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Nativity of John the Baptist: The Greatest Man Born of Woman Is Appointed by God to Point to One Greater

6/25/2018

Luke 1:57-80
June 24, 2018

"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
To give knowledge of salvation to his people
In the forgiveness of their sins,
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
Whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace."

Today we observe the birthday of the greatest man ever born outside of Jesus Christ himself, John the Baptist. John was so great, because he was appointed by God to prepare the way of the Lord incarnate, Jesus Christ. Prophets prophesied of this greatest of prophets. Many prophets pointed to Christ, the Lamb of God, through their many words, but only John pointed with his actual finger to him, who would take away the sin of the world.

John is the greatest. Yet, if you were to look at him, you might not think so. He was dressed in camel's hair and ate locusts. He lived out in the wilderness like some vagabond. And if you were to listen to him, you'd perhaps think even less of him. John preached fire and brimstone law. He called people "brood of vipers" and warned them that even now the axe of judgment was laid to the root of the trees and every tree that doesn't bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. It didn't matter who you were, whether you were a tax-collector or soldier, Pharisee or scribe, even King Herod, John preached boldly the Law of God.

And so, it is not much of a surprise that while many did flock to hear John and repented in the Jordan River, many hated him and thought he was least among the children of man. And you can imagine how his preaching would go over today. Here in America, we are so used to picking our own preachers. If we don't like what one guy is saying we can hop to another. We have a greater selection of preachers than fast-food restaurants. Everyone has the luxury of finding the preacher, who will preach exactly what his itching ears desire.
Yet, it is important for us to remember that John is the greatest, not because he fulfilled the desires of the sinful masses, but because he performed the task appointed for him by God. God determines who is the greatest. And what God determines to be great is often judged worthless by those, who think they are great.

Sadly, most today still follow after reeds shaking in the wind. And many "Christian" churches embarrassingly follow the course of human opinion in attempts to be greater than John. Yet, when you follow such false teachers, who give up the truth of God's Word, then you walk in the wrong direction. Churches that give up teaching what God teaches from Scripture will point their finger in every which way. But they all point eventually to hell. Only John's finger points to Christ.

John prepares the way of Jesus. How does he do this? John's father Zechariah tells us, "To give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins." Where is the knowledge of salvation? In the forgiveness of sins! Yes, John preaches harshly. He doesn't care much for your self-esteem or your attempts to make yourself righteous before God. John wants you to know the way of salvation. And the only way of salvation is through the forgiveness of sins. This is why when the Pharisees and scribes are busy preaching laws and ordinances to follow in order to be righteous before God, John points to Christ Jesus and says, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

There are only two religions in the world. The religion, which John preaches, which depends on the Lamb of God bearing the sins of all people; and the religion of works, in which people strive to earn their own salvation. Muslims seek to obey Allah to gain salvation. The Judaizers seek to obey their interpretation of the Torah. Those trapped under the Papacy and many protestant churches try to please God in order to gain salvation. Even those, whom we categorize as liberal are slaves of the false religion of works. Those who get offended when preachers preach against fornication, homosexuality, divorce, abortion, or unionistic worship are offended, because they don't want to acknowledge their own sin. They want to believe that they are good enough. But no one is good enough. There is no salvation apart from the forgiveness of sins. Everyone needs the Lamb of God to take away their sins.

John preaches the Law without filter to everyone without discrimination, because he doesn't want anyone to think that he doesn't need Jesus to forgive his sins. Beware of preachers, who do not preach the Law. And beware of preachers, who do not preach Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world as the only way to salvation.

The forgiveness of sins isn't something you work for. It's a gift. Why does God give salvation through the forgiveness of sins alone? Again, John's father tells us in his sermon, "Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Because of the tender mercy of our God. This is purely undeserved fatherly love. We dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death. And, because God loves us with a father's love, which wrenches his gut, he shines the morning sun upon us. This morning sun is Jesus Christ himself. God sends him to us by pure grace. We didn't even know we were sitting in the shadow of death until John told us to repent. Yet, even before that, God planned to send Christ to make us children of light through the revelation of his death and resurrection for our sins.

