TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

Making Friends with Unrighteous Mammon

8/15/2022

Marinus van Reymerswaele, "Parable of the Unjust Steward," 1540, Public Domain.

Trinity 9
Luke 16:1-13
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
August 14, 2022

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus tells us a story of a no good, double tongued, self-serving cheat. And he tells us to be more like him. How can this be? Certainly, Jesus isn’t serious! He is serious, and you should pay attention to this lesson. No, Jesus is not telling us to be no good, double tongued, self-serving or to cheat anyone. But he is calling us to be shrewd, that is, wise and understanding, and to put our shrewdness to work.

The steward in our lesson was accused of wasting his master’s possessions. And against this charge he could give no defense. So, he quickly used the short time he had left at his job to secure himself accommodations for when his master threw him out. So, he called up his master’s debtors and had them rewrite the books with less debt. The steward, who still had charge over all the records, was able to sign off on this in his master’s name. That means that if the master were to later dispute the amount owed, he’d appear stingy and double tongued. And so, this steward secured for himself friends and housing as well as the praise from his master for his wise dealings.

But, how can you, a Christian, imitate this cheat? How are you like him in any way? You are like him in more ways than you think. First, the man is a steward. A steward is one who manages his master’s possessions, meaning, he doesn’t deal with his own property, but the property of another. That describes you and me. We are all simply stewards of what we have. Everything we have we have received from our heavenly Father, our Good Master. And every earthly possession we have will pass away. We won’t own it forever. Either our stuff will break or be spent, or we’ll die and leave it to someone else. So, we’re all stewards. We’re the temporary managers of all that we have, whether that is money, possessions, or time.

Secondly, this steward has been accused of wasting his master’s possessions. Well, if everything you have in life, both tangible and intangible, your money, your possessions, your talent, your intelligence, your time, are given to you on loan from God, would you say that you have managed them all well? Or could you be accused of wasting your Master’s possessions?

One of the greatest time-wasters in our present age is the smartphone. It’s supposed to be a timesaver, but it often has the opposite effect. There’s a way to check your phone to see how much time you spend on it, and how much time you spend on each of the apps. Many are embarrassed at how much time they waste watching videos, playing stupid games, and other mindless activities. Yet, what if there were a way for you to see how much time you spend on every activity in life, and how much money, and how much stress you spend. If you could see a pie chart, which broke down how many hours you spent at every activity, what you spent your money on, what you stressed over and talked about, would you be embarrassed? How much time have you spent in God’s Word and prayer? How much time have you spent helping others? And how much time have you spent serving your own pleasures? The same can be asked about your money, talents, and thoughts. If we’re honest with ourselves, we must confess that we have joined the unrighteous steward in wasting our master’s possessions.

So, how should we imitate this unrighteous steward? Well, he made friends with what he had while he had it. Now, this certainly does not mean that we should cheat our employers or steal. But we should be diligent with what we have. Jesus says, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Unbelievers are more shrewd than us believers. Unbelievers are wiser in their dealings with each other. Unbelievers serve their false god more diligently than we serve the true God!

What Jesus is getting at is that you cannot serve two masters. You cannot worship both God and mammon. Now, our ESV translation of the Bible translates it money, but the word is actually mammon. Mammon means more than just money. It means earthly possessions. Luther explains it as anything beyond what you absolutely need. And most of us can admit that we have more than we actually need of a lot of things. Now, nowhere does Jesus say that you should not have mammon. Rather, he says you must not worship it. You can either worship mammon, or you can worship God. You can’t do both.

The unrighteous steward in our Gospel lesson worshipped mammon. And he worshipped mammon more diligently than most Christians worship Christ. That’s the lesson. It should not be so. Rather, you should worship Christ as diligently as the mammon worshiper worships mammon.

What you worship betrays who your God is. To worship means to serve. So, do you use your mammon to serve the kingdom of God, or do you serve your mammon? That’s where the pie chart would be helpful. You can find out what your false gods are by what you spend your time, talents, and money, and thoughts on. You can discover what your false gods are by what offends you. Are you offended when God’s Word is blasphemed, or when your feelings are hurt? Well, then there’s your false god. It is not wrong to have money, time, friends, family, intelligence, and talents. These are all given to you by God. It is wrong to worship them, to serve them at the expense of God’s kingdom and your own faith in Christ.

The unrighteous steward made temporary friends with his master’s wealth. Christ calls us to make eternal friends with our Master’s wealth. Here we remember the words of Jesus, “Whoever offers even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, because he is a disciple, will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42) And so, we see our brothers and sisters in Christ in need, so we help them. A pastor falls ill with a debilitating disease, and Christians pitch in to provide for his wife and children. We see that people on the other side of the world are in need of the Gospel, so we should fund missionaries, so that they can focus on preaching the Gospel instead of raising funds. It’s more important that there are Lutheran Churches for your children and grandchildren to attend after you’re gone than it is that they get a nice inheritance. Unbelievers work hard to control the education of our children, so that many have apostatized, in part because of their unchristian education, so it is important for us to fund Christian education for the next generation.

