Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

Watch Therefore, For You Know Neither The Day Nor The Hour.

11/23/2020

James Tissot, The Wise Virgins, 1886-94, Brooklyn Museum, No Known Copyright Restrictions

Last Sunday of the Church Year
Matthew 25:1-13
November 22, 2020

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” This is an earnest warning from our Lord Jesus. Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. Some will be found unprepared and will be barred from the heavenly banquet for all eternity. Those who are prepared will be ushered into the heavenly wedding banquet to enjoy eternal life. We do not know when this hour will come, so we should keep watch lest we be found unprepared.
Yet, how is one found prepared? Jesus says that the wise are prepared, while the foolish are unprepared. Yet, be careful. The foolishness Jesus speaks of is not the foolishness of this world. And the wisdom Jesus speaks of is not the wisdom of this world. Rather, it is as Scripture says, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,”, and “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 21) So, the wisdom Jesus speaks of here is entirely different from the wisdom of this world. And the foolishness Jesus speaks of is not what the world considers folly.
The ten virgins represent the church on earth. They all look the same. They look good. The only difference is that some have oil and some do not, but you won’t be able to tell that with your eyes until the lamps are lit. But outward appearance does not make one part of the true Church or make one wise. Only faith, which is in the heart can do that. The wise virgins had oil in their flasks. Their oil is faith given to them by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Just as you can’t see the oil in the flasks, you can’t see someone’s faith in the heart. The foolish virgins had no oil in their lamps. Their lamps were just pretty decorations. Beyond that, they were utterly useless.
To be wise means to listen to the Word of God, so that you repent of your sins and believe in God’s promise of salvation in Jesus Christ. The foolish pay no attention to God’s word, refuse to repent of their sins, and refuse to believe in the Gospel.
To be wise means to be humble and to fear the Lord. Scripture says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” To fear the Lord means to recognize him as Judge and to turn to him for salvation. Scripture also says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Despite what many think in this age where atheism is so rampant, the Psalmist is not speaking simply of those who deny the existence of a Creator. Rather, he speaks of those who behave in their heart as if there is no God to judge them. It is as Psalm 36 states, “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.” And so many nominal Christians live as if there is no God, as if God cannot look into their hearts and judge them, as if we should not in fear humble ourselves before God and ask for forgiveness every day.
To be wise means to meditate on the words of God. Proverbs 9 states, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” There is no such thing as a stagnant faith. We are surrounded by attacks against our faith. The devil roars at us. The world lures us away. And our sinful flesh battles against our spirit! If you are not growing in faith, you are shrinking in faith. To despise the word of God, to think that you just don’t need it or that you can go without it is foolish. It is a sure way to destroy your faith in Christ and to become unprepared for the return of Christ.
Sometimes I wonder whether Christ will decide to return during the Divine Service. How wonderful that would be! To prepare your heart to receive Christ in faith, to believe what your eyes cannot yet see, and then be so blessed as to see your Savior coming with salvation! And how awful it would be if you chose something else than to hear God’s Word! If the Lord finds you seeking after the “important” things of this life instead of filling your lamps with oil!
Skipping church is the most foolish and reckless thing that Christians do on earth. Not only is it a sin breaking the Third Commandment, which forbids us to despise preaching and his Word, but commands us to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it, but it is dangerous! Scripture promises, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” And the Psalmist says, “How can a young man keep his way pure, by guarding it according to Your Word.” Yet, Christians habitually ignore this promise and warning as if they are thinking, “I think I’ve got enough oil in my lamp to get me to next week or next month or Christmas Eve.” This is like driving down the interstate on empty, but not taking the next exit to get gas, because you’re making good time, or the kids are asleep, or you like the song on the radio. You’d find yourself stranded on the side of the road.
Yet, hearing God’s word but not listening is just as damaging as not hearing it at all. Jesus says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:26-27) And this leads to our next point about the wise. The wise accept rebuke and correction. That is to say, the Word of God has an effect on them. When Christians hear that they have sinned, they repent of their sins. They know that it does them no good to defend themselves. It is God who justifies. Without the Word of God, it is impossible to have saving faith. And if you reject God’s Word, so that it cannot work on your heart to bring you to repentance and to trust in its promises, then you will remain without oil in your lamp.
The oil of the foolish runs out, because they behave as if they have plenty of time. They get preoccupied with the things of this world. They’re concerned with being found wise by those, whom God finds to be utter fools. And this foolishness spreads to all levels of the church. Entire church bodies devote themselves to ever new ways of being found wise by those who hate God. And so, shepherd-less flocks gather to hear words and leave without a drop of oil added to their flasks. And so, the wise must always take heed and listen to the voice of their Shepherd, Jesus Christ and to mark and avoid false teachers, who do not preach God’s Word.
When Jesus returns, there will no longer be any time to repent. There will be no time to get oil. You can pray for your loved ones, but you cannot believe for them. In order to be saved, one needs to have faith now. When Christ returns, there will no longer be time.
“Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.” These are the worst words you can possibly hear from Jesus’ mouth! Amen is the word we use at the end of prayers to express our firm faith that God hears us and will answer our prayers. We say, “amen,” at a Baptism to confess God’s sure promise to forgive and save the baptized. We say, “amen,” after we receive the Absolution, because we are confident that as far as the east is from the west, so far does God remove our transgressions from us. We say, “amen,” when we receive Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins, because we confess that we are certain that we have Communion with Christ, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. We say, “amen,” when the pastor says, “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”, because we believe that the almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has indeed put his name upon us and will save us on the Last Day. Amen is the most comforting word we Christians ever say or hear. It means, “This is most certainly true.”, and “Yes, yes, it shall be so.” Yet, Jesus uses this beautiful word in the most horrifying way. It means that the time to believe the Gospel is over. The door is shut. Amen, Jesus does not know you. That’s the end of it.
Yet, Scripture says, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” (1 Thess. 5:9-10) How can we believe these words are meant for us? Because we believe the Gospel now. While it is still day and the hour has not yet come, we believe now that Christ Jesus has died for us, that he has forgiven our sins. We say, “Amen,” to the Gospel now, so that we will not hear Jesus say, “Amen, I do not know you.”, but rather, “Amen, I do know you as surely as I placed my name on you in Baptism, absolved you of all your sins, fed you my body and blood, and shepherded you throughout your life. I know you. Come into my wedding hall. Amen, I say to you, I know you and will know you forever.” We say, “amen.”, now so that we will never hear the dreaded amen of condemnation, but only the precious Amen of the Gospel for all eternity.
To be wise means to believe the Gospel that Jesus Christ has truly washed away your sins so that you are forgiven before God your Father in heaven. When we say, “amen” to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is like we’ve just put the cap on our flasks after filling it with oil. We hear the Gospel and we believe it. And everyone who confessing Christ will be saved. Amen. Amen. Amen.