John preaches the full council of God as his father prophesied that he would. He not only teaches us that we are in bondage to sin and death and need to repent, and that Jesus has come to save us from our sins. He also teaches us how to walk as children of light on the path of peace. And Zechariah makes clear that you do not walk this path by following a set of laws, but by first having your sins forgiven. It is the morning sun, Jesus Christ, who shines on you and guides your feet on this peaceful path. You can only live as a Christian if you are constantly living under the umbrella of the forgiveness of sins. If you lose sight of the forgiveness Christ won for you with his blood, you lose sight of your salvation and the Christian path, and no work you do will be pleasing in God's sight.

John is the greatest born of woman, because God made him so. He appointed him before the foundation of the world to prepare the way of Christ through his preaching. John was the greatest, because he did not seek to be the greatest, but he pointed to the one, who was far greater than he; one whose sandal straps he was unworthy to stoop down and untie. Although John's preaching ministry spanned a shorter period of time than even my young ministry, he is the greatest, because he demonstrates for all generations what true Christian preaching is all about. Christian preaching is about Christ Jesus. John's purpose is to point people to Christ.

Shortly before John's death, Jesus said of him, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Matthew 11:11) This again attests to John's true greatness. He knows that the only way to be great is to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. And the only way to be a citizen of God's kingdom is through faith in Christ. So, John, the great one, points sinners to one greater than he, so that those sinners might be greater than the greatest man born of woman. John points sinners to the one, who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, who gives new birth, not of the flesh, not of a woman, but of the Spirit.

Today we observe the greatest birth from a woman outside of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary. Yet, this man points all of us to a much greater birth, which gives us the forgiveness of sins and salvation. This man points us to Jesus, who truly is the greatest. In Baptism, we receive a new birth of the Spirit, which joins us to Jesus Christ, as St. Paul says, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”(Galatians 3:26-28)

God appointed John, so that he would point people to Jesus. The way we honor John is by looking away from him and toward Jesus, who gives us salvation. There is nothing greater than that which John points to. And you can be no greater than if you trust in the Jesus, whom John preaches. Amen.

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Trinity 3: God Is Our Compassionate Father

6/18/2018

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Luke 15:1-32
June 17, 2018

God is like a shepherd. But God isn't a literal shepherd. This is a metaphor used by Jesus to teach us about himself. But if you were to follow the analogy too far, it would eventually fall apart. There are many things about literal shepherds that are quite different from our God and Lord, Jesus; Jesus doesn't sheer, milk, slaughter, or sell his sheep. Likewise, God is like a woman seeking out a lost coin. But there are many obvious differences between God and a homemaker.

But God is a Father. This is not a metaphor. God is the Father from eternity, who has begotten the Son before all worlds and God the Father has loved God the Son with fatherly love since from eternity.  So, when Jesus speaks of an earthly father, he isn't simply drawing a picture of what God is like. Rather, earthly fathers should be like the heavenly Father. And where earthly fathers differ from our heavenly Father, this does not demonstrate the difference between God and fathers, as it does when comparing him to actual shepherds and women. Rather, when earthly fathers differ from God it demonstrates where they fall short of true godly fatherhood.

Likewise, we stray like lost sheep. We are as helpless as a lost coin. Yet, we are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. When Jesus tells the story popularly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, he is explaining in further detail who these tax-collectors and sinners are, with whom he is eating. The Pharisees and scribes think that these tax-collectors and sinners are enemies of God, because they have broken God's commandments. Yet, when they say, "This one receives sinners and eats with them.", they maliciously preach the Gospel. Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. What does this say about these sinners? It says that they are not in fact enemies of God. Rather, this says that these lost sinners are sons of God through faith.

They are like lost sheep, who need to be found by their shepherd. When you lose a sheep you don't simply say, "That naughty sheep. He deserves what he got. Let him perish!" That would be a foolish. Also, sheep are helpless. They are dependent on their shepherds to protect them. A lost sheep doesn't find its way home, but rather hunkers down in the brush terrified and waits for its shepherd to rescue it.