And we’ve all benefited from such friends. Every one of us has worshipped in a church, we did not build and were taught by pastors we did not train, because Christians before us put their mammon to work for the sake of the kingdom. God has more time, money, and talents than anyone. He is the possessor of the entire earth. Yet, he has placed his earthly possessions into the hands of stewards, who he intends to work for his kingdom. Now, you can’t control what the rich and famous do with their deposit. But you can control what you do with yours.

Why wasn’t the unrighteous steward afraid to play so fast and loose with his master’s property, decreasing the debt of his debtors? Because he knew that he had a generous master, who would not go back on his word. Well, don’t you have a generous Master? Does it not please the Lord for you to be generous with what is his? It certainly does. This is why we forgive those who sin against us. We’re not going to run out of forgiveness. This is why we should not fear to help out others. We aren’t left poorer when we care for those in need. And this is why we should not fear to support the mission of the church on earth. Christ promises that if you seek first the Kingdom of God, all these things will be added unto you.

The unrighteous steward was concerned with his temporal dwelling. Likewise, you need money to put a roof over your head. But Jesus tells us not to worry about such things. Our heavenly Father will care for us. Rather, he tells us to be concerned with the eternal dwelling. Our Lord Jesus went to prepare such an eternal dwelling for us. And he acquired it for us not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and innocent sufferings and death. Jesus shed his blood to take your sins away. He purchased your eternal home in heaven, so that you can receive it freely as a gift through faith.

This means that your eternal home is secure. You can’t earn it. You can’t purchase it. But if you believe that Christ has won it for you, then you desire it more than the riches of this world. The only thing that can lose this eternal dwelling is unbelief, idolatry. So, when Jesus tells us to make friends with unrighteous mammon, he is not telling us to earn our way into our eternal dwellings. He is telling us to live as if we believe that Christ has won for us our eternal dwellings with his precious blood. He is telling us to live as if we believe that Jesus is our God, who joined our human race to rescue us from sin, death, and hell, and that he succeeded. He is telling us to live as if Jesus and the eternal dwelling he has secured for us are worth losing house and home, wife and children, land and job for, and to believe that God will gladly give and preserve all these things for us for Christ’s sake.

St. John writes, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” (1 John 5:1) Those who will welcome us into the eternal dwellings are those who have been born of God. And so, we should love them. And we should do for them what love requires.

Mammon worshipers serve mammon diligently, because they are confident that money will keep them secure. So, mammon turns them into slaves until it ultimately fails them. Christians serve Christ diligently, because they are confident that Jesus will keep them secure. And Jesus does. He never fails us. The hymnist Paul Gerhardt writes, “What is all this life possesses? But a hand full of sand/That the heart distresses. Noble gifts that pall me never Christ, our Lord, Will accord/To his saints forever.” Such confidence we should have in Christ, who has promised us his heavenly kingdom for our eternal home. When we believe this, a cheerful, generous, and busy spirit arises in us, to work shrewdly for that kingdom. Amen.

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A Good Tree Bears Good Fruit

8/9/2022

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Trinity 8
Matthew 7:15-23
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
August 7, 2022

Jesus warns us to beware of false prophets, who come to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. A false prophet is a false teacher, someone who teaches errors and falsehoods about God and his Gospel. Now most people these days don’t think we should be worried about false doctrine and errors in the church, just so long as everyone loves Jesus, that’s all that matters. This is called Gospel-reductionism. Yet, Jesus warns us that many will call upon him claiming to have done many great things in his name, but he will deny ever knowing them. And Jesus describes false teachers as ravenous wolves. You know what happens when a ravenous wolf gets into a sheep pen, right?

So, we must not assume that false doctrine is nothing to worry about. False doctrine scatters the sheep. That’s why we have so many different denominations and sects teaching contrary messages, while all claiming to be Christian. Satan has scattered the sheep with his false teaching. And false doctrine kills. Many have lost their faith in Christ, because they were taught to rely on their own works instead of the merits of Christ, or they were taught that they did not need to repent of their sins. Denying that Baptism forgives sins and grants new birth, even to infants, robs Christians of the comfort of their Baptism and drives them to search in themselves for rebirth instead of trusting in the words of Jesus. Denying that the Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ true body and blood robs Christians of the certainty of the forgiveness of sins given in the Sacrament and places doubt that Jesus our Redeemer can be with us at all in this world. The denial that the Bible is the true Word of God takes away any confidence in Jesus’ words, that they are Jesus’ words at all. There are many different false teachings, but they all separate us from Christ and the salvation he has won for us.

Jesus tells us that false prophets come to us in sheep’s clothing, meaning that we will not recognize them by their outward appearance. They will look like good guys. But remember what God told Samuel when he anointed David to be king, “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) So then, how can we recognize these false prophets? Jesus tells us, “You will recognize them by their fruits.” The fruits of false prophets are their teachings. If they teach contrary to the words of Jesus, then they are false prophets and you should mark and avoid them.