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The Lord Harvests His Fruit

11/17/2020

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Viktor Vasnetsov, Last Judgment, 1904, Public Domain

Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 26)
Matthew 25:31-46
November 15, 2020

“From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.” This is what we confess. Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. The idea of a final judgment is laughed at by most. Not that people don’t believe that we will be judged. A common refrain is that history will judge us if we do not cast off our old Christian values and accept the new morality. What they mean by history judging us is that our children and grandchildren after being indoctrinated will look back on us disapprovingly for not believing as they do. But that is not the judgment we should fear, but rather God’s judgment. God’s judgment is real. And Jesus Christ, our God and Lord has authority to judge the living and the dead.
Yet, by what merits will we be judged? How will we be judged righteous and enter into eternal life? Jesus tells us in his lesson. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, “inherit the kingdom” prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” This is all grace, that is, God’s undeserved love for us. Come, you who are blessed! God blesses us by grace apart from our works. He does this by forgiving our sins and clothing us with Christ’s righteousness. “Inherit the kingdom.” An inheritance is a gift passed on from a father to his children. Moreover, he says this kingdom was, “prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Think of that! From the foundation of the world, before you were born, before you had done anything good or bad, God prepared a kingdom for you. That is what grace is. It is a gift of God, not of works. You inherit the kingdom by grace.
This is exactly what St. Paul says in the Spirit in Ephesians chapter 1, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ... In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” So here, Scripture states that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that he adopted us as sons through Christ, and that we are redeemed through the forgiving blood of Jesus. So, before the foundation of the world, before God said, “Let there be light” he chose us in Christ Jesus, he planned our full salvation to forgive our sins through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and to make us his children through faith in Christ, so that we might inherit our Father’s kingdom. This is grace!
Yet, to those on his left the King says, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Notice that the king does not say “prepared for you.” The kingdom of heaven is prepared for us as an inheritance from the foundation of the world. But the eternal fire was not prepared for mankind. It was prepared to punish the devil and his angels. Scripture says, that God “desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4) No one can blame God for his own unbelief and damnation. Those who are damned can only blame themselves. While those who are saved can only give credit to God. Why some are saved and others are not is a mystery that God has not revealed to us. What God has revealed to us is that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ apart from our works (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Yet, the large chunk of our Gospel lesson does not speak simply of grace, but of the wonderful works of mercy that the sheep on the right have done for their Lord. “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to me.” These are indeed marvelous works, which God will praise for all eternity. Yet, they are not the works which save us. Rather, they are the fruits of saving faith. It is as Scripture says in Ephesians 2:10, after saying that we are saved by grace through faith apart from our works, declares, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” These works are real. They are fruits of faith. And Christ Jesus will reveal them on the Last Day.
It is much like that parable which Jesus tells in Matthew 13, where the master plants good seed in his field, but an enemy comes by night and plants bad seed. The master tells his servants to wait until the harvest to separate the bad darnel from the good wheat, lest they pull up the wheat with the weeds. The darnel looks like wheat at first, but when the ear appears the distinction between the wheat and the weeds becomes obvious. At the harvest, the laborers bind up the darnel and burn it and the gather the wheat into barns. The wheat is good, because it came from good seed. But it is its fruit which reveals itself.
But there is another detail you must notice. The sheep on the right are ignorant of their good works! “When did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” That we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them is an article of faith. We believe it, even when we do not see it.
This is kind of like how we confess that we believe in one, holy, Christian, and Apostolic Church. We believe that there is one united Church, the body of Christ, because Scripture clearly tells us there is. Yet, there are many who operate under the assumption that we must be able to see that the Church is united in order for it to be united. So, the Roman Catholic Church has historically claimed to be the one holy Christian Church on earth and has solidified this unity by submission under the Pope. Yet, the Roman Catholic Church is not truly united, but has factions and divisions throughout it. Of course, the greatest scandal of the Roman Church is that it denies that a sinner is justified by grace through faith alone apart from his works and rather teaches that one is justified by faith and works.
The Protestant Church has operated similarly. Although there are many factions among the Protestants, there has been a continued effort to unite the Protestants under one Protestant Church. But to do this, they insisted that Protestants compromise what they believe on important issues such as election, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution. So, instead of building a Church on the teachings of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus being the Corner Stone, they built a visible church with a unity that depends on not listening to what the Apostles and Jesus actually say.
And so, it is for those who try to see here and now these works that Jesus will praise on the Last Day. They try to earn God’s praise with their own works that they can see and tabulate, so when Christ says to them that they did not feed him or clothe him or visit him, they are shocked and say, “When did we see you in need and not minister to you?” They tried to see what you ought to believe in through faith. Just as we do not see the one, holy, Christian and Apostolic Church on earth with our eyes, but rather a divided church filled with scandal, yet we believe that Christ’s Church is nevertheless united and holy and can be found where Christ’s Word is purely taught and his Sacraments are rightly administered. So also, we don’t see our works with the spender that Christ does. They seem insignificant and imperfect. Yet, we believe that they are pleasing to God for Christ’s sake.
Christ tells the sheep, “As much as you have done it to the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me.” With these words, Jesus identifies himself with every Christian and with his ministers. Jesus tells his disciples that whoever receives them receives him and that whoever gives one of his disciples a cup of cold water, he will by no means lose his reward. Jesus intends for Christians to show mercy to one another and to look after their needs. When you see your fellow Christian hungry, feed him; thirsty, give him something to drink. Jesus also indicates that Christians will suffer for being Christians. They may be naked or in prison. So, we should keep watch to see if our brothers and sisters are suffering persecution for the faith and defend them and support them in any way we can.
Christians also serve Christ by serving Christ’s ministers. St. Paul writes, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17-18) So when Christians support the preaching of the word by taking care of their pastors, Christ says that they are caring for Him.
“As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me,” says Jesus to those on the left. It is true that without faith it is impossible to please God. So, even if the world finds something to be the most spectacular and noblest work, God is not pleased with it if it is not done in faith. So, all the works these goats would present to Christ are worthless in his sight. Yet, it’s not just that they didn’t do these works in faith. These unbelievers didn’t do them at all. Why? Because they separated themselves from the body of Christ. If you do not have fellowship with the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters, then you will not be showing mercy to them. Jesus’ words are an indictment against those who separate themselves from his Church on earth by neglecting the preaching of his Word, receiving the Sacraments, and showing love to Christ’s sheep. If Christ is going to be your Savior, he must be your brother. And if Christ is your brother, then you must be a brother or sister to his brethren as well.
Judgment Day is real. Jesus will judge and some will go to heaven and some will go to hell. How do you know whether you will go to heaven or hell? Through faith in Jesus. You are saved by grace as a gift through faith in Jesus and not by your works. Yet, works always follow faith. Those who love Christ gather to hear his word and they love their brothers and sisters in Christ. And as much as they do for their fellow sheep, they do for their dear Lord Jesus, who has rescued them from all sin, from death, and hell. Dear brothers and sister in Christ, let us love one another and in so doing show love to Christ. Amen.