A coin is even more helpless than a sheep. A sheep can at least bleat. A coin is an inanimate object. Jesus uses a coin to show that we are saved by grace apart from our works.  To be saved by grace means that God is the only one working for your salvation. You do not contribute to your salvation in any way. You do not have free will to choose God. You are a sinner. Sinners sin. Choosing God is good. But sinners can't do good. God must choose the sinner. This is why Jesus uses a coin to describe us.

Yet, the analogy of sheep and coins falls short for a number of reasons. One, you don't really blame a sheep or a coin for getting lost. Sheep are sheep: dumb animals that need to be watched closely. You wouldn't say that a sheep is sinning for getting lost. It's just doing what sheep do. Even more so for a coin. Coins can't sin. Yet, a son can do evil. And we see this quite clearly. The younger son shows contempt for his father by asking for his inheritance early. It is like saying, I want you dead. He sins again when he gathers up all he has and goes to a far country. He takes his father's wealth, but he doesn't want his father's fellowship. He wants to be independent of his father's household. This is what we do when we demand God give us wealth and security and curse him when he doesn't provide what we want, yet we have no desire to be part of God's household; we spurn the word of God and live as if God does not matter at all.

By speaking of this prodigal Son, Jesus is clarifying that these tax-collectors and sinners are indeed sinners. Jesus isn't saying that sin doesn't matter or that they were simply lost and it wasn't really their fault. No. These tax-collectors and sinners sinned against God and merited both temporal and eternal punishment. Yet, by speaking of this prodigal Son, Jesus clarifies something else much more profound. These sinners are not simply lost property, like livestock or money. They are children of God.  They are beyond priceless to God, who loves them.

We know this parable by the name of The Prodigal Son, because of his wasteful spending. Yet, it would be more appropriately titled, The Parable of the Compassionate Father. We learn more about our heavenly Father through this parable than we do about ourselves. We know how wicked we are. But unless Jesus reveal it to us, we do not know how compassionate and merciful our God is.

Some would say that because the prodigal son returns home that it is within our power to turn to God and that we need to initiate our return toward God. Of course, this conflicts with the parables of the lost sheep and coin, who showed no effort to be found. But when we look closely, we see that it is the Father who seeks out the son. The son sees the futility of his ways when he finds himself at the brink of starvation, yet he returns home with the intention of being a servant. He understands the Law. The Law makes everyone a slave. Yet, the boy didn't understand the Gospel. It was the father, who saw his son from afar; who ran to meet him; who interrupted his foolish talk about being a servant and made it abundantly clear that he is his son. The father spoke the Gospel to his son, and if he had not done this, his son would have remained intent on being a servant and intent on being separated from his father.

This is important for us to understand. You cannot become a Christian and have God as your Father unless you hear the Gospel. It is common for Christians to sit and wait for their wayward loved ones to return back to the Church, which is the household of God. They follow the nursery rhyme, "Leave them alone and they'll come home, wagging their tails behind them.", instead of the parable of Christ. But they won't return home unless they hear the Gospel. As St. Paul says, "How will they believe on him in whom they have never heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:15)

Unless the father runs and calls upon his son, the boy remains a slave. Unless the tax collectors and sinners hear the words of God's love from Jesus, they remain alienated from God. God doesn't speak to the heart without using his Word, which speaks to the ears.

In this parable, Jesus honors fatherhood, by teaching us that all fathers receive their fatherhood from God. Yet, God also uses fatherhood to teach us about underserved grace. I love my wife and I have promised to love her and cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse until death parts us. And I still mean it. Yet, when I first laid eyes on her, I wasn't ready to make such a commitment. First, I had to have a few conversations with her, before I knew I wanted her to be my wife. Yet, you fathers know what I'm talking about when I speak of the first time I laid eyes on each of my children. They didn't need to do anything for me to love them. There was no courtship. I saw them and I loved them, unconditionally, with no questions asked. This isn't to say that a father loves his children more than his wife, but rather to show that a father's love is one hundred percent by grace. A child does nothing to earn his father's love.