But how can you recognize good fruit from bad fruit? There are so many different teachers saying so many different things, isn’t it like drawing a straw and hoping you picked the right one? Besides, God says that the LORD does not see as man sees. How can we possibly see correctly?

The answer is that you must be born again. That means that God must create faith in your heart, so that you believe in Christ Jesus as your Savior in order for you to recognize good fruit from bad fruit, pure doctrine from false teaching. St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica, “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thess. 2:13) How did the Thessalonians recognize that Paul’s words were the word of God? Because they were believers. God had created faith in their hearts through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so they recognized that the words of St. Paul were none other that the words of Jesus, God’s Word.

This is why Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27) Jesus’ sheep recognize Jesus’ voice, because they have been born again by the Spirit of God and have faith in the Gospel. It is the word of Jesus which caused them to be born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the word of Jesus which revealed to them the salvation Jesus won for them on the cross. And so, they recognize the true teaching of Jesus like a sheep recognizes its shepherd’s voice and a child its mother’s voice.

It is impossible for an unbeliever to distinguish between false teaching and true teaching. This is why Christians should never look to the unbelieving world for guidance in determining what is pure doctrine and what is false doctrine. The unbelieving world can mock us and ridicule us and it does not matter at all. They cannot recognize the truth until they have been born again by the Spirit of Christ. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (vss. 14-16) So, only Christians can pass judgment on the teaching and preaching of a pastor. Only those who have been given the mind of Christ can judge between true and false doctrine.

Now, this does not mean that if you are a Christian, then you can simply follow your heart and you’ll always know what is true. Quite the opposite. As a Christian, you don’t follow your heart, you follow Jesus. Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) And Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Mount, which is where our Gospel Lesson is taken from, by saying, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24) Christians can recognize false teaching, because they listen to and believe Jesus’ true teaching. This is what King David teaches us in Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither…”

This is why it is important for Christians to regularly go to church, listen to and learn from the sermon, attend Bible study, and do devotions at home with their Bible and Catechism. If you are familiar with the teachings of Jesus, you will mark and avoid those teachers, who would lead you into sin, self-righteousness, denying the benefits of your Baptism, and other horrible things.

Jesus declares, “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” Now, when speaking of false prophets and true ministers of the word, fruit refers to their teaching. Yet, fruit has a broader meaning as well, referring to the works of unbelievers and the works of believers. Scripture says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” While the works of the flesh, which are bad fruit, are “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” (Galatians 5:22-23 and 19-21) A Christian is made a good tree through faith in Christ and then produces good fruit. An unbeliever is by nature a bad tree and produces evil fruit. Jesus warns, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” That is a warning of hell for all who continue in unbelief producing bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit. But don’t I bear bad fruit? Doesn’t that mean that I am not a good tree? Also, Scripture says, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9) But don’t I sin? Does this mean that I am not born of God?

Now false teachers will answer this in one of two ways. Either they will say that the evil you think you do is not a sin and God is not bothered by it, as they have done with fornication and homosexuality, which have burdened the consciences of sinners for millennia. This is clearly wrong, because Scripture tells us what are the works of the flesh, which if a person does them, he will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 6:10). Or, they will say that you are not a Christian until you have removed every sin from your life and that Christians no longer sin. This also is clearly wrong. Scripture says “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9) The teaching that Christians no longer sin leads people either into self-righteousness and legalism or into despair and always away from faith in Christ’s atoning death.

The correct answer is that the new man born after the image of Christ does not sin. You have been made a good tree. Good trees cannot produce bad fruit. They can only produce good fruit. That means that God is pleased with the works of his Christians, whether it is as simple as going to church, saying prayers, going to school or work, or going to sleep at night. But Christians still sin! God certainly is not pleased with my sin, is he? Certainly not! Yet, God passes over our sins for Christ’s sake, forgiving our trespasses. And, Christians do not continue in sin without repenting.

St. Paul says on the one hand, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”, (Galatians 2:19) and on the other hand he says, “Now if I do what I do not want it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (Romans 7:20) In other words, we serve Christ in our reborn state, and we fight against the sin of our old Adam. This is why St. Paul writes in our Epistle lesson, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13) According to your Baptism into Christ, you are a good tree, born of good seed. Yet, your old Adam still hangs around until you shed this mortal body. And so, you still sin. But that sin is not you. It must not be you. And to keep it from becoming you, you must kill it frequently. You must repent of your sins daily. So that God does not cut you down, because of your rotten fruit, you must cut down your old Adam every time you sin. To live the Christian life means to prune yourself of evil branches frequently by repenting of your sins.

You are not a good tree because you produce good fruit. You produce good fruit, because you are a good tree. And you become a good tree in no other way than through faith in Christ Jesus. It is Christ who died for your sins. It is Christ who forgives you and has given you his Holy Spirit, so that you are born again into a new person. And as a new person, you put to death the deeds of the old sinful flesh. When sexual immorality, greed, anger, pride, arrogance, hatred, and every other rotten fruit of the flesh rises up from you, that is simply a branch of the old Adam that needs to be lopped off. Repent. Ask God for forgiveness for the sake of Christ’s shed blood. And continue to live as a child of God. And living under that promise of Christ’s forgiveness and salvation, you can be confident that God will never cast you away. Amen.

