Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

Third to Last Sunday in Church Year: The Lord Preserves his Church to the End

11/12/2018

Matthew 24:15-28
November 11, 2018

What is the Abomination of Desolation? An abomination is a disgusting and hated thing. There is nothing found more disgusting and hated by God than idolatry, that is, the worship of false gods. Desolation is the act of desolating; to lay bare and make uninhabited. In our Gospel lesson Jesus meshes his warning of two different events: the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the end of the world. Both of these events coincide with the abomination of desolation.
In 70 AD the Jewish temple in Jerusalem was burned down and destroyed along with the city of Jerusalem by Roman forces. Jesus predicted this would happen. There were signs leading up to this event. In 40 AD the emperor, Caligula attempted to set up a golden statue in the temple for people to worship. Jesus told the Jews that when they saw these signs to flee. The destruction of the temple, which put an end to Jewish sacrifices to this day, and the destruction of Jerusalem were the Abomination of Desolation.
The destruction of the temple in 70 AD was the final of many assaults on Jewish worship. Throughout the Old Testament bad kings set up idols in the temple. In 167 BC the king of Syria sacrificed pigs in the temple. These abominations had the goal of destroying the religion of the Jews by desecrating their place of sacrifice. It was through sacrifices that God communicated to his people that he accepted them. If the place of sacrifice is destroyed, then so is the religion of the Jews.
Every sacrifice of the Old Testament pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. When the faithful Jews of the Old Testament looked to the sacrifices in the temple, they remembered God’s promise to send a Savior to redeem them from their sins. So, the attacks on the temple, the place of sacrifice, was an attempt by the devil to remove Christ from God’s people.
Yet, there is another abomination, which makes for desolation that we must contend with in these last days. This abomination does not deal with a temple made with hands. Rather it is an attack on a spiritual temple. The abomination of desolation, which we must contend with today, is the removal of Christ Jesus from his Church. Jesus warns, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible even the elect.” This warning from Jesus is for us. And just as many believers heeded Jesus’ warning concerning the first Abomination of Desolation and fled before Jerusalem was laid bare, so we too should heed Jesus’ warning.
The abomination of desolation today is not Barrack Obama or Donald Trump or any other political leader. It is not the rulers of the nations Jesus warns us about, but those who infiltrate Christ’s church on earth. Scripture says that the man of lawlessness “takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” (2 Thess. 2:4) Further, it says, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.” (2 Thess. 2:9) Satan isn’t really concerned with destroying the United States of America. America will fall just as every other nation will fall. Satan wants to lay the very Church of Christ desolate. He does this by raising false christs and false prophets within the very visible church of God on earth!
Jesus warns, “if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. … “If they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.” Yet, many popes and bishops dressed in religious vestments have sent Christians out into the wilderness on pilgrimages or into monasteries and convents seeking Jesus through a life of good works, while ignoring the salvation Christ earned for them through his blood. Many preachers, with their own churches, radio and television shows or internet podcasts tell millions of people where to find Christ. They lead people astray with great wonders and signs. Some seem to perform miracles by healing the crippled and sick or speaking in tongues or prophesying. Jesus said they would do these things. They lead people astray with impressive performances and clever arguments. They’re successful and attractive. And they call themselves Christians. Yet, all these false christs and false prophets have something in common: they distract from Christ’s suffering and death on the cross for the forgiveness and salvation of his people.
Satan attacks Christ’s Church from the inside. The abomination of desolation standing in the holy place is false faith standing in the place of Jesus’ blood and righteousness. The temple is no longer needed, because Jesus has fulfilled all sacrifices. Now you are the holy place where God dwells. Through faith in Jesus’ blood shed for you, God dwells in your heart. This is how he is with his people. Satan wants to replace Jesus’ blood and righteousness from your faith with a false faith. He doesn’t do this with threats of physical force. He does this by impersonating Christ and his church. This is why it is so important for you never to take your eyes off of Jesus and what he has done for you on the cross.
How do you identify the true Christ from an imposter? How do you know that you are in the true Church or a bad counterfeit? Like many young children, when I was a small child I once wrapped my arms around the legs of a lady at church, because I thought she was my mom. They were wearing similar skirts. And likewise, Christians get deceived. They identify the church by looking at things that remind them of church. But not all building with steeples, crosses, and pulpits actually have Christ inside! Just as not all women, who wear skirts are my mom.
You identify the true Church by listening for the true teaching of Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose for your justification. If you believe that God forgives you for Christ’s sake, you truly are forgiven and will be saved. Yet, even if a church has all the other familiar markings of a church, an altar and pews, a pastor and people, candles and hymn books, this does not mean that it is the true church; if Christ is not preached. If you do not hear that the blood shed on the altar of the cross washes away your sins, then that is not the church of Christ.
The abomination of desolation stands in the holy place not only when false teachers remove Christ’s work of salvation from the preaching of the church, but when Christ, his blood and righteousness are removed from your heart. You can belong to an orthodox Lutheran church, yet if you do not believe in the forgiveness of sins from Christ then an abomination dwells in your heart instead of Christ Jesus.
“Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” Christians gather around the cross of Christ. While Satan calls us to go out and see more glorious christs, who offer you success, who don’t tell you to repent of your sins, who are rich and successful, Christians gather around a broken and despised Christ, who died upon the cross. While Satan calls you to go to a vibrant, growing church that is adored by the world, the elect are scorned for going to Jesus, where he can be found, even when the numbers dwindle.
The true church is despised in this world because Christ is despised. To trust in his sacrifice for sins is offensive, because it means that we must acknowledge that we are sinners, who need to repent. God’s wrath against Jesus on the cross is hated, because it reveals God’s wrath against our own personal sins. To believe that God can punish Jesus for sins that we’ve committed is scoffed at even by so-called Lutheran theologians and deemed ridiculous. Yet, we fools trust in this foolishness. We cherish the cross of Christ, his blood poured, and his broken body laid in a tomb.
We gather to eat the true body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins; the same body nailed to the cross and blood which dripped from the nails and spear. The world finds this grotesque. Even many Christians don’t understand this. Yet, Jesus himself bids us to eat and drink. His flesh is true food and his blood is true drink. We do not devour Christ like vultures around a corpse as the mocking world imagines, rather, we partake of the risen body of Christ. We eat and drink and receive Christ’s living body and blood in a way that we do not understand, yet we believe that just as Christ is risen from the dead, so will we, who have been joined to him through this meal.
The tribulation in these latter days will be greater than the world has ever seen. The number of false christs and false prophets will only increase and attack Christ’s church from the inside out. Satan is dead set on laying the Church of Christ desolate. Yet, God will preserve his Church. Built on the rock the Church shall stand, even when steeples are falling. Church buildings may be burnt to the ground. Churches and synods might go belly up or reject the Gospel, even the Missouri Synod might fall away. But Christ’s Church will never fall away. The elect of Christ will remain gathered around the preaching of Christ crucified, wherever that might be. No one will be able to remove Christ from his proper place in their hearts. Nations and empires have risen and fallen, and yet many still will fall. Yet, the Church, that despised flock, who trusts in a foolish Gospel, she will remain forever. Amen.

