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

Laetare Sunday (Lent 4): Jesus Feeds Us With Heavenly Bread

3/26/2017

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John 6:1-15

"Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself." (John 6:15) They were going to force Jesus to be their king! Well, can you blame them? They followed Jesus into the wilderness, because he healed the sick, no matter their ailment. Then after they found themselves out in the 
desert without anything to eat, Jesus feeds them (five thousand men, not including women and children) from only five loaves of bread and a couple small fish! Not only did they get fed, they were stuffed. They had eaten their fill. So naturally the crowd wanted this man, who healed them and fed them to provide for them everyday.  

Isn't that the way it is today? Everyone wants a bread king. Every election cycle, what is the biggest issue? The economy! Who's going to create more jobs? Who's going to make us wealthier? Nevermind that our nation is experiencing a moral and spiritual collapse. Nevermind that little children are being killed in their mother's wombs and more and more children are born without fathers in their homes. No, the big issue is: Who's going to get me bread. (Of course by bread I mean everything we use and consume in this life, healthcare, cars, homes, clothing, shoes, food, etc).  

We're no different than that crowd. And if a man appeared, who could heal all your diseases and provide all you need to eat, you'd vote for him too! But of course Jesus didn't come to earth to be an earthly king. We will all hear Jesus tell Pilate this on Good Friday when he says, "My kingdom is not of this world."  

Jesus did not come to be an earthly king and yet he provides for the people's physical needs in a way no king could ever dream, not even Moses. But this makes sense. Jesus is God. That is how he is able to create so much food. That is why he provides for them. God provides for all people, both believers and unbelievers, both righteous and unrighteous, both those who work and those who are lazy. God provides not based on our worthiness, but according to his divine fatherly goodness and mercy. Just as he provides for the birds of air and the plants of the field.  

This alone is a wonderful message! We have a compassionate heavenly father, who is willing and able to provide us with all that we need in this life. This prompts our Lord to bid us, "Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. … Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:25a, 26) And surely this should be a great comfort to each of you. Do you have money problems? Are you concerned how you will make ends meet? Well the same Jesus, who had compassion on the crowd in the wilderness and fed them is the same God in heaven, who will certainly provide you with all you need.  

While it is a comfort to know that God will graciously provide you with all you need it is difficult to believe. Work becomes our god. We believe that we achieve everything, because of what we do. But the farmer couldn't cause a single grain to sprout nor could the builder, engineer, or entrepreneur produce anything good unless God caused the growth. God opens his hand and provides for the needs of every living thing.  

And so we should pray with confidence. Pray that God will give you your daily bread. Pray that he will feed you and clothe you. Pray that he will fix your broken back, your broken heart, your broken relationships. Pray for the impossible. Your heavenly Father loves to hear your prayers and gladly gives you what you need. And also remember to give thanks, as Jesus did, recognizing that all you have comes from God's fatherly mercy.  

 Although God wants you to rely on him for all you need in this life, he doesn't want you to make him a bread king either. Jesus is not simply your bread king. He provides you with something much greater than food for the belly. When the crowd finally caught up with Jesus later on in this chapter, Jesus says to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." (6:26-27) 

Jesus doesn't want them to strive after things that will pass away. He is happy to feed them bread, but that is not what he has come to do. He's come to give them heavenly bread that gives eternal life. But the people don't seem interested in that. And people aren't too interested in that today either.  

I'd imagine that we would get a lot more people to come to church if we provided a free meal instead a church service. Or maybe some people have enough food, but they'd come if we fed one of their other desires, a nice concert in whatever genre of music they like, coffee, beer, or financial advice. If you could get rid of back pain by coming to church, why, there'd be a line going out to the parking lot. But the fact that we offer here every Saturday night and Sunday morning the words of eternal life completely disinterests the majority of people.   