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The Urgency of the Banquet

6/29/2022

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Brunswick Monogramist, circa 1525. Pubic Domain.

Gospel: Luke 14:12-24
12 [Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’

Trinity 2
Luke 14:12-24
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 26, 2022

Tortured for Christ is an autobiographical book written by Richard Wurmbrand, a Christian pastor who spent fourteen years being tortured in a Communist prison. Wurmbrand was born a Jew in Romania in 1909 and in his youth, he was a staunch atheist. As a young man he was converted to Christianity and became a Lutheran pastor. He described in the book that when he first became a Christian, he was filled with joy, yet he was brought to tears at the thought of so many people, who did not know Christ Jesus as their Savior. Wurmbrand devoted his life to preaching the Gospel and thereby invited people to the Lord’s heavenly Banquet. When the Communists took over Romania, Wurmbrand continued to preach the Gospel to his own peril and the peril of his family. And what is even more remarkable, many people believed the Gospel and became Christians, even though accepting the invitation to this Banquet came with great suffering. Being a practicing Christian behind the atheist Iron Curtain was dangerous. You could lose your job, your property, your family, your freedom, and your life. Yet, people would lose all these in order to accept the invitation to Christ’s Banquet. Even Communist soldiers and prison guards, who formerly arrested and even tortured Christians would be converted and find themselves imprisoned next to the Christians they once harmed.

This is remarkable, yet it makes sense. Jesus says immediately after this parable, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. … any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 24:26-27, 33) The Gospel of Jesus Christ is worth losing everything for. If a person is wise, he’d be willing to lose everything in order to accept the invitation to the Lord’s Banquet. Yet, that is not how Jesus’ parable goes.

In Jesus’ parable, those invited to the banquet make excuses. One just bought a field, and for some reason that compels him to miss the banquet. Another bought five yoke of oxen and can’t find another time to test them than during the banquet. Another man has married a wife, and so he claims that he cannot come. They refuse the invitation to the banquet. No one is threatening them. The man’s farm will still be there. The oxen can wait. The man could bring his wife. Yet, they say things like, “I have need” and, “I cannot come.”

And this is far more common when it comes to people being invited to Christ’s Banquet. While some will lose everything and suffer greatly in order to accept the invitation to the Banquet, most turn down the invitation like it is nothing important.

But before we go further, what is this Banquet to which God invites us? The Banquet is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The master sends his servant to tell those invited, “Come, for everything is now ready!”, that is, everything is prepared! What has been prepared? Jesus Christ for us. God sent forth his Son, who is true God from eternity, to be born of a virgin and take on our human flesh. This God-man lived under the Law for us. He obeyed what we ought to have obeyed. And he fulfilled every demand of the Law. And so, Jesus was prepared as the Sacrifice to end all sacrifices. He was without spot or blemish. No stain of sin had touched him, because he loved perfectly. And this sinless man died for our sins, suffering the anguish of hell on the cross. How could one man bear the sins of the whole world? How could his death be a sufficient price? Because this man is God. His death makes full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. And he proved that he paid for every last sin of every last sinner by rising from the dead on the third day.

That is what is prepared for us at the Banquet to which God invites us. Jesus says, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” (John 6:41) And “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:55) But a banquet is no good if you don’t come to it, sit down, and eat. So, Jesus sends out his servants to invite people to his Banquet. Those who accept this invitation do so through faith. Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) And “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:53-54)

So, God prepares a meal for us that grants us eternal life. And he invites those who cannot pay him back to come and feast. And we feast on this meal through faith, believing the promise of forgiveness and eternal salvation for the sake of Christ’s suffering and death. Right here on this earth we have a foretaste of the heavenly feast to come. We receive the forgiveness of sins here today. We learn that we are God’s children now. Christ has even prepared for us a meal, whereby we eat and drink his body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins, strengthening of faith and love, and certainty of eternal life.

The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s body and blood, the same body and blood which was nailed to the cross and poured from his wounds; the same body which was laid dead in the tomb and rose victorious Easter morning; the same body, which ascended to the right hand of God the Father with sin, death, and hell under his feet. That is what we participate in in the Lord’s Supper. We don’t bother ourselves with how this can be, how we are able to eat his body and blood without destroying it, how he can be present here and in so many places. Jesus is God and man. He can do far more than we can ask or think. We believe his promise.

And so, Christians have been gathering every week on the day on which Jesus rose from the dead to accept the invitation to this heavenly Banquet and to taste a foretaste of it. In fact, we commune with Christ himself and all who have accepted this invitation, both those in heaven and those still on earth. The foretaste of this Banquet gives us certainty that our seat is reserved in heaven. The foretaste of this Banquet, which is the proclamation of the Gospel and the blessed Sacraments, gives us the faith we need to arrive at that heavenly Banquet, where there is eternal life, joy, peace, and rest. There we will see Christ as he is and our bodies will be like his, imperishable, without sickness, pain, or death. We will live forever and we will never sin again. And Jesus our Savior and God will be our Friend and eternal Companion.