0 Comments

All Saints Day (Observed): Out of the Great Tribulation

11/5/2018

0 Comments

Revelation 7:9-17
November 4, 2018

“Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” The elder answers his own question to John. “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.” What tribulation is he talking about? He must be talking about one of the great persecutions of the Christian Church, which you might read in history books. Yet, when we look at the description of this multitude, we can’t limit them to a few persecuted groups. St. John says this was a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language.
Rather, St. John describes the entire Christian Church. Everyone, who has washed his robe in the blood of the Lamb is present in this vision. John is having a vision of the future when Christ will gather his entire Church to himself. This means that you too are in this vision, clothed in Christ’s righteousness and standing before your Savior Jesus singing praises to him.
Yet, it might seem strange that the elder says that we will come out the great tribulation. Christians aren’t persecuted in America, are they? That either happened long ago or far way. But tribulation certainly doesn’t describe our situation, does it? Well, if we are to believe Scripture, we would have to believe it does. St. Paul writes, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12) This means that everyone, who washes his robe in the blood of the Lamb will go through tribulation.
Many of you probably don’t know the persecution Lutherans have faced. After Lutherans were able to establish their own territories and protect themselves from the oppression of the Roman Catholic Church, they soon had to contend with persecutions by Reformed princes and kings. Lutheran pastors, who refused to deny the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood in the Sacrament were forced out of their parishes by soldiers and their parishioners were forced to attend Reformed services. This is what brought many Lutherans to America, searching freedom to practice their faith.
Today we don’t fear soldiers entering our sanctuary to stop us from practicing an outlawed liturgy, but that does not mean that we do not go through tribulation. Scripture says, “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.” (Ephesians 6:12) Yes, the tribulation Christians must go through certainly can and have included physical assaults and death. Yet, the powers of darkness don’t need to use physical force to fight against God’s elect.
In nearly every case of physical persecution against Christians in history, Christians could have avoided it if they compromised Christ’s teaching. Emperor Diacletian forbid Christians from assembling to worship and demanded them to destroy their holy books and offer a sacrifice to false gods. If Christians simply gave in on what they believed to be true, then they wouldn’t be persecuted. And many escaped persecution by simply denying Christ and his teachings. It worked the same way under the persecution from Muslims or Communists, deny Christ and you escape persecution.
The Lutherans of previous centuries might not have been pressured to deny Christ outright, but they were pressured to deny certain teachings of Christ. For the purpose of forming a united protestant front in America our Lutheran forefathers were pushed to deny that Christ’s body and blood were present in the Lord’s Supper and that Baptism really washes away sins and regenerates a sinner and that pastors have authority to forgive sins. These teachings were considered embarrassing and too Catholic. So, Lutherans were spurned for holding to them.
Christians go through tribulation when they are taught or pressured to believe false doctrine. The pressure might not threaten violence, but nevertheless, it takes great strength to resist and stand on the truth. Today Christians are pressured to believe many false teachings. Evolution, which says that we are animals, who evolved through mutations over millions of years, is pushed on our children from a very young age. They are told that they are stupid if they question this teaching, which denies that God created the world perfectly through his word. Sure, no one is holding a sword to anyone’s throat, yet it still takes great courage to stand up against such false teaching.
Christians are pressured to believe that you don’t need to repent of your sins. Preaching the law is offensive. People are offended when they hear that their sins offend God or harm their neighbor. They would rather walk away than repent and receive the forgiveness of their sins from a loving God. And Christians, who hold to the teaching of God’s law are maligned, called closed minded or bigoted. Yet, we should remember that St. John the Baptist himself was imprisoned and beheaded for preaching against adultery. And he too died for Christ.
Enduring false teaching is the worst form of tribulation. If persecutors cut off your head, God will give you a new head. But false teaching attacks your very soul, tries to get you to doubt God’s grace, to sin against your Lord, or reject the forgiveness of sins so bitterly won for you on the cross. This is why we are taught to pray in our Small Catechism, “But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!”
Yet, false teaching is not the only form of tribulation. Sin of all kinds brings tribulation to the Christian, because the Christian has a heightened awareness of sin. The sins of others harm us, not only the mean words people say against us or other loveless actions. Because we are united to God by the Holy Spirit, sins that offend our Father in heaven offend us. St. Peter writes that Lot was “tormenting his righteous soul over the lawless deeds that he saw and heard” as he lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. How much more should our righteous souls be burning within us as we live in a country which has accepted every abominable act, the chief of which is the murder of unborn children. We with better knowledge should be rightly horrified as we see the contents of that which God knit together in the womb torn asunder and counted piece by piece. And this happens thousands of times in America every day. Our righteous souls, washed clean by him who himself spent 9 months in the womb of the Virgin Mary, should be tormented. We cannot be in heaven yet when such things are done in our midst.