Eternal life is more important than anything this earth has to offer. This is obvious. God freely gives all you need to fill your belly and richly showers you with gifts that will be gone tomorrow and he also provides you with eternal life with Jesus. Most are happy to take the temporal gifts that will pass away, but unwittingly pass up the greater gift of eternal life.  

"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and, and all these things will be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33) God freely provides you with all you need in this life, so that you do not need to be anxious about this not-so-important stuff and focus on what really matters. Sadly, many worship the stuff, worry about how they'll get more stuff, become slaves of the stuff, instead of enjoying the freedom from need God gives.  

I've learned recently that three year old girls "need" a lot of things. "Can I have this?", she says pointing to a book of stickers on the shelf at the store. "Why do you want that?" "Because I need it!" She needs a sticker book. Of course she doesn't need a sticker book. She wants it. Aren't we all a bunch of three year olds. "I need this. I need a new phone, new gun, new saw, new shoes. No, what you really need, what we all really need is Jesus." 

Jesus said to the crowd, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." (John 6:35) Jesus himself is the bread from heaven. You must eat and drink him. He is the food and drink that satisfies for eternity. Jesus continues on, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die." (John 6:49-50)  

Every millionaire has the same thing in common. They all die. Every successful farmer or business man, basketball or hockey player, hunter or fisherman, nurse, chef, whathaveyou. They all have the same thing in common. They die. There is no food you can buy in the supermarket or job you can do so well that you won't die. But everyone who eats of the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, will live forever.  

After the crowd finally left Jesus, he said to his disciples, "Do you want to go away as well?" Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Peter recognized that Jesus offered something much greater than the bread he'd eaten. Word's of eternal life. Peter had faith.  

Jesus himself is the bread of life. He gave himself to the whole world by dying on the cross. On the cross Jesus had clinging to him all your sins. Everything that burdens your conscience and brings death to you was hanging on Jesus. And all that filth was purged away in Jesus' blood. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to God for the sake of the whole world. And he offers himself to you as true food.  

The way you eat of this heavenly food is through faith. Faith is that spiritual eating that receives Jesus. If you do not receive Jesus by faith, you will die in your sins. You eat this true bread of life by hearing the Gospel and believing it. This is the food Jesus wants to feed you. This is the food that will forgive your sins. This is the food that will give you eternal life.  

Jesus is generous. He willingly died for the sins of all people and he freely offers this gospel, this food to be eaten in faith. Even more, to help our weak faith he gives us his true body and blood to eat and to drink in the Sacrament of the Altar. All who feast on the Lord in faith receive this Sacrament worthily and with it forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.  

Jesus is the priceless treasure we can never go without. You can go without most of the stuff you might even call necessities. You may worry about what you'll eat or wear, but worrying never got these things for you in the past. It's already provided for you by God. But the true bread we must all desire is Jesus. Jesus comes to you through his Word and Sacraments. When you hear the Gospel and believe it, you feast on Jesus. When you receive the Sacrament and believe that you truly eat and drink the bread of life from heaven, you receive all its benefits. Whoever eats this bread will not die but will live forever. Let us pray.  
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Lord Jesus, give us this bread always. Amen. 
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Oculi: Jesus, the Stronger Man Conquers Satan, the Strong Man with the Finger of God

3/20/2017

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Luke 11:14-28

"My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you." This is the Introit prayed by the church this morning. It is a prayer for deliverance from those held captive in a foreign kingdom. We pray this Psalm of deliverance, because we live in a world ruled by Satan. 
 

Satan is the strong man. He is fully armed and he guards his palace and all his goods with diligence. His goods are all mankind, children of wrath, sons of disobedience. They are bound and stored safely in his dungeon.  

Jesus Christ is the Stronger Man. He attacks and overcomes Satan, strips him of his armor and takes the spoils. That is, Jesus Christ destroys the Kingdom of Satan with the very finger of God and sets all people free, as he did for Israel when he delivered them from Pharaoh's kingdom. We know that Christ loosed the bands that bound us by his very blood, which he shed on the cross, which forgives our sins and gives us peace with God.
 