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Forgive Us Our Trespasses As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

11/9/2020

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Eastman Johnson, Child at Prayer, 1873, Public Domain

Trinity 22
Matthew 18:21-35
November 8, 2020

“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?” writes the Prophet Micah in chapter 6, demonstrating the great indebtedness that we have to our loving God, who has given us all that we need and has forgiven us all our sins. Micah shows that there is nothing that we can offer God to repay him for his great goodness and concludes, “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
It is impossible to pay God back for all the benefits he has given you, especially for the forgiveness he has won and freely given you. Even if God gave you a thousand lifetimes to do good, you could never repay him for what he has done for you. But you do not need to repay God. He does good to you only out of his fatherly divine goodness and mercy. He forgives you by grace, according to his own love. All that God requires of you in response to this is to do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
This means that God requires us to forgive others as we have been forgiven. Jesus concludes his parable, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you [namely, send you to the prison of hell], if you do not forgive your brother from the heart.” And Jesus explains the petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” by saying, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15) So it is irrefutable, that if you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you.
Yet, this must not be misunderstood to mean that God forgives us on account of us forgiving others. God forgives us purely on the bases of his own mercy and for the sake of the bitter suffering and death of his Son Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:32 states, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We forgive as we have been forgiven. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that God forgives us before we could possibly do anything to deserve it. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) God sent Jesus to die for us when we didn’t deserve it. God forgives us before we have done anything that could possibly deserve it. And we receive this forgiveness through faith alone, as Scripture also writes,
“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’” (Romans 4:5-8)
And we heard in our Gospel lesson that the king forgave his servant before his servant could do anything to deserve it, purely according to his own grace and mercy.
Yet, when the servant, who had been forgiven the massive debt of 10,000 talents refused to forgive his fellow servant his much smaller debt of 100 denarii, he rejected his master’s grace and mercy. He ought to have done to his fellow servant as his master had done to him.
10,000 talents is an absurd amount of money. It would take multiple lifetimes to pay back. 100 denarii on the other hand, while not a small sum, is manageable. It is about 100 days wage. The 10,000 talents symbolize our debt which we owe God on account of our sin. It is impossible for us to pay it back. Yet, God forgives us all our debt out of compassion for us. People sin against us. That hurts. It’s difficult to bear, just like it would be difficult to swallow the loss of 100 days wage. But, since we have been forgiven all our sins, we ought also to forgive others their sins against us. To refuse to forgive others is to reject God’s grace and to reject the faith. You cannot have faith in Christ while you refuse to forgive others. How can you believe that God has forgiven you all your sins for Christ’s sake, yet believe that God withholds forgiveness from the one who has sinned against you? Your faith in Christ compels you to forgive others.
Forgiving others is difficult, because of our own weakness and because sin hurts. When someone damages your reputation, destroys your trust, or damages your property or body, the pain lingers. Yet, the requirement for Christians to forgive shows God’s immense grace.
God requires you to forgive those who do not deserve to be forgiven, because God forgives you when you do not deserve it. That is the very point. To be forgiven means that you don’t deserve it, otherwise it wouldn’t be forgiveness! By withholding judgment and forgiving the one who sins against you, you demonstrate that God forgives you apart from you deserving it.
You might object to forgiving the one who has sinned against you, because he is not sorry or has not shown himself to be sorry. But God did not wait for you to be sorry to forgive you. He won your forgiveness by placing your sins on Jesus long before you could ever say, “sorry.” True, you can only receive forgiveness through faith. This means that you must repent and believe that God forgives you for Christ’s sake. But God did not wait on you to pay the price of your sin. So, you also must stand ready to forgive the one who has sinned against you. Forgive him even before he says he’s sorry.