Of course, the sins of others don’t torment our souls nearly as much as our own sins. “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:15, 18-19) This is the cry of the Christian going through the great tribulation. We have been washed in the blood of Christ. We are forgiven. The Holy Spirit dwells in us through faith, and yet we keep on sinning against our God. It makes us want to escape our own bodies, so that we can escape our own sin.
And we go through the great tribulation as we see our loved ones die. And as we too march toward death. We believe that Christ has conquered death. We believe that we too will join him in the resurrection. But as yet, we only see the wages of our own sins.
So yes, each and every one of us is currently going through the great tribulation as we battle false teaching and sin, and bear the burden of living in mortal bodies. We believe that we are forgiven. We believe that we are children of God now. Yet, we don’t see it. And the more we learn about Christ, the more it becomes apparent that we are not in heaven yet.
This is why St. John’s vision in Revelation 7 is so wonderful. He sees a great multitude that no one can number from every tribe, nation, people, and language shining in spotless robes. This is the fulfillment of what God said to Abraham, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5) They have come out of the great tribulation. They no longer suffer from attacks against their faith. They don’t sin anymore and no one sins against them. They are enjoying the resurrection of their perfect bodies. They hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither does the sun strike them. God has wiped away every tear from their eye.
And best of all, they are in the presence of God. God is with them, sheltering them and guiding them. This is not a complete vision. We still have many questions about what it will be like. But what is important is covered. We will be out of this great tribulation. We will escape all suffering, sin, and sadness. And we must believe that our loved ones who trusted in Christ and have died before us will be there too. And we will be together with God our Savior.
That which causes us to go through the great tribulation also causes us to come out of the great tribulation. We suffer, because we are Christians. To wash your robe and make it white in the blood of the Lamb means that you receive the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ Jesus. It means that you are baptized into Christ. All those, who are God’s children now will suffer. Yet, all God’s children who suffer will be glorified, as Scripture says, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs—heirs with God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:16-17)
Suffering is a scary thing, but the Apostle continues, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18) Many of you have seen your loved ones suffer much before death finally took them. You can be comforted with these words. Their pain has not only ended, but they are now enjoying the glory of God, which we can’t even imagine. It is as the hymn says, “Oh, how blest are they whose toils are ended, who through death have unto God ascended! They have arisen From the cares that keep us still in prison.”
We can’t see this vision of heaven, which John writes about. We can only read what he wrote. But we have faith that this truly is what awaits us. We have certainty that we will join this great host arrayed in white, because we too have been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. We believe that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.
Although the Elder says that they have washed their robes and made them white, we should not interpret this to mean that our salvation depends on our own works. It is the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, which washes away our sins. Christ Jesus has cleansed us, his Church, by the washing of water and the word and has presented us to himself in spender, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that we might be holy and without blemish. It is Christ who died for us. He forgives us. He baptized us and washed us. He continues to feed us today. We will enjoy this future vision of heaven by the merits of Christ alone.
Every single person in that mighty throng of saints is there because of what Jesus Christ has done. This brings great comfort to us, who are burdened by sins. This means that no matter how great our sins might be, Christ has washed them away in his blood. Even those great abominations of which I spoke before that occur in our nation, they too are forgiven by Jesus’ blood. There is no sin for which our Lord did not die and no sin that can withstand his cleansing blood.
We remember our loved ones in heaven on All Saints Day and we thank God that their suffering is over. Yet, we celebrate All Saints Day for us too, who are currently in this tribulation. We know what our end is. We can escape this present tribulation at any moment if we were to deny Christ. And we could enjoy the glories of this earth. Yet, then we would give up the glories of heaven. So, to give us strength to pass through this tribulation and come out into the glories of Christ, we continue to wash our robes in the blood of Christ, confessing our sins and hearing his holy word. We are God’s children now. All though we don’t see him, we are in God’s presence now. And he alone will guide us out of the great tribulation into eternal glory. Amen.