 
But Satan isn't going to roll over and let his loot be taken from him so easily. He fights back. The way the devil fights back is by confusing the situation. He lies. He tries to prevent us from recognizing the finger of God. And so Satan led these people in our Gospel lesson to say that Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Beelzebul means lord of the flies. It's a title for Satan. Yet, Jesus casts out demons by the finger of God, the Holy Spirit Himself!
 
Jesus does good. He casts out a demon from a mute man, so that he could speak. Yet these people call the good Jesus does evil. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness," cries our God through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah (5:20) This is the work of Satan. He calls God evil and the evil he does good. And so St. Paul must warn the Christians in Ephesus, "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." (Ephesians 5:3-6)  

Satan uses empty words to deceive those set free by the finger of God. He tells them they have freedom to sin as if God has given them a license to do what is evil. And so those, who were brought to the light of Christ are led back into the darkness. Those who are given the right to become children of God are seduced to become sons of disobedience.  

And so we see that the strong man, although pillaged and humiliated is still a great danger to us Christians. He is more than a lord of flies, rather a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. His goal is to murder your very soul. He lies, not simply to make you slip into sin, but to doubt the very Gospel. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus defeated Satan, dethroned him, and stole his loot, setting you free. So Satan will do anything to convince you that the finger of God, which sets you free is actually your enemy.  

"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." This isn't a quote from President Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This is Jesus Christ, your God and Lord declaring that you are either working for him or against him. There is no neutral ground in this battle against Satan. Therefore Christians must not only say what is right and true, but they must also say what is evil and wrong. Jesus Christ is true God and man. He died on the cross for our sins and gives us eternal life through faith in his name. This is true. False religions are evil. Marriage is a good blessing from God! Sexual immorality, fornication and adultery and homosexuality are evil. Children are gifts from God to us. Abortion is murder and evil. We cannot be neutral. We must pick a side.  

When Satan is cast out, you either become a child of the light or go back to slavery under Satan. Jesus says that when a demon is cast out it searches waterless places looking for rest and when it comes back and finds its home swept clean and put in order it finds seven demons more evil than itself and they enter and join there. And so it is for those who try to remain neutral. If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you will be filled with sin. If God casts a demon out of you, freeing you from your sin, you will be plagued with even worse sins if the Holy Spirit does not make his dwelling in you.  

After hearing Jesus' wonderful teaching a pious woman in the crowd shouted, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!" But Jesus replies, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Now certainly the Virgin Mary is blessed. Yet she is eternally blessed not even because she bore and nursed the Godman, Jesus Christ our Savior. She is blessed in heaven, because she heard the word of God and kept it, cherishing it and pondering it in her heart. 

And so you too are blessed, because you hear the Gospel and keep it. To hear the word of God and keep it sounds like law. And certainly God wants us to hear the Ten Commandments and do them. But you don't get to heaven by following the Ten Commandments. You don't earn your salvation by obeying the Law. You are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, apart from your works. And this is the Word, which saves. The Gospel. Jesus Christ disarmed the strongman by joining our human race and dying on the cross for your sins and my sins, because he had no fault of his own. Satan had us stuck in his dungeon with our own sins. But Jesus took our trespasses from us. He put them on himself and he washed them clean in his own blood. This is the Gospel that sets us free.  

You must keep this word of God. The word for keep used here by Jesus means guard or keep watch. It's the same word used for the strong man guarding his palace. So you must guard this special word of God. With this Word you are set free from Satan and with this Word you yourself will defeat Satan.  

You were touched by the finger of God in your Baptism. That is to say, the Holy Spirit came to you when you were baptized  and drove out Satan through the water and the Word. Where you have the Word of God, you have the Holy Spirit. So where you have the Word of God you have the finger of God. The finger of God drives out Satan. So if you guard this word of God, you too will drive out Satan. 