So, you can see why people would risk losing their families, being tortured and killed, in order to accept this invitation. But most will not. Most will refuse the invitation. And they’ll refuse the invitation to Christ’s banquet in order to pursue things on this earth. When invited to church, they will say things like the men in Jesus’ parable, “I must go” and see to something else. “I can’t come.” Many try to convince themselves that going to church to hear the Word of God and receiving Christ’s Sacrament is not necessary to go to Christ’s heavenly Banquet in heaven. They think that refusing to partake of the foretaste of the feast over and over again will have no ill effect on their faith, which is necessary to enter into the feast. But they behave foolishly. Have you sinned this week? Have you lusted, hated, spoken ill of another, coveted what isn’t yours? Have you loved God with your whole heart? Has Satan tried your faith? Is Jesus and the eternal life he grants you less important than your job, your wife, your money, and your leisure?

We should have a sense of urgency when it comes to going to church to hear the Gospel and commune with Christ. “I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”, says the Lord.   Those who refuse to believe in the Gospel will be forever locked out of the heavenly Banquet. That means they will be cast into hell. You cannot believe in the Gospel unless you hear it. And refusing to hear the Gospel and to commune with Christ is a sign of profoundly weak faith, which borders on death. If that isn’t a warning that you need to hear the Gospel and be strengthened in faith, I don’t know what is. When you don’t think you need to go to church, that is when you need to go the most!

Why don’t people go to church? It’s simple. They don’t think they need it. But they think they need a lot of other things. They’ll drive an hour to go to work each morning, but the drive to church each week is too much. They’ll get up early and take their kids to a sports tournament, but bringing them to hear the words of eternal life is less important. But they’re wrong. They need Jesus.

The master told his servant to gather in the poor, crippled, blind, and lame, so that he might fill his house. People don’t think they’re poor, crippled, blind, and lame. They think they’re okay. They think they don’t need the Banquet, at least, not that badly. But the truth is, we all desperately need this Banquet. Without it, we have no life. We’re sinners. We’re poor. We’ve got nothing to offer God. We’re in debt that an eternity in hell cannot pay off. We are crippled and lame. We can’t even do what is right when we know what is right. Our actions are riddled with sin. We’re blind. We don’t even see how sinful we are. People don’t come to church and they don’t accept the invitation to the heavenly Banquet, because they don’t know how poor, crippled, blind, and lame they are.

But thanks be to God, the Good Master orders his servant to go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in. Compel. How do God’s servants compel us to come to his banquet? They do this by preaching the Law to us, which exposes our sin. Through preachers, who preach the Law from the Bible, God compels sinners by calling them sinners. St. Paul said, “I would not have known what it is to covet, if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” And so, the Law exposes you as a sinner. Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind? Do you call upon his name with prayer and thanksgiving? Do you enjoy learning his Word? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? Do you seek to help others and pray for your enemies? Are you chaste, or do obey your lusts? Have you ever cheated or damaged another person’s property? Do you always tell the truth and seek to protect the reputations of others? Are you content with what God has given you? God’s Law exposes us as idolaters, fornicators, thieves, liars, and murderers.

Yet, the preaching of the Law alone cannot compel anyone into the Banquet. Then the preacher must preach the Gospel, that Christ Jesus has died for all your sins, that though your sins were as scarlet, he has made them white as snow, that though you can never pay him back, he invites you to dine with him for eternity.

If the Law has had its affect and convinced you that you are a sinner, then the Gospel will give you joy that God forgives your sins for Christ’s sake. If the Law has done its job and shown the danger of your sin, then the Gospel will assure you that God has saved you from eternal hell. This is how God compels sinners, who don’t even know what they need, to enter into his heavenly Banquet through faith. And that is why we should never neglect the foretaste of this Banquet, but gladly hear the Gospel and receive the Sacrament whenever it is offered.

Amen.

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What's at Stake

6/20/2022

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Meister des Codex Aureus Epternacensis, Parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar Lazarus, circa 1035-1040. Public Domain.

Trinity 1
Luke 16:19-31
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 19, 2022

What is at stake? When discussing matters of religion, what is at stake? Jesus tells us. The rich man died and found himself in fiery anguish. The poor man died and angels carried him to the bosom of Abraham.   There is no middle ground. When you die, you either go to heaven or hell. Jesus teaches you clearly that you should fear eternal punishment if you do not repent.

The rich man went to hell. Lazarus went to heaven. There is no other option when you die. And heaven and hell are forever. Jesus says in Matthew 25, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” There is a great chasm between heaven and hell. No one can pass from one to the other. So, the only time we have to prevent spending an eternity in hell is now. Once you die, it is too late. The stakes are high. We should not fool around with matters of religion. Rather, we should pursue the truth. We must know how we go to heaven and not to hell.