0 Comments

Reformation Sunday: Justification by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ alone

10/29/2018

0 Comments

Romans 3:19-28
October 28, 2018

The law of God is good and wise and sets his will before our eyes. The law of God is good. To say that God’s law is not good is to say that God is not good. The law is quite simply, what God desires to be done. Jesus summarizes the entire law as, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Love. Love is what God desires to be done. The law reveals to us the essence of who God is. God is love.
The law commands that you conform yourself to be like God. Scripture is very clear that this is the aim of the law. God speaks in Leviticus 19, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Likewise, our Lord Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Every one of the Ten Commandments is a command to love. You shall have no other gods. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not comit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. The purpose in all of these commands is for you to love God and your neighbor; put their needs before your own. And if you love perfectly, then you are like God. This is what it means to be righteous. God is righteous. He is the standard for what is right. So, if you want to be righteous you must obey the law and do what it says, as Scripture says, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” (Romans 2:13)
Only those who are justified by God, that is declared righteous according to his standard, will enter heaven. And so, it seems clear that if you want to go to heaven, then you must obey the law. It must depend on your works. Yet, we heard in our Epistle lesson, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” The law of God is good. We must never blaspheme against it. Yet, the law of God gives you no hope of salvation. Rather, each command, which discloses to you God’s good and holy will, reveals your sin.
“Now the law came to increase the trespass,” St. Paul writes (Rom. 5:20). This is because we are sinners. Everything we think, say, and do is tainted with sin, as God himself said way back in Genesis 6, “every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually.” So, instead of showing the way to righteousness and eternal life, the law brings death. It doesn’t justify; it condemns. It shows that you do not love as you ought. So, because we are sinners, who cannot help but sin, and because the law is holy, righteous and good and exposes sin to be sin, we cannot be justified by the law in God’s sight.
Yet, what did we just hear? “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, … the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” It is faith, which justifies sinners, not the law! “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” This is great news! This means that we can go to heaven despite our sins.
But it is important for us to understand what justifying faith is. Faith is not simply historical knowledge; as long as you believe that Jesus lived, died, and rose, then you are saved. No, justifying faith trusts in Jesus. Justifying faith banks on the belief that God is pleased with you on account of Christ’s sacrifice and forgives your sins on account of Christ. Our Lutheran confessions expresses it this way:
“Our churches also teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ, who by his death made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in his sight.” Romans 3-4 (Augsburg Confession IV)
We are received into favor and our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. This is the faith that justifies. Justifying faith trusts in the fact that God is pleased with you, not because of anything you have done, but for the sake of Jesus Christ alone.
Justifying faith is by grace alone. Grace is a gift from God, which means that it is not by works. Many believe that we are saved both by faith and by our works. This is the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, which is the reason the Lutheran Church formed and why we are celebrating Reformation Day today. And many others besides the Roman Church teach that you must do good works in order to be saved. But grace removes your works from the equation, as Romans 11:6 declares, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” And our Epistle lesson says that we are “justified by grace as a gift.”
You are justified by grace apart from your works, because Christ Jesus has completed all the work that needed to be done. To be saved by grace through faith means to be saved by Jesus. Again, faith is not simply historical knowledge of events. Who doesn’t know that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day? It is one thing to know these events really happened. It is another thing to trust that God is pleased with you because of them.
The law must be fulfilled. And if the law is not obeyed, God demands punishment. Our God is a just God. He doesn’t simply ignore sin and pass lenient judgments. No, God demands justice be served. So, as St. John says, Jesus took upon himself the sins of the whole world. The Lord laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. And Christ was punished for our sins. The righteous one was punished for the sins of the unrighteous ones. And by Christ’s suffering and death, he made satisfaction for our sins and appeased God’s wrath against all sinners.