God drove out Satan when he baptized you. And so he drives Satan away from you whenever your faith receives the Gospel. When the pastor in the stead of Christ says, "I forgive you all your sins." Satan is evicted. When your faith guards the mystery of "This is my body" and "This is my blood" when you receive the Sacrament of the Altar, Satan's forces are driven back. To keep God's Word means to have faith in the Gospel that Jesus, the stronger man, defeated Satan and freed all his captives by dying on the cross for their sins. And it is this Word, the good news that gives you the victory over Satan each and every day.  
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The Kingdom Satan founded has been overthrown. He has met his doom by the finger of God. Yet he still rants and raves and lies, seeking souls to kill. But armed with the Gospel you are equipped with the very finger of God. That means the kingdom of God has come near to you and Satan must flee from you. Amen. 
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Reminiscere Sunday: Lent 2

3/13/2017

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Matthew 15:22-28 
​God Remembers His Mercy 
03/12/2017  
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"Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. According to your steadfast love remember me." (Psalm 25:6, 7) We prayed this as our Introit this morning. "Remember, O LORD!" Remember. Does the Lord forget? It sure seems like it sometimes, doesn't it.  
"Lord you promised! 'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.' (Matthew 7:7) You promised, 'If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.' (John 14:14) But I've asked. I've sought. I've knocked till my knuckles were raw. Why won't you answer? Have you forgotten what you promised? Have you forgotten me?"  
And so is the pain of suffering and waiting for the Lord. "I need a job. My child is sick. I have cancer. My child is addicted to drugs and estranged from the church. I feel guilty for my sins and the feeling won't go away and I'm suffocating from anxiety. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, help me."  
Suffering is no fun. And suffering can be dangerous, not only to our bodies, but to our souls. In suffering we're tempted to look away from God and his promises and to find other sources of comfort. Not even just drugs and alcohol, although Satan certainly uses those, but lies. Comforts that boost your pride, that deny God's Law, his love, or his existence. But God does not permit us to suffer, because he hates us. He doesn't make us wait, because he's cruel. God permits us to suffer in order to direct us to his Word and to strengthen our faith. St. Paul writes, "We rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put to shame..." (Romans 5:3-5) 
The Canaanite woman in our text teaches us a lot about suffering, faith, and prayer. She hears about Jesus and she believes what she has heard about him. She has faith in Jesus, that is why she calls him, "Lord, Son of David." She believes Jesus is the Christ. She comes to Jesus begging him to help her daughter. Her daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. Surely Jesus, who drove Satan away with the Word of God would gladly drive this devil out of her daughter. "O Lord, have mercy!" But Jesus is silent.  
Still the woman persists, so that even his disciples plead for her for nothing else than to stop hearing her annoying whining. And Jesus curtly replies, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The woman is not an Israelite. She's a foreigner. Yet she persists. "Lord, help me."  
Is she deaf? Didn't Jesus just say he was sent only to the house of Israel? Is she an Israelite? Is she socially inept? Can't she see that Jesus doesn't want to help her? Well, if she hasn't figured it out yet, Jesus' next response surely will squash whatever faith she had in him. "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." My goodness. Does Jesus need to humiliate her? Does he have to call her a dog? Couldn't he just tell her, "no."? But Jesus doesn't say, "no." Does he?  
The woman doesn't hear, "no" either. And she is listening. She's been listening to Jesus the entire time, listening for a "yes" to her prayers, and she finds it. In an insult, she finds it. "Yes, Lord, I'm a dog. So give me what is entitled to a dog. Even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Give me the crumbs. Save my daughter."  