Besides, there might be a reason that he has not said sorry. Perhaps, he does not know that he has sinned against you! Have you confronted the person who has sinned against you? Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” If you have not confronted the person who has sinned against you, there is a good chance that the person does not know that he has done you wrong. Or perhaps, he does know and is sorry, but is too embarrassed to talk to you and instead has asked God for forgiveness privately. Either way, you don’t know unless you talk to him! So, don’t stew in your anger. Don’t condemn the one who has sinned against you while justifying your judgement by claiming that he is not sorry. God forgave you before you were sorry. And your neighbor cannot ask for forgiveness if you do not talk to him!
God requires us to forgive others over and over and over again. St. Peter asked Jesus how many times he needed to forgive his brother. “As many as seven times?” Perhaps he remembered Jesus words, as they are recorded in Luke 17, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” (vss. 3-4) But Jesus was not giving a literal number there anymore than he was when he said, “not seven times, but seventy times seven.” The point Jesus is making is that you should forgive your brother as often as he sins against you. As often as he repents, you should say, “I forgive you.”
This seems like a burdensome task. Forgiving can take a toll on someone. Yet, it is a wonderful joy if you do so in faith! Why? Because God has forgiven you so much and he promises to continue to forgive you! Just think of this, Jesus taught us a prayer, which he intends for us to pray every day for the rest of our lives, in which he tells us to pray, “forgive us our trespasses.” Jesus wants us to pray every day for forgiveness. That means that Jesus promises that we will be forgiven every day. Will there come a time when you will turn to God in repentance and ask for forgiveness and he will refuse to forgive you? Can you pray, “Forgive us our trespasses,” and God reply, “I’ve forgiven you enough already.”? Does Jesus require us to be more merciful than God? Certainly not! No, Jesus tells us to forgive as often as we are sinned against, because God will not stop forgiving you! As often as you repent, God will forgive you.
This does not mean that God condones sin or that he wants us to continue in sin. So, neither does it mean that when you forgive others you are approving of their sin against you. God does not approve of our sin, but he places it on Jesus to be washed away in his blood. And that is what you do when you forgive others. You place their sins on Jesus. To forgive is very different than to approve of sin. To forgive means to acknowledge that what has been done is wrong. That is why people are so uncomfortable with saying, “I forgive you.” Instead they say things like, “No problem.” Or “No worries.” But when someone has done you wrong and repents, you should say, “I forgive you.” That is the most loving and Christian thing you can do. It is to say, “Yes, you have done me wrong and I have put that wrong on Jesus for him to wash it away in his blood.”
To forgive means to forget. God says, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12) And again, the Prophet Micah says, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (7:19) When God forgives your sins, he does not keep a record of it for later, so that he use it against you later. He forgets. So, we also should not dwell on the sins of others, but forgive and forget, so that it does not control our minds. This, of course, can only be done by the Holy Spirit.
“But I struggle to forgive those who sin against me. I say the words, but the pain remains. I say I’ll forget, but then anger arises within me later. It seems I have to keep forgiving the same sin over and over and over again. I’m scared that although I say I forgive, I don’t really mean it.”
It is common to struggle to forgive on account of our sinful flesh, which doubts God’s grace. But there is a big difference between struggling to forgive and feel like you’ve forgiven, and refusing to forgive. We must confess our sins before God and pray for a patient and forgiving heart every day. But to refuse to forgive and to hold a grudge without repenting is to reject the Gospel.
We are not saved by our works, that includes by forgiving others. You are not forgiven because you forgive others. Rather, you forgive others, because you have been forgiven freely for Christ’s sake. The reason forgiveness is taken away when you refuse to forgive is because only unbelief and hatred of God’s grace could drive you to refuse to forgive. Yes, you will struggle to forgive. Your emotions will rise up within you. You’ll pray to God for a forgiving heart, but you won’t always feel like you’ve succeeded in forgiving the one who’s hurt you.
But you must not confuse this weakness of the flesh with unbelief. You will continue to struggle with your emotions. You will continue to struggle with your sin. And God forgives your sins for Christ’s sake. But to continue to refuse to forgive and to hate your brother who sins against you is to reject the Gospel. In that case, the struggle has been lost.
When you struggle to forgive, look to Christ Jesus who has forgiven you. You do not get the strength to forgive others by threats of the Law, but by the promise of the Gospel. God has forgiven you in Christ Jesus. So, confess Christ by forgiving others. By forgiving others, who have sinned against you, you will garner peace in your heart, because it will remind you that God freely and willingly forgives you for Christ’s sake. Amen.