Two people can look at the passion of Christ and see two different things. One can see the law, while the other can see the Gospel. One looks at Jesus suffering and sees God’s anger against sin. It’s a terrifying thought that drives one to hide from God. This is why it is important to recognize that Christ’s death on the cross was for your sake and on account of his sacrifice, God is pleased with you. God is not angry at you because of your sins. Jesus has taken that anger away. In Christ’s resurrection you see that all your sins truly are gone forever, nailed to the cross. This is how you are saved by grace apart from your works. This is the most comforting message in the world, because it gives you confidence that you will go to heaven. You can know for a fact that you are justified before God, because Christ has made atonement for your sins. Your works bring doubt, because they are imperfect and tainted with sin. But Christ’s work gives certainty, because God cannot fail or lie.
The crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ show that our God is just. He is righteous. Yes, he looks over sins for a time, yet, he demands justice be served. If he didn’t, he would not be loving. God requires love. Hatred must be punished. Yet, in this great act of justice Christ shows perfect love. Jesus demonstrated perfect love throughout his life as he obeyed the commandments, loving God and his neighbor throughout. Yet, nowhere is Christ’s love displayed more fully that in his passion for our sins.
Jesus obeyed his Father’s will out of love for him. No one took Jesus’ life from him. He laid it down of his own accord and he had authority to take it up again. Jesus’ death was not an accident. Our Lord and brother willingly suffered and died out of love and obedience to his Father. He put his Father’s will before his own, as he himself said at the beginning of his passion, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:41) Jesus perfected his love for his neighbor by bearing the burden of every last human being. He died for all sins. This is not an impersonal task. This is very personal. The wrong you know you have done, that has burdened your conscience, so that your heart sinks into your gut, that is the wrong Jesus has placed upon himself out of love for you. There is nothing more personal than that. There is nothing more loving than that.
In the crucifixion and death of Christ, we see God’s love on full display. God is love. What does this mean? It means that he sent his only begotten Son to die, so that whoever believes in him might live. This is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to the be propitiation for our sins. The Gospel is not an overthrowing of the law. The law demands love. The Gospel is the perfection of love. God upholds the law of love forever through the death and resurrection of his Son.
To be a sinner means that you lack love. But through faith in Christ’s perfect love God only sees love in you. He is totally and perfectly pleased with you. He credits to you for Christ’s sake the perfect love, which his law demands. This is why St. Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We do continue to sin as long as the old Adam hangs around our necks, that is, as long as we live on this sinful earth. Yet, God does not count these sins against us. He only sees Christ’s righteousness shine through our faith.
Yet, because of the wickedness of unbelief many assume that this means that Christians can therefore go on sinning, since we are saved by faith and not by works. They fail to see, as the Jews did in our Gospel lesson, that those who sin are slaves to sin. The gospel sets us free, not to become slaves again to sin, hatred, and death, but to be free to righteousness, love, and eternal life.
Scripture says, “We love, because he first loved us.” This means that God’s love for us, which we witness in Christ Jesus and receive through faith, produces love in us. Faith is a living active thing. Through faith we are justified. This means that through faith God makes us into good trees. Good trees bear good fruit! Yes, even now in these sinful bodies, imperfectly, clumsily, with lots of repentance and forgiveness along the way, we love. We seek to please God because we love him. We seek to help our neighbor, because we love our neighbor. How couldn’t we? The same blood shed to wash away our sins was shed to cleanse our neighbor!
The Lutheran Reformation proclaimed to the whole earth that sinners are justified by faith apart from their works. And for this, we have been slandered and accused of rejecting love. That is nonsense. The Gospel that Jesus Christ saves sinners is a teaching that cannot help but produce love. Let us love with confidence, not fearing that our works are imperfect, but trusting that even our imperfect acts of love are sanctified by the blood of Jesus. Amen.

0 Comments

Trinity 21: God Speaks; Faith Receives

10/22/2018

0 Comments

John 4:46-54
October 21, 2018

“Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.”