And even when his children sin, a father still loves them. This is why most people understand how comforting the statement from the 103rd Psalm is, "As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him." If a child becomes alienated from his father's house, the father wants his child back, even after tremendous heartbreak. And though, there may be exceptions among sinful fathers, there is no exception with our heavenly Father.

Fatherhood is a great honor, yet it is also a great responsibility. And fathers must learn from their heavenly Father what this responsibility is. The prodigal son sinned long before he felt the ill effects of his sin. Yet, without feeling the hunger and despair, he would not have turned home in repentance. Likewise, children need to be disciplined by their fathers and fathers, who love their children will carry out this indispensable task. As Proverbs 23:13 states, "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die."

Yet the greatest responsibility of any father is to raise his children in the fear and love of the Lord. You are only an earthly father. God is your children's heavenly Father. He loves them more than you do and he will be their Father for all eternity. When you bring your child to the waters of Baptism, you are confessing that your heavenly Father is your child's true Father.

Anyone can be a biological father, that's not hard. And even to be a good father by the world's standards isn't too complicated. You need shelter, food, and clothing, so of course you provide these same things to your children. And passing on what is important to you to your children is the most natural thing in the world. It isn't a great achievement to raise your child to be a Hawkeyes fan if you yourself love the Hawkeyes. People will always talk to their children about what is most important to them.

But it's difficult to pass on to your children what truly is most important. Because it is difficult to remember ourselves what is most important. But fathers must remember that their role as spiritual father is significantly more important than their role as biological father, financial benefactor, or instructor on sports orthodoxy.

God says in Deuteronomy 4:10, "Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so." It is a father's responsibility to teach the word of the Lord to his children. He should listen to the sermon in church and then explain what it means to his children in a simple way, just as he does with the Small Catechism in their daily devotions. This is what King Solomon means in Proverbs 22 when he says, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Children need to be taught the word of God, otherwise, they will not remain in God's household. And it is the father's number one responsibility to teach his children God's Word, even above the pastor's responsibility. Every father should be the spiritual father of his home.

You teach your children the word of God so that God is your children's heavenly father. God become your child's heavenly father through baptism and through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way to the Father. See the example of the tax-collectors and sinners. They gathered near to hear Jesus and for that Jesus calls them sons of God.

The most important thing for you to teach your children is the free forgiveness of sins through Christ Jesus, who died for them. That is the Gospel. This does not mean that you ignore your child's sin. It's not loving to accept the evil that your children do as good. That's not what your heavenly Father does. Rather, this means that when your children sin your goal is always for them to repent, so that they can receive the free forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ. Your goal as a spiritual father is for your children to know the compassion of their heavenly Father through Jesus.

Although, being a spiritual father to your children is often a joyful and rewarding task, it can also bring much guilt upon the conscience, when you realize that you have not done your due diligence in teaching your child God's Word, when devotions fall out of the family routine, when you miss church for no good reason, and when the word of God and the mighty works of Jesus are seldom the topic of conversation in your home. Great responsibility leaves much room for failure. And so, as a spiritual father you must always remember that you too have a compassionate Father. And you know your heavenly Father's compassion through the words of Jesus Christ, who receives sinners gladly and eats with them. And every time you return to your Father's house, having squandered the good gifts he gave you on vain things and after you have spent much time living as if you were not a member of his household, your heavenly Father runs to meet you, he speaks kind words to you and he invites you to feast at his banquet, a meal prepared by Christ himself. And as you, a self-proclaimed poor miserable sinner, approach the table of your Lord, all the angels in heaven rejoice that a sinner has returned to God's household. So happy is your heavenly Father to forgive you.

Thank God for fathers, who show their children their heavenly Father through the love of Jesus. And thank God that he himself is our compassionate Father, who welcomes us his children into his home. Amen.

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Trinity 2, 2018: Jesus invites us to feast on himself in the banquet that gives eternal life!

6/11/2018

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Luke 14:12-24
June 10, 2018

Etiquette hasn't died; it's just changed. What is polite is largely determined by where and when you live. What is perfectly acceptable at a dinner in America may be a terrible faux pas in another country. When students learn a foreign language in school, they also learn the unique social rules that they might encounter before they visit the country of the language they are learning. And even within the United States there are subtle differences in social etiquette.