And here our clever sister in Christ catches Jesus in his own words. And Jesus is glad to be caught. "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her little girl was relieved of the tormenting spirit. Surely the woman's faith was great. It had been tried like silver in fire. She has proven herself a true daughter of Israel. Jacob was named Israel, because he strove with God and man and won. This woman strove with the God-man, Jesus Christ, and she won by clinging to Christ's word.  
And so this Syrophoenician woman teaches us about faith. Faith clings to God's word. It clings to his promise, even if it has to wait. Even if it seems to be rejected. Even if God himself seems to be rejecting it. Faith listens intently to God's Word and clings to God's promise. And so you too must be an Israel. You too must strive with God and cling to God's promise like Jacob clung to the Lord in the dust with a dislocated hip through the night until morning. Do not let go until you receive the blessing God has promised to you.  
God may say, "But you're a sinner. You deserve to go to hell. Didn't I call you to holiness, not to impurity? Yet you covet what isn't yours. You cheat your neighbor. You lust after indecency. Why should I answer your prayer?" You could despair at this and conclude that God hates you. You could get offended and say, "How dare you call me a sinner and threaten me with hell." You could hold on to your pride for dear life.  
Or, like the Canaanite woman you can listen to God's Word and find your promise there. "You call me a sinner? Why, yes I am a sinner. I cannot deny it no matter how much I wish I were a holy Israelite. So give me what you promise sinners. You said, 'I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' (Matthew 9:13) Scripture says that Jesus Christ is 'the propitiation for our sins, and not our sins only but for the sins of the whole world.' (1 John 2:2) You caused the Psalmist to writes, 'I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity, I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.' (Psalm 32:5) So God, I accept every word you say. I am a sinner. So treat me like a sinner. Forgive me and answer my prayer." 
This is how we must pray. In our suffering we will worry that God won't give us what we need, because we are so unworthy. Our sins will accuse us and so we think that God will let us go to ruin. But faith acknowledges that you don't deserve anything from God, but you receive it all by grace as a gift. Faith doesn't cling to your pride. It doesn't cling to what you deserve. It doesn't cling to your suffering. Faith clings to God's Word and promise. It searches God's Word for assurance.  
This is why we pray that God would remember us and have mercy on us. Not because God might forget. Not because God doesn't intend to have mercy on us. But for the sake of our faith, we must always pray according to God's Word and promise. God does remember you. He will have mercy on you. And your sins will not be a hindrance to his mercy, because he washes them away in Jesus' blood.  
A great mistake people make when praying, especially when they are suffering, is to pray without God's Word. Prayer without God's Word isn't prayer. It's brooding. It's complaining. It's self-pity. Prayer without God's Word leads to false belief and despair. So we must learn from this true sheep of the house of Israel, this Gentile, who sits at the Lord's table. She listened intently to God's Word and she prayed accordingly. So when you pray, first listen to God's Word. Read it. Ponder it. Pray it. Pray the Lord's Prayer, because you know God promises to answer it. Pray the Psalms. And listen in God's Word for the answer to your prayers. Through God's Word you will learn to accept the hardship God permits you to suffer and to realize when he is answering you with a big, "Yes."  
God remembers you. He remembers the mercy and steadfast love he promised you. But your faith must remember it. It remembers it by listening to God's Word. And when you pray according to God's Word, Jesus will say to you, "Great is your faith. Let it be as you have desired." Amen. 
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Invocavit: Temptation of Jesus