Why did the rich man go to hell? Why did poor Lazarus go to heaven? It’s not that the rich all go to hell and the poor all go to heaven. Abraham was rich, and we see that he went to heaven. And poor people can certainly go to hell. We find our answer by the fact that poor Lazarus is carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom. Abraham’s bosom is an image of heaven, because God gave the Gospel promise to Abraham and he believed it. God told Abraham, “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 22:18) The promise which will bless all nations is in Abraham’s offspring, that means, it comes from Abraham’s body. This means that Jesus Christ would be born a descendent of Abraham, and that all who believe in him will be eternally blessed. How do we know that those who believe in him will be blessed? Because Abraham himself believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

Not only did the promise concern Abraham’s body, because God promised that the Savior would come from Abraham’s body, but the promise concerned Abraham’s faith, because Abraham believed the promise. This shows that the true children of Abraham are those who believe the promise. St. Paul explains this in Galatians chapter 3, “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (vss. 6-9)

Yet, how do we know that the rich man did not have faith in the promise of Abraham? And how do we know that Lazarus did? Abraham tells us. He told the rich man that he received good things in his lifetime, but Lazarus received bad things. What this means is that the rich man stored up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and which are lost to you when you die, but Lazarus stored up his treasures in heaven and remained poor in spirit on earth. It’s not just that the rich man was rich, but that the rich man worshipped his riches. He served mammon rather than God. And it was not just that Lazarus was poor. He was poor in spirit. He desired only to be clothed and fed, otherwise, he was content. His treasure was in heaven, from which he eagerly waited for his Savior.

The rich man lacked love. St. John tells us, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17) The rich man had the world’s goods. His brother was in need right at the gate of his very house. Yet, his heart remained closed to poor Lazarus. So, we must conclude that the love of God did not abide in the rich man.

St. John again teaches us, “We love because [God] first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) Of course, God loves the whole world (John 3:16). So, what this means is, those who receive God’s love through faith will love, but those who do not know God’s love will not love. Jesus says this very thing in Luke chapter 7, when he speaks of the sinful woman who washed his feet, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:46) He then turns to the woman and says, “Your faith has saved you.” The woman had faith in the forgiveness of sins, so she loved much. But a person who does not believe in the forgiveness of sins, who does not accept God’s love through Christ Jesus, will not love much.

It is important that you get this in the right order. Some people think that you go to heaven and are saved, because of how you love. Many even think that faith in Jesus is not important, as long as you love. But Scripture makes clear that you cannot love unless you first have faith in God’s love. And it is not possible to please God unless you have faith (Hebrews 11:6). This is very offensive. People don’t want to hear that they can’t love. Love is so personal. “Are you saying that if I’m not a Christian that I don’t love my wife or my children or my dog?” Yet, when people say things like this, they ignore the fact that we are by nature sinful. As Jesus says, “Out of the mouth come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (Matthew 15:19) So, even if unbelievers do show outward acts of love, which they do, their love is tainted with sinful desires. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one loves purely. And without faith, the love we show is not pleasing to God.

Yet, if you have faith in Christ, you must bear good fruits of love. It is not optional to love. “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20) If you have faith in God, you love God. And if you love God, you love your neighbor, because God loves your neighbor. When you love your neighbor, you confess God’s love for his creation.

The word love has been greatly perverted, so it is important to remember that love is God’s Word. God is love (1 John 4:16). And God demonstrates love in this way, by giving his Son to die for us so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). So, the love we then show should mirror the love God shows to us. Our love should be selfless and for our neighbor’s good. This is why we should seek to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and visit the sick. We should seek to preach the Gospel to those who have not heard it, so that they may escape their sins.

There is a catchphrase, which says, “Love is love,” which is meant to defend all forms of sexual immorality. But there is a big difference between love and sexual infatuation and lust. Love is not lust. Love does not seek to do harm to a neighbor or rejoice in wrongdoing (Romans 13:10; 1 Corinthians 13:6). So, defending or promoting sexual immorality in any of its forms is not loving in the least bit. Sexual immorality focuses a person in on himself and his own lusts. It does not seek out the good in the neighbor. And sexual immorality is not only damaging to the body, but it is destructive to the soul. Scripture warns, “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 will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) And so it is loving to call fornication, homosexuality, adultery, pornography, narcissism, drunkenness, and all other sins which are now celebrated, sins. We should warn people of the dangers of sin, call them to repent and to believe in the Gospel. Those who are currently celebrating pride in sexual perversions need to be called to repentance and they need to know that Jesus died for their sins, so that they too may be saved.

Three times the rich man from hell called Abraham his father. He no doubt was a Jew, who could trace his lineage back to Abraham. But in fact, Abraham was not his father. If Abraham were the rich man’s father, then the rich man would have done what Abraham did. Abraham listened to the word of God and believed the Lord. Abraham offered food and shelter to strangers and helped those in distress. St. Paul says in Romans chapter 9, “Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’” This means that we are children of Abraham when we believe in the promise of Jesus Christ, the descendant of Isaac. And children of Abraham prove that they are his children by how they love one another.

