you can say, “I am a sinner. Give me what you promise sinners.” Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) And Scripture declares, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15) So, Jesus, You said that You have come to save sinners! I am a sinner. Save me! You said that heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents. I am a sinner who turns to you. Rejoice over me!
“But you said!” Jacob cried to God. Thus, we pray to God. You said that as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ and that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved (Galatians 3:27; Mark 16:16). You said, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you.” (John 16:23) You said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) You said, “Whoever comes to me, I will by no means cast out,” (John 6:37) You said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!” (Romans 8:1) This is how you defeat Jesus in a wrestling match. You catch Him in His words!
Jesus wants you to win your wrestling match against Him. He wants you to overcome everything through faith in His Word. He wants you to persist in prayer in His name until God grants you what you pray for. When speaking of wrestling God, we are not speaking of God as our adversary, but as He who challenges us for our own good.
Yet, how is it for your own good that God wrestles with you? St. Peter tells us in his first epistle, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7) God wrestles with us to test our faith as gold and silver are tested and purified in the crucible. He does this to strengthen our faith, so that Satan cannot defeat us, so that the world and our sinful flesh may not destroy our faith. St. John writes, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (1 John 5:4) A faith that can withstand God’s test can most certainly overcome Satan and the world.
One thing you’ll notice when reflecting on Jacob’s match with God is that you forget about Esau. God is much bigger than Esau. And when reflecting on the woman and Jesus, you forget about the demon oppressing her daughter. Not that Esau and the demon are not problems that need to be addressed, but we learn that God is so much greater. If God answers you, what is man, what is a demon, what is death, sin, or hell against God? What is cancer, poverty, and pain against God? God wrestles with us to turn our focus from the lesser to the greater. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the rest will be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)
Finally, God wrestles with us for the sake of our sanctification, as St. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4. God desires us to be pure, avoiding sexual immorality and every other sin. When we are pulled away from ourselves and the world and Satan to wrestle with God, burying ourselves in His Word and prayer to seek our victory, then we have less of an opportunity to sin and we become stronger against sin. Jacob limped in his body after his match with Christ, yet He walked more steadily in God’s path.
So, do not be discouraged when God challenges you. Rather hold on tighter to Him. Cling to His promises found in His Word, pray fervently with a repentant heart. God wrestles with those whom He loves. Hold fast to God’s promises in Christ, and He will bless you. Amen.

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

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Daily Bread and The Bread of Life

Soldiers in Christ's Kingdom

How to Wrestle God and Win

Rev. James Preus

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