Jesus spoke. The man believed what Jesus spoke. And then the man saw that what Jesus spoke was true. This is not the way we normally operate in this world. “I’ll believe it when I see it” is not only an old adage, but it is generally a good rule of thumb. Yet, this is not the way with faith! “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) And Jesus spoke to Thomas after he was raised from the dead, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) In the kingdom of heaven, you believe it before you see it!
Now this can be greatly misunderstood. Faith is not simply blind optimism; you believe that everything will work out for the best. Rather, Jesus spoke and the man believed the word that Jesus spoke. Faith is grounded in the word of God. Faith doesn’t believe what it sees. Rather, faith believes what it hears. It believes before it sees. True faith comes from hearing the word of Christ. And it is on this word that faith trusts, even before seeing.
You cannot have faith apart from the word of God. It is through the proclamation of the Gospel that God creates faith in your heart. Apart from God’s word, you have nothing to rest your faith on. This is important to mark, because God both reveals himself and he hides himself. God reveals himself in his word, where he tells us that he loves us so that he sent his Son to die for our sins and raised him to give us new life. Yet, God also hides himself. We don’t always know what the will of God is. Why is my child sick and at the point of death? Why did my husband have to die? Why is my mother stricken with cancer? How could God let her children be taken from her at such a young age? Why did God let a hurricane destroy the panhandle of Florida, etc. We don’t know. And there are many other things hidden in the mind of God, which are beyond our knowledge and beyond our business.
Satan wants us to seek the hidden God through speculation and seeking signs and wonders. This leads us to casting judgment on God or making for ourselves a god out of our own image. But when God hides himself, like at times of immense suffering, he does not want you to seek him where he is hidden, but to seek him where he reveals himself. God reveals himself in his word. In his word God gives you answers that your eyes will never find elsewhere no matter how hard you look. In his word God gives you assurance of invisible things that can only be hoped for.
Through the word of God you find purpose in your suffering. It brings you to repent of your sins and to have faith with patience. It teaches you to trust in God and to look to his promises for comfort.
Faith must be grounded in God’s word. Otherwise, it is a false faith. Faith does not make anything true. God’s word is not true, because you believe it. It’s true, because it is God’s word. If you believe something false with all your heart, it does not make it true. It just means that you are believing a lie. And this can be frightfully dangerous, if you are believing a lie about God or salvation.
We use the word faith in two ways: how one believes and what one believes. If I say, “I have a strong faith.” I could mean that I believe very strongly, or I could mean that the faith I believe in is trustworthy. If the faith in which you believe is not true, then it doesn’t matter how strongly you believe. You want both to believe strongly and to have what you believe be true.
Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead whether you believe it or not. Yet, it is those who believe it that receive the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice, namely, the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Likewise, the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper is Christ’s body and blood whether you believe it or not. Because Jesus said, “This is my body” and “This cup is the New Testament in my blood.” It doesn’t become Christ’s body and blood when you believe that it is, even as Jesus’ death and resurrection did not become true when you believed it. Yet, when you believe the words of Christ, you receive the benefits of what Christ gives you.
Yet, if you were to go to a church, which denies the bodily presence of Christ in the Supper or changes the words of Jesus, so that they mean something different than what Jesus said, you couldn’t make it Christ’s body and blood by believing really hard. It is Christ’s body and blood, because of the word. But without the word it is not Christ’s body and blood no matter how hard you believe.
Likewise, if someone were to doubt that the Supper were Christ’s true body and blood where Jesus’ words remain, that would not make it just plain bread and wine. It would remain Christ’s body and blood even if an unbeliever were to eat it. That is why St. Paul warns, “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. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
Your faith does not make anything true or false. Rather, your faith can receive what is true, if it is a true faith. If it receives what is false, it is a false faith. When you believe the words of Jesus, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” then you receive the Supper of the Lord to your own benefit with the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, an increase of faith toward God and of love toward your fellow Christian. Faith does not make God’s word true, but it does receive the power and benefit of God’s word.
We believe a lot of things we have not seen. We believe that God the Father almighty made the heavens and the earth. None of us were there when he did it, but Hebrews 11:3 states, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” By the power of the same word, which created the universe out of nothing we believe this truth, although we did not see it. We believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died and was buried, rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven. None of us have seen any of that! Yet, we all believe it, because God’s word says it is true.
Furthermore, we believe in a Holy Spirit we have never seen. We believe in the Holy Christian Church, that is, the Communion of Saints. Is that what we see? Is the church holy? It seems rather that Christians mingle with the unbelieving world so much, they are indistinguishable from it. They don’t live exceptionally holy lives nor keep themselves from sin. Christians are supposed to love each other, yet, the love of many has grown cold. The Communion of Saints implies that we are actually united in fellowship, yet the Christian church is scattered throughout the world, divided into sects and various denominations. Even the Lutherans, who believe the Bible is God’s word, are not united in doctrine and practice on all fronts. Yet, day after day, week after week we confess the one, holy Christian Church. Because we believe the word of God that he has washed us with the water and the word and presented us holy as Christ’s spotless bride. So, despite our sins and schisms, God has united his own invisible church around his holy word and Sacraments through faith.
We believe in the forgiveness of sins; just think about that. God, who knows your every secret. He knows the sins you haven’t told your wife or husband. Everything that shames you, that causes your conscience fear and pain, even the sins you’ve forgotten about God knows them full well. And yet, we confess that God forgives all these sins. Because God says so. We are like the father walking home with no evidence that his dying son has recovered, except the word of Jesus, and so do we walk to our deaths confident that we will stand sinless before the throne of God.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting, even though none of us has ever seen a single dead person rise from the dead, nor have we known someone who continues to live without aging. For all of us it’s just a matter of time before we die. Yet, based on God’s word alone, we believe what we have not seen.
Now the word of God is no fairy tale or compilation of unverifiable events like the Book of Mormon or the visions of Mohamad, which are uncorroborated, baseless claims made up out of thin air. The Bible is not this way. The four Gospels are complementary and corroborating accounts of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus written by men, who saw Jesus in person. Hundreds of people witnessed Jesus alive after his resurrection. The apostles faced beatings, prisons, and death confessing the life and resurrection of Christ with nothing material to gain by it. And the writing of the New Testament, written by ten different individuals are historical proofs of the Scripture’s legitimacy. And there are several writings outside of the bible along with other archeological evidence that supports what both the New and the Old Testaments claim.
Yet, this is not why we believe that the Bible is true. We believe the Bible is true, because the Holy Spirit caused the Bible to be written and continues to work through the Bible to create faith. The power of the Bible is not that it can be verified by multiple human witnesses, but that it is indeed the word of God. St. Paul writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) God’s word is uniquely powerful to create faith, which we ourselves can see evidence of as millions of people throughout the world and throughout generations continue to confess this same Gospel. And some confess it even in the face of persecution and death!
St. Paul writes that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to all who believe. And so, we should continue to hear this word of God, so that our faith becomes stronger. Consider the official in our lesson. He already had faith in Jesus. That is why he went to him for help. Yet, when he heard Jesus’ words his faith increased. The word of God continues to increase your faith even after you believe, so that you not only have a faith that is trustworthy, but have a faith that believes strongly.
This is why we continue to hear Jesus’ word and receive his pledge of forgiveness from his body and blood given to us. It is so our faith would continue to grow, so that we might believe with confidence those things, which our eyes do not yet see. And by God’s grace we will see what our faith holds dear, as St. John says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) Amen.