So, why was the master of the house so angry at those, who refused his invitation? He even makes an oath that they will never taste his banquet! In first century Israel, was it greatly offensive to refuse a dinner invitation? I've wondered this, but I don't think so. At least, not so much greater an offense as it is for us now. Rather, the point of Jesus' parable is that this banquette is different than any banquette we can experience here on earth. And the problem we see here does not have to do with being polite or rude, but rather, whether we will attain eternal life or eternal death.

The feast to which our Lord invites us is not to feast upon pizza or roast chicken or even prime rib. The feast to which our Lord invites all of us is to feast on himself, as he himself says in John chapter 6. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." (vs. 51) A fellow dinner guest said to Jesus, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" What he probably didn't realize is that Jesus is the bread, which is eaten in the kingdom of God! Christ Jesus is our meat and drink indeed! He was prepared for us not in an oven or on a spit, but upon the cross, where he felt the fires of hell and the punishment for sin upon his flesh and soul. And we feast upon this gruesomely prepared meal spiritually through faith, when we believe that Christ died for our sins and that by this death God is pleased to forgive us and to welcome us into his kingdom and to raise us bodily from the dead, just as he raised his Son, Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus himself says, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:54)

This is truly a wonderful promise that should draw all people to rush to hear the Gospel and receive the Sacraments of Christ, so that they can receive eternal life as well. I tease some of my relatives for the health foods they'll eat and supplements they take, which supposedly will make you live longer. Yet, they aren't alone. Billions of dollars are spent on super foods, super supplements, etc. People spend money, even on things that have no real evidence that they work! Could you imagine if someone could offer you food that cured all your diseases and made you live forever (and it actually worked)? He'd be the richest man alive! Yet, congregations which preach the pure Gospel and administer the Sacraments of Christ rightly and are in the black are about as rare as hen's teeth.

And this leads us to point out that the wonderful benefits of eternal life offered in the feast of our Lord Jesus also has its dark side, which Jesus does not avoid expressing. "For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." If you refuse to feast on Jesus today in faith, you will by no means feast at the marriage banquet on the last day! This is the consistent teaching of Jesus. Our Lord says in John 6, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (vs. 53) This is why when believers invite their loved ones to church to feast on Jesus, there is this great tension between following social norms of politeness and trying to communicate the urgency of the situation. This spiritual meal is necessary for salvation. There is no other way to eternal life than to feast upon the Savior Jesus through faith. "Don't turn down this invitation. I'm not inviting you over for a cup of tea, but to have your sins forgiven and to be strengthened with the power to defeat death and the grave!" Yet when our invitations are politely rejected or simply ignored, we put on a hollow smile and continue on.

The excuses of those, who refused the invitation are interesting, because of how lame they are. I've bought a field. I've bought some oxen. Yeah? So, what? What does that have to do with attending a banquet? Will the field run away while you're gone? Can't the oxen wait for you to have a meal? And the excuse of having a wife is perhaps the lamest. Bring your wife with! What's the matter with you? These excuses would be offensive even if they were made for an earthly banquet. They are loudly saying, "I don't want your food! And I certainly don't want to spend time with you. I'd literally rather do anything else than come to your lousy meal."

Yet, this is exactly how people treat the invitation to hear the Gospel and partake of Christ's body and blood in the Sacrament. The similarity to the excuses made in the parable to those made by people to avoid going to church is painfully obvious. You can simply add to fields, oxen, and wife: work, sports, and recreation. What's important to note about these excuses is that none of them are bad things. It's not bad to buy and work fields or oxen or to get married. In fact, these things are even commanded by God, that we earn honest livings and get married to avoid fornication and to beget godly children. Neither is it sinful to enjoy sports and recreation. Yet, we have to make distinctions between God's gifts. Work, money, wife, children, and sports are all fine things, but they don't give you eternal life. They have their proper place in life. But just as you shouldn't place recreation and the pursuit of money over the needs of your wife and children, you shouldn't place these earthly gifts from God over the great banquet of Christ Jesus.