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Blessed Are the Saints

11/2/2020

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All Saints, Fra Angelico, 1420, Public Domain

All Saints Day
Matthew 5:1-9
November 1, 2020

“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

Through Baptism and through faith in Jesus Christ, we are God’s children now. We have been born again, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. We have been clothed in Christ and all our sins have been washed away. Our new man has been born after the image of Christ. And Scripture says that even now we are being transformed into Christ’s image. Yet, Scripture also clearly says that what we will be transformed into has not yet appeared. We do not yet look like the image of Christ in his glory. Yet, Jesus teaches us in our Gospel lesson that his Christians do indeed look like children of God.
The Gospel Lesson for All Saints Day is from Matthew chapter five, which is known as the Beatitudes. Jesus lists eight blessings in order to describe his Saints. A Saint is a holy person. To be holy means to be set apart. We usually think of saints as those who have gone to heaven. Yet, Jesus points out that God has set his saints apart now on this earth. It is they who are blessed forever. Each of the eight beatitudes describes Christ and in turn God’s Saints, who are being transformed into Christ’s image.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
In Luke’s Gospel Jesus strengthens this statement by saying, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” No, Jesus is not saying that rich people cannot go to heaven, although he does say that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. Nor is Jesus saying that all poor people will be eternally blessed. Rather, Jesus is speaking of those who are poor in spirit, that is, those who do not treasure their earthly riches in their heart. A person can be physically very poor, but if he craves in his heart after material wealth and prizes nothing so highly than to be rich here on earth, then his heart will have no room for God. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So, even if someone owns great wealth here on earth, he can be poor in spirit, if he does not let these riches steal his heart, but considers them nothing. This is the example we receive from such saints as Abraham and King David, who were immensely wealthy, yet considered themselves poor and needy before the Lord.
Of course, no greater example of being poor in spirit exists than that of Christ Jesus, the Divine Monarch of heaven, who possesses every hill and field, heaven and all the stars therein. Yet, he was poorer than the birds and the foxes, because he had no place to lay his head. Jesus did not seek to make himself rich on this earth, but instead treasured God’s Word and stored his treasure in heaven.
And this is how the saints live while they are on this earth. Whether God makes them rich or poor, they remain poor in spirit and sing, “And take they our life, Goods fame, child, and wife, Let these all be gone, They yet have nothing won; The Kingdom ours remaineth.”
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Again, there is no better example of one who mourns than Christ, who wept over Jerusalem, because he knew the judgment that befell her. He wept for his friend Lazarus, because more than anyone he understood the tragedy of death. St. Luke intensifies these words by recording Jesus say, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” Now, this does not mean that Christians must always be sad and mourn. Indeed, we have much to rejoice over and many times are we filled with laughter. But by contrasting Christians with those who laugh now, Jesus teaches us that the saints do not rejoice in the things of this world. Like those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn do not seek joy in this sinful world. They mourn with Jesus over those who have rejected the Gospel. They mourn sin. They mourn that marriage is despised, that children are unwanted and even killed in the womb, that sexual immorality runs rampant. They mourn that children leave the church after once confessing the faith before all. And they will not be comforted by the superficial and transient pleasures of this world. They will be comforted only by their Savior Jesus, who will rescue them from this veil of tears.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
To be meek means to be lowly and humble. No one was lowlier than Jesus Christ, who being in the form of God took on the form of a servant. He did this with utter confidence that God’s plan of salvation would be accomplished and that he would inherit the new heavens and the new earth. To be meek presupposes faith. Do not fight and scrap for your foot-breadth of earth. Rather, listen to the comforting words of King David, “For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” (Psalm 37:9-11) To be meek is to live with confidence that God will reward your labors according to his good time.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
No one desired righteousness more than Christ Jesus, who fulfilled the demands of God’s Law in perfect love, and in order to satisfy God’s wrath against all unrighteousness, made atonement for all sins on the cross. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to desire that God’s will be done and that all that is good and right is accomplished. As sinners we know that we ourselves are not righteous. Through faith we desire a righteousness that is not our own and God satisfies us by forgiving our sins and clothing us with Christ’s righteousness. Yet, a Christian, reborn and washed clean of all sin, is not satisfied to then go back to his sin! A Christian desires to continue in righteousness. Yet, we find another law dwelling inside us that serves the law of sin! We hunger and thirst to live a righteous life. And we desire to dwell in a righteous land, because we desire what God desires. Yet, in this life this desire seems to go unfulfilled. We still sin. And like righteous Lot, we torment our souls as we witness evil around us. This is the hunger and thirst that Jesus speaks about. It seems to be unfulfilled, but Jesus promises us that we will be satisfied. In heaven there will be no sin. Our hunger will be satisfied. We will live in righteousness and purity forever.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