3/6/2017

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Matthew 4:1-11
After our Lord was baptized he was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. And so each of us baptized children of God must strive with the devil. This Gospel lesson teaches us how Satan tempts us into sin and also, by Christ's example, how we can defeat Satan and overcome temptation. 
In his first attempt to tempt Jesus, Satan says, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." What Satan does here is the same thing he did to Eve. He appealed to her physical desires. He moved his temptee away from God's Word to focus inward, on herself. With Eve he denies what God says is true and entices Eve with her own desire to be wise. "You won't die if you eat it! God knows you'll be wise like him! Don't you want to be wise?" Eve wants to be wise. She takes her eyes off God's clear word and focuses on her inner desires. She saw that the tree was good for food and a delight to the eyes, and was even desired to make one wise, and she did what she wanted, not what God commanded. And so the devil still uses this time tested tactic of pushing our gaze inward, as St. James writes in his Epistle, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." (James 1:14) 
So Satan tries to entice Jesus in the same way. Jesus is hungry. He hasn't eaten in forty days. Jesus is following the will of God. Satan wants Christ to give up on trusting in God and satisfy his own desires, his hunger. Now it is difficult for us to see where the problem is in this. Is it a sin to eat? Can't Jesus, who is able to multiply bread to feed thousands satisfy his own hunger? But Satan is trying to get Jesus to rebel against God. It is as if he's saying, "God has forgotten about you. He's led you into the wilderness to die. He won't take care of you or satisfy your hunger. Go on. You can do it yourself."  
But Jesus counters the devil, "It is written." With all three temptations, Jesus uses this same defense, "It is written!" Our Lord uses the same sword of the Spirit each of you is armed with, the word of God. By wielding the Word of God, proclaiming, "It is written!" Satan has already lost. St. Paul writes, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1 Cor. 10:13) The way of escape is the Word of God.  
Jesus says, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.,'" (from Deuteronomy 8:3). Bread symbolizes earthly stuff. Things that fill your belly, your living room or garage, things that make you enjoy life here on earth, treasures that will pass away with time, in short, the desires of the flesh. But Jesus says, "All these things cannot fulfill a person. They will waist away. Rather, store up treasures in heaven. Cherish every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord!" 
Now Satan communicated to Eve through the medium of a snake. And he spoke intelligible words to Jesus. And so we fool ourselves when we think, "Well if Satan ever tempted me to forsake God's Word and follow my own desires, I wouldn't fall for it." But Satan isn't going to approach you with cloven feet with a pitchfork in his hand or wrap his serpentine body around your arm and whisper in your ear. He's a spirit. He communicates with you using no sound, simply pushing you toward your own desires, your own perceived needs. He'll let you convince yourself that you need to sleep more than do your devotions. He'll let you convince yourself that you really need to work instead of going to Church. You need to eat after all. He'll let you convince yourself that a million things are more important than hearing God's Word, which is food for your soul.  
So you must not simply proclaim to Satan, but to yourself, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." "I need God's Word. I need to hear it, learn it, digest it. If I make $100,000 in a year, win state in some sport, or make wonderful memories with family and friends, these won't gain me eternal life. Only God's Word creates and strengthens faith."  
Jesus smashes the devil's face in by quoting God's Word. So the devil comes back, "Oh, you know God's Word! Hold on! I do too! Listen to this!" And Satan tempts, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" Here Satan quotes Scripture, but he purposefully and deceitfully leaves out an important part. The text quoted from Psalm 91:11-12 states, "He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." Satan's omittion changed drastically the meaning of the text. The angels are not promised to catch anyone, who wants to jump off a high building, but to guide the children of God to walk in the way of the Lord.  
And so with Satan's perversion of the text he shows that wherever God builds a church, Satan builds a chapel right next to it. He loves to mutilate God's Word, to make playdough out of Scripture. And so many churches, sadly, pick and choose from God's Word what they want to believe.  
Satan not only takes his seat in the pew, but stands in the pulpit! He satisfies itching ears by choosing tolerable Scripture passages, while snipping out the less savory ones. And so there are churches that accept every abomination and sin that Scripture condemns and reject the need for repentance. They give the appearance of following God's Word, while really following their own hearts and the desires of the masses. Some churches may even claim to believe that the whole Bible is the Word of God, but they still ignore parts they don't like, such as, "Baptism now saves you!" (1 Peter 3:21) and "This is my body, This is my blood." (Matthew 26:26, 28) Of course, even if a church stays faithful to the entire word of God and teaches it correctly, Satan still sits in the pew urging you to pick and choose what you want to believe.  