0 Comments

Trinity 20: God Calls and Chooses by Grace

10/15/2018

0 Comments

Matthew 22:1-14
October 14, 2018

In this Parable Jesus gives an historical commentary of the nation of Israel, revealing that the kingdom of heaven is not far off but here and now. God sent numerous prophets to his chosen people of Israel. But for the most part they rejected the prophets. Not even against Moses, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, were they afraid to speak against him. And many they threatened and imprisoned and beat and killed. They were not afraid of the prophets, because they didn’t come to them with swords or clubs or chariots. They came armed only with words. And the people despised their words. It didn’t matter which words they spoke, Law or Gospel, the people despised them. If God’s prophets threatened punishment for their idolatry, the people gladly listened to false prophets, who told them what they wanted to hear. When God’s prophets promised that God would rescue them, God’s people sold themselves to foreign nations and trusted in their armies rather than the hosts of heaven.
And so, as Jesus tells us in the parable, God the King sent his soldiers to punish the murderers of his prophets and those who refused to listen to the invitation to the wedding banquet. They did not fear the prophets armed with words, so God sent them men to fear, armed with swords and spears. Time and again God permitted Israel’s enemies to rout them. Yet, even in the New Testament Israel continued to reject God’s apostles, until in 70 AD Roman forces surrounded Jerusalem and burned their city. And having found those invited by the prophets and apostles unworthy, God sent his apostles and preachers into the roads and gather all whom they found, both good and bad, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations, languages, and skin colors.
God predicted that this would happen as we heard God speak to the Christ in our Old Testament lesson, “Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you.” (Isaiah 55:5) This is a marvelous thing God has done, that through the disobedience of his people he has brought many more people into his kingdom. Yet, we Gentiles must not be arrogant. If the natural branches could be lopped off by their disobedience to the word, the disobedience of us wild branches, who have been grafted in can certainly cause us too to be removed from Christ. And indeed, this is the case. The Gentiles are not more faithful than the Jews. People continue to reject and despise the servants of God, who proclaim that the feast is now ready. While most simply ignore the preaching of God’s word and occupy themselves, one to his farm, and another to his business, others become hostile to God’s word and to those who preach it.
People don’t ignore those, whom they perceive speak with power. You wouldn’t dare ignore a police officer, if he speaks to you, or ignore a notice from the IRS or a call from your boss. These are perceived to have power in this world. They have guns and authority over your money. But those who speak God’s word are often ignored. Few are afraid to dismiss their message or even to speak against it. This is because the word of God itself is despised. Jesus says, “He who rejects you rejects me and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16) People fear swords and clubs, guns and human authority, but God’s authority is despised. And for this, God threatens the same punishment that he did against those of Israel, who did not believe. Not only pestilence and war, but condemnation and the removal of his word and Spirit from them.
This is truly a tragic thing, because the Word of God is such a pleasant thing. It’s an invitation to a banquet that no money can buy. Jesus says, “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Yet, they reply, “I don’t need your rest. I want to labor under my own load.” And that’s what people do. Even here in the Land of the Free, most people slave away, serving that which perishes until they return to the ground.
Yes, it’s true that God’s word is often harsh. He convicts us of our sins, showing us where we’ve failed, hurt our neighbors and neglected our God. He tells us things that make us uncomfortable about ourselves, makes us face problems we’d rather not deal with and to take a hard, narrow road, which loses us friends and family. Yet, God is always slow to anger and quick to forgive. He does not always chide, nor does his anger remain, but he disciplines us as a loving father and forgives us more richly than we could possibly imagine. Our rejection of God’s word, because we find it too harsh or condescending or out of touch is like the rebellion of a teenager, who rejects his father’s wise words, so that he can embrace the lies of scoundrels and thugs.
We learn in the Third Commandment that we should “fear and love God, so that we do not despise God’s preaching and word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” There is no sin so devastating as the despising of God’s word. Murder, adultery and fornication, theft, and drunkenness are all dangerous sins that will lead you away from God and salvation. But none of these compares to despising and rejecting God’s word, because, it is only through God’s word that you can have any relationship with God. God will not speak to you in your dreams or come to you as you work in your garden or as you meditate on your own thoughts or any other new-age, recycled spiritualistic fad. God desires only to come to you through his word. That is how you know what he desires from you. And that is how you know what God promises you. Apart from God’s word you cannot know that God is merciful, you cannot know Christ and his forgiveness, and you cannot receive the Holy Spirit, who comforts sinners in their distress.