Most of us are probably not physical descendants of Abraham, but we who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior are certainly children of Abraham through faith. Abraham is our father. And this also serves as a good message for fathers on Father’s Day. Any man can become a father. What makes a good father? Well, it must be spending time with your children, sharing your interests with them and taking an interest in theirs; it must be to teach them how to catch and throw a ball, take them fishing, and tell some good “Dad jokes.” And that’s all fine and all, but that is not what makes a man a good father. There is one thing that is indispensable to being a good father, and that is teaching your children the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Abraham told the rich man that his brothers needed to listen to Moses and the Prophets, that is, to Holy Scripture in order for them to be converted. The rich man disagreed. He thought a dead man rising could scare them into faith. But that’s not how it works. Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). The only way for these brothers of the rich man to become children of Abraham, was for them to listen to the promise of Jesus Christ. We aren’t scared into faith, but we are converted by the promise that Christ has paid for all our sins and that whoever believes in him will be saved. This is also why fathers should teach their children the Gospel at home and bring them to church to hear Moses, the Prophets, and the Apostles, who all proclaim Jesus.

Our communities would be much better off if fathers would be married to the mothers of their children, and if fathers would work hard, yet still spend quality time with their kids. But the stakes are much higher than living in a nice community and having good memories here on earth. The stakes are eternal damnation and eternal salvation. This is why every father should acknowledge his duty to be a spiritual father to his children. Scripture says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) The most important thing for a Christian father to pass on to his children is the saving faith, that all who repent of their sins and trust in Christ Jesus for forgiveness, will be saved. That is the most loving thing a father can do for his children. And if he believes in the Lord Jesus, he will strive to do it.

God grant all Christian fathers the strength to carry out this sacred task and grace to their children to keep the faith. Amen.

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The Evangelical Trinity

6/15/2022

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The Holy Trinity, Peter Paul Rubens, 1616-17. Public Domain.

Trinity Sunday
Romans 11:33-36
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 12, 2022

Once a year on Trinity Sunday the Church confesses the Athanasian Creed. You’re familiar with the Apostles’ Creed. The Apostles’ Creed was confessed when you were Baptized. You were taught it in Catechism Class. It should be a part of your daily prayers at home along with the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. You’re familiar with the Nicene Creed. The Church confesses the Nicene Creed every Divine Service where Holy Communion is offered. If you attend Church regularly, you probably don’t need to look at your hymnal to recite the Nicene Creed with the congregation. Yet, the Athanasian Creed is different. We don’t say it too often. It’s long. And it’s repetitive. And with its tedious language and assertion that whoever does not believe it whole and undefiled will perish eternally, it makes some people uncomfortable.

But in fact, the Athanasian Creed is a wonderful Confession, which every Christian should hold dear. It is named for St. Athanasius, a fourth century Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, who was a staunch defender of the teaching of the Holy Trinity. Athanasius suffered much for his defense of the doctrine of the Trinity, frequently being exiled and unjustly removed from his position as bishop. Yet, the Church holds Athanasius in high esteem for his defense of the truth. Some might think that Athanasius was deposed and exiled so frequently, because he was a cantankerous old curmudgeon, who didn’t know how to compromise. But in fact, Athanasius suffered so readily for the doctrine of the Trinity, because he was so devoted to the truth of Scripture and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone saves.

Over the first several centuries of the New Testament Church, the Church produced and edited a number of Creeds, articulating its teaching of the Holy Trinity. This has caused many to assert that the doctrine of the Trinity was invented by the Church, that it evolved over time. But that is not so. The Church continued to articulate and clarify the teaching of the Trinity, because this teaching has been so viciously attacked. And the teaching of the Trinity has been so viciously attacked, because it conflicts with human reason. How can God be one, yet there be three persons. Either there are three gods or the three persons are not all God, or the three persons are not three persons. This is how human reason thinks. But Scripture says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33) It is not our job to judge the teaching of Holy Scripture or determine whether what God teaches in it is rational. Rather, it is our job to hear the Word of God and keep it. It should not surprise us that there are things about God and his ways, which are past finding out. To have faith does not mean that you understand everything. To have faith means that you trust what God says, even when you do not understand it.

The Athanasian Creed expands on the teaching of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creed. It teaches that there is one God, yet three persons. and that one of these three persons, who is God, became man and suffered, died, and rose for our salvation. The Athanasian Creed calls itself the catholic faith, which might surprise some Lutherans. But the word catholic simply comes from two Greek words meaning, “according to the whole.” This means that the Athanasian Creed claims to be the faith that has always at all places and at all times of the Christian Church been taught. So, even we Lutherans can call ourselves catholic, because we believe our faith is the faith passed on by God himself through the prophets and apostles.

The teaching of the Trinity is catholic, not because it was invented by the Church, but because it is taught in Holy Scripture. There is only one God. Deuteronomy 6:4 states, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Yet, Scripture also makes clear that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet, the Father is not the Son. Jesus tells us that the Father gave his Son to die for us (John 3:16). And the Father is not the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us that the Father sends us the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). And the Holy Spirit is not the Son. Jesus tells his disciples that he will send them the Holy Spirit (John 16:17). So, you cannot say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the same person, because Scripture makes clear that they are distinct from one another.