Anyone who has read the Gospels knows how merciful our Lord Jesus is. He had pity on the sick, lame, and hungry. He felt compassion for those lost without a shepherd. And his mercy was shown to the extreme when he saved us from our sins and made us God’s children. Jesus illustrates well what it means to be merciful in his story of Judgment Day from Matthew 25, where he says, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was a in prison and you came to me.” And when the righteous show ignorance of ever doing these things, the King answers, “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
And so, God’s saints, who have received abundant mercy let it run over by showing mercy to Christ, whom they find in their neighbor. By thinking of others and their needs, God’s saints on earth feed the poor, clothe the naked, and pray for those persecuted for Christ. You don’t have to leave your family or town to go and show mercy either. In your everyday life, God gives you opportunities to show mercy and kindness. This is also why saints defend the life of the unborn, who are naked and defenseless. Christians must be wise as serpents and gentle as lambs, however. There are those who try to convince Christians that it is merciful to kill these defenseless children. This is greatly displeasing to God our Father, who creates all life in the womb. Killing unborn children is never merciful.
The greatest mercy that has been shown to you is that God has forgiven you all your sins. This is why we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” As we have been forgiven, so we forgive. Saints forgive those who do them wrong, confident in God’s mercy for them.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
To be pure in heart means to have a non-polluted heart. This is something that only God can do, as King David and all Christians pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” A pure heart is a heart that desires only what is good and to be close to God. This is done not only through Baptism, but by continued hearing and learning of God’s Word, and continued reception of the Sacrament. A heart is polluted by idol talk and noise that is common in this world, that seeks to draw your affection to life’s vain pleasures. Saints strive for a pure heart by repenting of their idolatries and vainglory and seeking to learn from God from the pure fountain of his holy Word. And God promises that those who seek him through his Word will see him face to face.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
One of the most endearing sights is watching a young boy intently study his father and set his feet the way he does, place his hand on his hip the way he does, mimic his facial expression and even repeat common phrases of his dad. Sons take after their fathers. Our heavenly Father is a peacemaker. And His Son Jesus Christ came to earth with the angelic announcement, “Peace on earth; Goodwill toward men.” Scripture tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. To reconcile means to turn an enemy into a friend. That is the very essence of being a peacemaker. God made peace with us through the blood of Jesus’ cross. And we, having been cleansed in that blood from all sin and having been made God’s children through faith are now peacemakers. We mimic our Father in heaven.
This means that we look at every friend with the desire of preserving that friendship and at every foe with the desire to be reconciled. If anyone has sinned against you, seek to forgive him and make peace. Do not spread a bad report or bear fast witness, but speak well of your neighbor and explain everything in the kindest way. If you are maligned, then return hatred with kindness. As far as it is in your control, live at peace with one another. This is how you imitate your Father in heaven.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Jesus repeats this beatitude because of its importance and its great comfort. Jesus was persecuted for righteousness’ sake. He laid down his life for what is right and in so doing, he saved our souls. And we Christians who bear Jesus’ name through Baptism and faith must also suffer persecution. Persecution is unpleasant. Perhaps the most difficult thing about persecution is that it is easily avoidable. John the Baptist could have kept his head had he not preached against King Herod’s unlawful divorce and incestuous remarriage. Jesus’ disciples could have lived out their days in peace and comfort had they not devoted themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel. Many Christians’ lives would be spared in Islamic and Communist countries if they would simply conform and deny Christ. And you and your children can escape much unpleasantness if you compromise your faith and ignore God’s Word when it is unpopular. Yet, Jesus teaches his disciples to not get discouraged when they suffer for following his teachings. Rather, rejoice. For such suffering is a sign of being a saint who is blessed forever.
Jesus teaches us these eight beatitudes to instruct us on how we should behave here on earth as Christians set apart by God, as well as to comfort us when we suffer and we cannot see the evidence that we are children of God. We are children of God through faith. And the works and even the suffering and mourning that follow are fruits of faith, which Jesus uses to comfort us with a sure promise of eternal blessedness. May God increase in you such fruit and grant you eternal blessedness. Amen.