Our Lord countered, "It is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" And so Jesus uses God's Word to battle the perversion of God's Word. He uses pure teaching to counter distorted teaching. And so must we! We must judge what we hear from the pulpit to see if the pastor preaches the whole council of God, or only what he's comfortable preaching. We must use pure teaching, both Law and Gospel to counter watered down teaching from books we read and shows we watch. We must challenge our own personal beliefs with God's Word, reading our Catechisms to root out any false opinions we've adopted, and replace them with pure teaching based on the truth of God's Word.  
Satan's last of three attempts seems so far fetched. After showing Jesus the kingdoms of the world, Satan says, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Who would fall down and worship Satan? Again, we must remember that Satan will not appear to us in his ghoulish form and command that we bend the knee. But he will tempt you to worship him. And he will use the riches of this world. In fact, he can get you to fall for a much cheaper price than the kingdoms of the world. He promises popularity, money, an easy, stress free life. And so we must like Jesus say, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" 
What does it mean to worship God and to serve him? Worship always starts with hearing and believing God's Word. Our Lutheran confessions state, "Faith is that worship which receives the benefits that God offers." To serve God includes not only singing praises, but serving your neighbor. This means that we bow to Satan when we worship and serve this world instead of God. This includes ignoring God's Word and Sacrament to gain earthly wealth and pleasures and serving our own wants and desires at the expense of helping our neighbor.  
Pastors too are guilty of bowing the knee to Satan to gain the world. They measure their own success not by how faithfully they preach God's Word, but by how liked they are and how cushioned the coffers are. They may not make sacrifices to the devil in strange midnight graveyard ceremonies, but they serve their own bellies, their own needs, instead of the sheep God gives them to preach to and pray for.  
And so, we like Christ must understand the difference between worshiping God and worshiping the world, between serving our neighbor and serving our bellies.  
Christ defeated Satan in every temptation. Did you?  
And here we must learn the great importance of Christ's victory. If you look at this Gospel lesson simply as Christ setting a good example on how to overcome temptation, you will fall into despair. Try as we might, we still fall into temptation. We fail, to watch and pray. We fail to wield God's Word. And we fall. Do you catch yourself looking away from God's Word and focusing on your own wants? Do you ignore the parts of God's Word that make you uncomfortable and when you dash your foot on a stone blame God and his angels? Have you caught yourself at times bending the knee to the serpent as you strove after earthly gain? Have you failed to use Christ as your example?  
But Christ is not simply your example. He's your champion! When Adam and Eve sinned, we all fell into sin. Because in Adam and Eve was the entire human race. But Christ, God's true Son took on our human flesh in the womb of the Virgin. In Christ is all mankind. When he strove with Satan, we all fought against him. And when Christ won, you and I won.  
It is as Martin Luther wrote in his hymn, "Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice,"  
The Son obeyed His Father's will, Was born of virgin mother,  
And God's good pleasure to fulfill, He came to be my brother. 
His royal pow'r disguised He bore; 
A servant's form, like mine, He wore 
To lead the devil captive. 
Satan went to devour the man Jesus, just as he devours us by tempting us to sin. But Satan failed in tempting Jesus and so he was himself devoured. But Jesus did not win this victory for himself. He won it for you. And so as he went to the cross he bore all your losses. Jesus suffered for your failures against the devil's wiles. And he gives you his own victory. His victory over Satan. His victory over death. His victory that gives eternal life.  
So when Satan comes to accuse you of the sins he duped you into committing, you can taunt the devil. "Jesus beat you! You couldn't get him to fall once! And he gives me the victory! So just as you had to run away from him with your tail between your legs, you can run off now, you serpent. You can't defeat me, because Jesus has already won my battle for me.  
And so you can say to Satan, "It is written!", even after you've stumbled. It is written that Jesus defeated Satan! And "thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57) Amen.  ​
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    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 

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