Yet, there is only one God. And the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is God. The Father is not greater than the Son or the Holy Spirit. Neither is one before or after another. None is mightier than another. All three are equally infinite, eternal, and almighty. In fact, they share one substance. That means that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is each one-hundred percent God. Yet, there remains only one God.

This teaching is incomprehensible, yet it is clearly taught in Scripture. If you read Scripture, you will find that there is only one God. And you will find that the Father is God, that he is infinite, eternal, and almighty. You will find the same for the Son and the Holy Spirit. And you will find that though they are one, they are distinct, just as the Old Testament calls both the LORD and the Angel of the LORD God (Genesis 22:11-12; Exodus 3:2-6; Judges 13:21-22). This is why the angels in Isaiah 6 cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy, LORD God of Sabaoth.” The LORD is thrice Holy for his three persons. This is why St. Paul writes, ‘For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36) There are three Hims, yet there is only one Him. This is why Jesus says, “We speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen.” (John 3:11) Who is we? The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus commands the Church to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). The only reason to deny the teaching of the Holy Trinity, is because it offends our human reason. Well, let God be true and every man a liar. To God alone be glory. His ways are past finding out. Yet, he has revealed in his Holy Word, that he is three in one!

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is so important, not simply because it is right. You can be wrong about things and still be saved. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is so important, because only the Triune God saves. Those who deny the Holy Trinity, deny the God of the Bible. And those who deny the Holy Trinity, invariably deny that a sinner is saved by grace, that is, as a free gift through faith alone. Yet, those who hold fast to the teaching of the Trinity hold fast to the Gospel by which the Trinity saves.

Only God the Father sent his Son to save sinners. No other god could or would do that. And the Son he sent was not an honorary son. God didn’t send an angel. He didn’t send any created being. He sent him, who was from the beginning with him, him by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made (John 1:1-3, 14). Our God sent God to take on our human nature, to fulfill the Law in our place, and to suffer and die in our stead. This is why St. Paul is able to say that they crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Corinthians 2:8) and why St. Peter was able to tell the Jews in Jerusalem, “You killed the Author of Life!” (Acts 3:15), and how St. Paul again is able to declare that God purchased the Church with his own blood (Acts 20:28). Now how can the Lord of Glory die? How can they kill the Author of life? How can God have blood to shed? Because, the Son, who is true God became man. God the Son is united in one person with human flesh, so the man who died and rose for our sins is indeed our God.

This of course gives us confidence in our salvation! Are you troubled by your sins? Do you lament with the Psalmist, “For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.”? What is greater than God’s own blood? The Triune God has granted you certainty of salvation through Jesus Christ, the God-man, who has died and is risen for you.

Although the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is taught throughout the Old Testament, it is most clearly taught in the New Testament, because Jesus reveals the Trinity to us. We see this in Jesus’ Baptism when the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove and the Father calls him his beloved Son from heaven. We hear it in Jesus’ teaching of the work of the Father and the Holy Spirit and in his command to baptize in that name. Jesus tells us that if we have seen him, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). We can only know the Father’s love for us through Jesus whom he has sent to die for us.

The divinity of the Holy Spirit is of great comfort to us as well. Do you have difficulty believing? That is not surprising, because it is in fact impossible for you to believe. You are born of the flesh. That which is born of flesh is flesh. If you are to believe in the Holy Trinity, then you must be born again. And God has sent the Holy Spirit to cause this new birth in you. When you are baptized, you are born again of water and the Spirit. God did not send an angel to try to convert your sinful flesh. He hasn’t sent you a mere helper to guide your way. God has sent God, the Holy Spirit, to cause you to be born again after the image of Christ, so that you might be a new person, washed free from sin. This should give you confidence to believe and something to throw against all doubt. You cannot believe, but the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word of Christ certainly can make you believe. He is God. He is all powerful.

Finally, some are troubled by the words of the Athanasian Creed, which say, “At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.” This might sound un-Lutheran, but it is not. This is what Jesus says in John chapter 5, “For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (vss. 28-29) But neither Jesus nor the Athanasian Creed says that those who have done good earn their salvation, but rather, those who enter into salvation have done good. Jesus also says in John chapter 5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (vs. 24) But it is important to remember that it is impossible to do good unless you are born again of the Spirit. And if you are born again of the Spirit, then you will do good. This does not mean that you will earn your way to salvation, but rather that God is pleased with you for Christ’s sake and the Holy Spirit is working good through you.

On Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the God, revealed in Scripture, who alone saves us by his grace. He alone has the power to save. He alone made the plan to save us. And he alone has revealed that plan to us. In the Athanasian Creed, we see a beautiful summary of the Christian faith, and how our God is invincible to save us.

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

Making Friends with Unrighteous Mammon

A Good Tree Bears Good Fruit

The Urgency of the Banquet

What's at Stake

The Evangelical Trinity

Rev. James Preus

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