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The Freedom of the Christian

10/26/2020

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Luther burns the Papal bull in the square of Wittenberg year 1520, Karl Aspelin, 1885, Public Domain

Reformation Day (Observed)
John 8:31-36
October 25, 2020

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:34-36

Reformation Day commemorates October 31st, 1517, the day when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany to question the practice of selling indulgences, which were treated as a kind of ticket to heaven. Of course, that was only the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation. Martin Luther, as well as his evangelical colleagues continued to produce important writings, which more clearly articulated the Christian faith as it is taught in Holy Scripture. Five hundred years ago in 1520, Martin Luther wrote such a devotional titled, “The Freedom of the Christian”, which clearly articulated the Gospel of the free forgiveness of sins and salvation won by Christ and given to all who believe. Luther sent this devotional to Pope Leo X along with a personal letter, with hopes of calming the tension between the papal see and Luther as many were calling for Luther’s excommunication. Luther treated the pope kindly and wrote to him as a pastor would write to a Christian under duress from the devil and false friends. The thesis statement of Luther’s The Freedom of the Christian was this:
A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.
These two sentences at first sight seem to absolutely contradict each other. Yet, Luther quickly points out the words of St. Paul from 1 Corinthians 9, which state, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave of all” and from Romans 13, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” He also brings up the fact that Christ Jesus, the Lord of all, was “born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4) and although he was “in the form of God” he came in the form “of a servant.” (Philippians 2:6-7). So, Luther’s two statements are certainly biblical and true. But they certainly need some explanation. So, let us first examine Luther’s first statement:
A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
This statement is made absolutely true by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we heard in our Gospel lesson, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” Jesus Christ sets you free from the bonds of sin. If Jesus has set you free, nothing can enslave you! If nothing can enslave you, then you are a lord of all. Your sins cannot condemn you. Satan cannot harm you. Death is a defeated foe. And since this freedom comes as a free gift from Jesus to be received through faith and not by your works, there can be no work demanded of the Christian.
Jesus says that if you abide in his word, you are truly his disciple and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. God’s word is our most precious treasure on this earth. Food, drink, clothing, house, car, and so forth, these things cannot benefit our soul in any way. As Scripture says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Only the word of God can grant us salvation, because our faith can only grasp God’s word and promise. And Luther points out in his treatise that it is the Gospel which is that word of God, which promises salvation, as Romans 1 states, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to all who believe.” And so, it is faith in Christ’s promise of forgiveness and salvation that sets you free, not your works.
Luther goes on to say that faith is the greatest honor you can give God. To have faith in the forgiveness of sins is to believe that God is true, that his promises are trustworthy, that Jesus is the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world. Yet, to disbelieve is to dishonor God, to call him a liar. So, Luther calls faith the greatest honor and glory a person can give to God.
Finally, concerning faith, Luther compares faith to a wedding ring. Through faith we are joined in a holy marriage with Christ. He is the Bridegroom, we the Church are his holy bride. The wedding band symbolizes that all that belongs to the bridegroom is the bride’s and all that belongs to the bride is the bridegroom’s.
This means that our sins belong to Christ. He took ownership of them as certainly as he has claimed us as his bride. And he washed them away in his blood. They are forgiven and forgotten forever. Our debt is paid. This also means that all that belongs to Christ belongs to us. So, if Christ is the exalted Lord of all, under whose feet God the Father has placed all dominion, then we also are exalted lords of all. We share with Christ in his victory, as Scripture indeed proclaims in Ephesians 2 where it says God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” And again in 1 Corinthians 15, “Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Through faith Christ’s righteousness covers us. Through faith we honor God our Savior. Through faith our souls are joined to Christ Jesus in a holy union whereby all Christ possesses is given to us. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are perfectly free lords of all, subject to none.