"But, you need to work; otherwise, you can't live!" This is often the excuse used for not coming to church and feasting on Christ, as if God is naïve and doesn't understand how the world works. But we should remember our Catechism, "He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, land, animals and all I have, he daily and richly provides me with all that I need to support this body and life." And somehow, God has managed to feed and clothe even those who go to church every week.

This is a lesson that young Christians should learn. Work harder than your co-workers and be your boss's favorite employee. But make it clear early, that you worship the Lord Jesus Christ and you will not skip church for work. You will find that God will bless you both with gainful employment and eternal life.

The explanation to the Third Commandment is, "We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and His word but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it." That is Law. The Law is what God commands of us. If we don't follow the Law perfectly, we will go to hell, as St. Paul reminds us, "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." (Galatians 3:10) You cannot be saved by following the Law, because we are by nature sinful and are incapable of fulfilling the demands of the Law. You will fail to hold God's preaching and word sacred and to gladly hear and learn it. Even if you do go to church every Sunday and read Scripture with your family every day, your sinful flesh will entice you to ignore the parts of Scripture that make you uncomfortable or simply get your mind to wander to things that seem more pressing. If you try to get to heaven by following the Third Commandment perfectly, you will fail.

Yet, the invitation to Christ's banquet is not Law. It is Gospel. The Gospel does not demand works on our part. Rather, it offers you the free work that Christ has already accomplished. He has been crucified for you. He has risen from the dead. Your sins are nailed to his cross and can never harm you again. The feast is prepared. You are heartily invited by your Lord to feast and be satisfied.

Just look at the people, whom the master gathers into his banquet hall: the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. He does exactly what Jesus teaches; he invites those, who cannot repay him. It is usually polite, when invited over to someone's house for dinner to offer to bring something. And, if the dinner went well to reply, "We'll have to have you over to our place now!" Yet, the master gathers into his banquet those, who cannot perform this social norm. They can offer nothing, but filth and odor and the inconvenience of their disabilities.

And so, God invites you. You are poor and can offer nothing to God. You are crippled, lame, and blinded by your sin, so that you are a burden on God, yet he bears the burden gladly. He offers you a feast that the richest man cannot afford and no money can buy. Yet, he gives it freely to you to be received by faith. He gives you the forgiveness of sins from Jesus, which your ravenous soul devours and is satisfied. And he offers this meal not only to us gathered here today, but to all those far off, in the highways and hedges; those who have been estranged from the church and Jesus Christ their entire lives he compels to come into his house, so that it can be filled.

The Third Commandment is good and right and holy. You should follow it. But that is not how you'll get to heaven. Because you'll fail. And you don't come to church in order to fulfill some command of God and earn your salvation. You come to church to be fed at God's banquet to which he heartily invites you. You come to be satisfied with that, which money cannot buy: Jesus Christ himself, his forgiveness and life. You answer the invitation to God's banquet not simply by showing up to church, but by believing and trusting in the Gospel, that it truly is for you. By faith, you can feast on the Lord every day that you have his word on your heart.

Lance and Lindsey Newland are being confirmed this morning. And they will for the first time partake of Christ's true body and blood in the Sacrament. Yet, they have been feasting on Jesus spiritually through faith for a while already, especially over the past few months as they have been learning the true and blessed teachings of Christ in the Small Catechism. And with such faith in Jesus' promises they will receive Christ's body and blood not only orally, as they eat the bread and drink the wine, but spiritually, as they believe that this truly is the foretaste of that blessed feast to come. And so, as they have prepared themselves to receive this wonderful meal, let all of us continue to prepare ourselves by clinging to Christ's promises in true faith. And in this way, we will be prepared to eat at the feast of salvation with all whom God gathers with this same Gospel. Amen.