When we think of the kingdom of heaven, we often think of the end of the world. It is a far-off thing. You have plenty of time to accept God’s invitation to his banquet. But you don’t. The kingdom of heaven is here and now. The Prophet says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” You do not know how many chances you will get to accept the Lord’s invitation. The soul of the rich fool is demanded of him as he sleeps and the Son of Man will return as a thief in the night. What you do know is that you are being invited now. The invitation is the Gospel that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. You accept this invitation by believing and trusting in the Christ Jesus.
The king does not tell his messengers that the dinner will be ready 70 years from now or 50 or 20. He says, “Everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!” God invites you to feast now, today. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” and “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 6:35, 51) God does not invite you to a future wedding feast, but a present one for you to enjoy now in faith.
If you do not feast on Christ today in faith, you will not feast with him in eternity. But what a wonderful feast Christ has prepared for us today. Christ feeds us with words that well up into eternal life in us. Although, we sin daily and deserve nothing but punishment, God forgives us for the sake of the precious suffering and death that Christ endured on his body and soul. All your sins are washed away and as certainly as Christ is risen from the dead, God has promised you eternal life. Christ promises to be with his people when they gather around his word. The almighty God and Savior of our race is with us now, here at this very moment! By the miraculous power of Jesus’ body and blood we are joined in a unity that no family, husband, or wife can enjoy as we join with each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord. Here, we get a foretaste of the feast to come. Dining here with our ears and mouths we have confidence that our seat is saved for us in heaven.
It troubles many that the king casts out the man not wearing the wedding garment into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yet, there is an important reason why Jesus includes it in his parable. Jesus notes that the servants gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. This means that in Christ’s Church on earth there are mixed both true believers and hypocrites. This means that the church is invisible, because we cannot see into people’s hearts. Only God can. And just because you go through the motions or are a member of a Lutheran Church, does not mean that you will be saved.
So, what does it mean that the man was not wearing the wedding garment? It means that he relied on his own efforts and righteousness instead of in God’s free grace. The king invited everyone to his banquet for free. He wasn’t selling anything. Isaiah writes, “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Yet, many still try to enter God’s banquet hall on their own merits. They think they will go to heaven, because they are basically good, or at least better than others. But that is not the way that it works. You enter God’s wedding banquet only by the merits of Jesus, his death and resurrection. You cannot by your own reason or strength enter God’s hall.
This is a strict warning to those, who rely on themselves and refuse to listen to God’s word and instead rely on their own wisdom. But for us, who fear our sins and regret them, this is wonderful news. Your sins will not prevent you from sitting at God’s table! God invites you by grace! He’s not selling you anything. He’s giving you a gift! God has prepared his dinner. He has sent his Son to take on our human flesh, to be sacrificed for us on the cross. Christ Jesus is prepared for us to be our Savior. You are invited only to come and eat. Feast on Jesus today in faith and be certain that you will be joined to him in eternity. Through the message of the Gospel and in Baptism, God himself clothes you with the wedding robe, as Isaiah proclaims in chapter 61, “For God has clothed me with the garment of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Through faith in Christ Jesus and in him alone do you have confidence that you will sit at the Lord’s table in heaven and will never be cast out. Amen.

0 Comments

<<Previous

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

Third to Last Sunday in Church Year: The Lord Preserves his Church to the End

All Saints Day (Observed): Out of the Great Tribulation

Reformation Sunday: Justification by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ alone

Trinity 21: God Speaks; Faith Receives

Trinity 20: God Calls and Chooses by Grace

Rev. James Preus

Archives

Categories