Here, Luther addresses the question that Pope Leo certainly wants explained. If faith alone makes one righteous without works, then why do any good works at all? Luther answers this by pointing out that we still live in our sinful bodies. Our new man, that is our reborn self, who is joined to Christ through faith, certainly desires only good, to love and honor God and do good to everyone. But the old Adam, that is, our old self born in sin, desires only to satisfy its own desires, to follow after lusts, and in short, to do the bidding of the devil. St. Paul sums this up in Romans 7 when he says, “For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin.” And so, in order to keep oneself from becoming captive to sin and losing one’s faith in the Gospel, a Christian must constantly drown the old Adam through repentance and discipline himself with good works. This is what Scripture also says, “But I discipline my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” 1 Corinthians 9) and “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5)
Here Luther argues his second point:
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.
Christians must do good works. Idol fingers are the devil’s playground. Christians should be busy helping others, serving their neighbor, and considering others more significant than themselves. Luther makes clear that this is not in order to be justified by God. You are already justified through faith in Christ apart from your works. Luther compares one who after faith seeks to be justified by his works to a dog, which has a piece of meat in its mouth, but looking at its reflection in the water thinks it sees another dog with meat. So, in an attempt to get that piece of meat as well, it opens its mouth and drops the meat into the water and ends up with nothing. And, so it is with a Christian who tries to justify himself by his works instead of through faith in Jesus Christ. He loses his righteousness through faith while striving after righteousness through works.
Luther uses Jesus’ own words to explain this. “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad.” (Matthew 12) It is a good tree that bears good fruit, not a good fruit that bears a good tree. When God put Adam in the garden, he had already made him good. Yet, he commanded him to work the garden. His work did not make him good. His work was good, because he was already good. It is faith in Christ that makes our works good. Through faith our inner self becomes alive and desires to do what is right. And through faith, God does not look at our sins, but counts our works as beautiful in his sight. None of this means that our works justify us, but rather that our faith produces good fruits.
Martin Luther pointed out to the Pope that both Christ and John the Baptist told people to repent as well as believe in the Gospel. They first preached the Law of God, that is, God’s commandments so that sinners would come to a knowledge of their sin and repent. Then they preached the Gospel, that is, the promises of God, which offers forgiveness of sins and salvation to all who believe. This, Luther says, describes the work of faithful preachers today. All must preach repentance and then salvation by grace, otherwise, the preaching of good works will be in vain.
Now, why should you as a Christian consider yourself a servant to all? Simple, this is Christ’s example to you. Luther cites Philippians 2, “Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death.” So, a Christian through faith in Christ is Lord of all, yet, like Christ serves all. The life you live, you live not to yourself, but to Christ. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. As Christ did not see equality with God a thing to be grasped, because he already was in the form of God, so we do not seek to grasp God’s majesty, but follow in our Savior’s footsteps and serve others.
This means that we should be subject to the governing authorities and should pray for them. Children should honor and obey their parents. Christians should submit to the authorities in their lives, both physical and spiritual. Christians should help those in need, speak out for the defenseless, and consider others more significant themselves.
Luther concludes, “a Christian lives not to himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. Otherwise he is not a Christian. He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor.” This is what led Luther to humbly write to Pope Leo X, to call him his father, and to ask for an intervention on his behalf. He humbled himself to every human institution out of love. Yet, in that same year 1520, when Pope Leo ordered all the writings of Martin Luther to be burned and threatened Luther with excommunication, Luther in response on December 10, 1520 burned the pope’s books and the writings of those who claimed the Pope had authority over the whole church. Luther chose rather to abide in the words of Christ, which set him free, than be a slave to a man, who condemned the righteous. The Pope’s order to burn books that confessed the Gospel had no authority over a Christian whatsoever.
And so, it is for us today. We Lutherans are free, because Christ has set us free through the Gospel. Yet, we ought to out of love for our neighbor follow in Christ’s footsteps and serve everyone in humility. Yet, we must never forget that Christ has set us free. When persecution comes, and it will and has; when our faith is under attack; when the devil comes with his lies, we must remember that we are free lords. We have the truth. So, let us abide in the words of Christ, knowing that through faith we are free from sin, death and hell. And let us serve our neighbor in love after the likeness of Christ while never forfeiting God’s Word. Amen.

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

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The Freedom of the Christian

Rev. James Preus

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