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Trinity 1: God's Love Pours out of Our Faith

6/4/2018

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Luke 16:19-31; 1 John 4:16-21
June 3, 2018

"If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:20-21) If you don't love your neighbor then you don't love God. St. John also writes to us, "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." And as we heard in our Gospel lesson, the rich man, who showed no love at all for his neighbor, Lazarus was sent to hell. Many have misunderstood this and assume that faith and what you believe about God is not important, just so long as you love one another. Many have simplified their theological convictions to the refrain of St. Paul McCartney, "All you need is love."
Yet, it is important to remember that you are not saved because of how much you love. Rather, love is a fruit, which is produced by faith. St. John also writes, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.", and again, "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." (1 John 4:9-10, 15) You cannot love your neighbor unless you first love God. You cannot love God unless the love of God first dwells in your heart. And the love of God dwells in your heart when you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And so, we learn a lot about the rich man simply by how he did not love Lazarus. Because he did not love Lazarus, we know that he did not love God. And because he did not love God, we know that he did not have faith in the love of God. God's love was absent from him. And so, he was condemned.
Jesus is teaching us how to identify true Christians by their works. The rich man was clearly outwardly a pious Jew, as we hear he calls Abraham his father. To the untrained eye he looks like the beacon of godly living, as he clearly has been blessed by God. Yet, Jesus teaches us that looks aren't always what they seem. At the gate of this pious Jew lies a poor helpless man, who would be grateful even to eat the scraps to be dumped in the trash from the rich man's table. Yet, the rich man shows no pity. Even the dogs show mercy to Lazarus, but not this rich "son of Abraham."
It might be helpful for our context to make the rich man a prominent member of an LCMS congregation, who's proud to point out that his family has been in the church for generations and is happy to invite important people over for dinner, yet he shows no pity to the poor and needy. Jews used to refer to Gentiles, that is non-Jews, as dogs. So, the fact that dogs showed compassion was a way of saying that even the heathen showed compassion, while this member of the household of God refrained from expressing this attribute of God. And how often have members of the Lutheran Church been shamed by unbelievers, who show more compassion than they?
Yes, your actions can tell the world a lot about your faith. According to the 2016 Census, the Republic of Ireland is 78% Roman Catholic. Yet, two Fridays ago on the 25th of May 66.4% of the nation voted in a referendum to repeal their 8th Amendment, which guaranteed protection to unborn children. This means that many, who claim to love God and to confess Jesus Christ performed an act of extreme hatred toward their most vulnerable neighbors, who will soon live in great peril within their mothers' wombs. By this loveless action toward their neighbor they are showing that they do not love God. And I don't have to be a prophet to tell you that that 78% of self-proclaimed Roman Catholics will likely shrink dramatically in the coming decades. Yet, perhaps what is even more troubling is that Pope Francis, the head of the entire Roman Catholic Church, who has undoubtedly the most influential voice among Roman Catholics did not speak a word in defense of the unborn as one of the most Roman Catholic nations in the world voted to permit them to be murdered. This perhaps gives us a view of the spiritual state of the entire Roman Church.
Yet people are very selective in what they consider hatred in order to convince themselves that they are loving. The Catholics who voted to let babies die didn't think they were performing an act of hate, but an act of love toward women, who should have the right to abortion. And we see such hypocrisy every day. This past Tuesday the most popular sitcom on television was suddenly canceled, because its star wrote a perceived racist tweet against a former aid of President Obama. The actress apologized and claimed that she didn't mean it to be racist. Perhaps that's true, but she did intend for it to be hurtful. Have you noticed the strange standard? Certain types of hatred are intolerable, yet we tolerate hatred of all other sorts? You shouldn't spew racism on the internet! Yet, you shouldn't spew any type of hatred toward one of God's creatures on the internet or anywhere else. The incident Tuesday, which caused the cancelation of Rosanne should be a reminder to all, that if you are employed, you are just one hateful Twitter or Facebook post away from being fired. Yet, even more, it should be an indictment against all of us, that before Twitter and Facebook exposed the hatred we see on the internet, it was alive and well within our hearts; hatred toward our fellow man, which indicates a lack of love toward God.
The loveless actions of the rich man and the 66.4% of Ireland, and the myriad of hateful tweets and Facebook posts demonstrate a lack of faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ. You cannot love God and hate your brother. Yet, take a look at Abraham, the man of faith, who was justified by his faith apart from his works; what do you see by his actions? You see that he loved his wife Sarah, even honoring her after her death. He loved his son Ishmael and pleaded to God for his inheritance. God, himself attested that Abraham loved his son Isaac. Even for sexually perverse and greedy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham interceded to God, pleading that if even 10 were found righteous that God would spare the cities. All this love poured out of Abraham, because the love of God dwelt in him through faith.
Compare that to the rich man! His hatred toward Lazarus was not the only sign that the rich man hated God. He demonstrated his hatred toward God himself when he conversed with Abraham from hell. The rich man pleaded that Abraham would send Lazarus from the dead to warn his brothers, so that they would repent and not come to this place of torment. Is this an act of love performed just a little too late by the rich man? No, this too is an act of hatred and defiance. By requesting Lazarus be sent, the rich man is accusing God of not doing enough to save him from his current torment. If God had sent a dead man from the grave or even performed a single miracle, the rich man would have repented and lived a loving life! But what does Abraham say, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them." In other words, they have the holy Scriptures written by Moses and the Prophets, let them hear the oracles of God from Scripture. "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." The rich man has the gall to call Abraham, the man of faith, his father in the same breath as he disregards the word of God, which alone has the power to create faith.
Lazarus rising from the dead would not have convinced the rich man's five brothers to repent, even as Jesus' friend Lazarus rising from the dead only incited more hatred from the religious elite. And when Christ himself rose from the dead the chief priests paid a bribe to silence the guards, who accepted it, even though they witnessed the angel role away the stone of Jesus' tomb. Only the word of God proclaimed from the Holy Scriptures has the power to create saving faith, as St. Paul writes, "Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ." The rich man and his brothers disregarded the only source of saving faith. And even in hell, the rich man remained unaware and unbelieving.
Yet, had he listened, what would he have heard from Moses and the Prophets. Jesus tells us after his resurrection in Luke 24, "everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. … Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem." (vss. 44, 46-47) So, you see, Abraham told the rich man that his brothers should listen to the love of God, which is manifested through the death and resurrection of God's Son, whom he sent into the world. Had the rich man listened to Moses, he would have heard our Old Testament lesson and learned that he is justified through faith, apart from his works. And the love of God, which overwhelmed him through faith, would have poured forth into acts of love toward Lazarus.
But what about Lazarus? We don't know much about him, except that he was poor, which in and of itself is not an act of love. In fact, we know of no act of love done by Lazarus. Yet, he was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. So, what do we know of Lazarus? His name is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eliezer, which was the name of Abraham's servant of whom God told Abraham, "This man shall not be your heir!" Yet, his name also means, "Helped by God." And with that we find how Lazarus is a Christian example to us all. He can't help himself. He's covered in sores. He's starving. He can't work. Yet, God helps him. God gives him an inheritance. God takes the man, who shall not be Abraham's heir according to the flesh and makes him a son of Abraham through faith.
This is what will happen to you if you listen to Moses and the Prophets. The Scripture will expose you to be the selfish and unloving rich man. And with a crushing blow from God's Law, Scripture turns you into a helpless Lazarus, whose sins are so great, that he can only hope in God's mercy. And then, through the revelation of Jesus, who died on the cross for your sins, you are carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
Are your works of love lacking? Have you failed to help the helpless or even performed an act of violence against the unborn? Have you spewed hatred, whether on the internet or elsewhere, or even felt it in your heart? Do you look at the rich man and see yourself looking back at you from a mirror? Has God blessed you with material gifts that hundreds of generations of people never dreamed to exist, yet you show no love to the less fortunate or generosity to God's church? Then repent. Become like Lazarus. Be helpless and let God be your helper. Listen to the message from holy Scripture: God loved you first; he sent his Son to die for your sins; all your sins of hatred are forgiven. And in faith, approach Abraham's bosom, which is made present even today, and receive the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, which communicates the love and forgiveness of God our Father. And through such love of God shown to you, believe that God can and will lead you to act in fervent love toward your neighbor. Amen.

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

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