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

Jesus Seeks and Saves the Lost

6/27/2020

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Picture
The Lost Sheep (The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ), Sir John Everett Millais, 1864. metmuseum.org. Public Domain
Trinity 3 
Luke 15:1-10 
June 28, 2020 
 
The Pharisees grumble against Jesus saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” They mean for this to be an indictment against him, yet, they inadvertently speak the sweetest words of Gospel and describe Jesus as the kindest Lord and dearest friend of sinners. It is as St. Paul says, “whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:18) Jesus receives sinners! No more comforting words have ever been spoken. Indeed, this is the heart of the Gospel! St. Paul writes, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15) This is why he descended from his throne in heaven and was found in human form. He came into the world for this purpose and this purpose alone: to save sinners.  
Yet, these are exclusive words. Jesus came to save sinners and sinners alone. He did not come for anyone else. Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is likewise confronted by the Pharisees for eating and drinking with sinners and he responds, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32) If you are not a sinner, then Jesus did not come for you. If you want to eat and drink with Jesus, you must be a sinner! 
Now, this does not mean that you need to go out and commit heinous crimes or live like a pervert, thief, or vandal in order for Jesus to take notice of you. No, you commit enough sins already even without exerting any special effort. Rather, you must become aware of your sin. Christianity is not about earning your seat at God’s table. Christianity is about recognizing your need for salvation; recognizing that you are a poor, miserable sinner, who deserves nothing from God but temporal and eternal punishment, yet seeing Christ Jesus as your salvation. It is only when you recognize your lost condition that you can see Jesus alone as your hope.  
This is why Jesus says that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. The angels in heaven, whose sole joy in life is to please God, rejoice with exceeding joy to see sinners become aware of their sin and their need for Jesus. They rejoice to see Jesus’ work bear fruit. The word, “repent.” means to change one’s mind. This is a change from a mind that does not know God, to a mind that knows God; a change from a mind that does not know grace, to a mind that knows God’s grace through Jesus.  
The first part of repentance is to realize that you are a sinner and to mourn your sinful condition. The way you realize that you are a sinner is through the preaching of the Law. The Pharisees thought that the Law showed the way to eternal life, but they were wrong. St. Paul writes, “If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:21-22) and again, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) The Pharisees tried to justify themselves by their own works of the Law and remained purposefully ignorant of the sin of which the Law accused and condemned them.  
These tax-collectors and sinners who gathered around Jesus are aware of their sinful condition. The Law has struck hard and exposed their wounds. They don’t come to Jesus as worthy lords to eat with their equal. No, rather they come as beggars, naked, who know they’re naked; dirty, who know they’re dirty; stinky and aware of their stench; hungry, and aware of their hunger. They know they are dying and they look to Jesus as the only one who can make them live.  
The preaching of the Law seems unkind. It’s impolite to point out faults in others or to question their lifestyle. Yet, preaching the law is about as unkind as a doctor telling a patient he has cancer. It is necessary in order to get the necessary treatment! And Jesus is the necessary treatment to all who have the disease of sin. When you hear that you are breaking God’s commands, you should respond with sorrow for your sin. Do not be like the Pharisees and lie to yourself. 
Repentance is not complete without faith in Jesus. The Law makes you aware of your sinful condition, but it give you no remedy. Only the Gospel, which reveals to you a gracious God, who sent his Son to die to take away your sins, can save you. Only the Gospel can complete this change of mind from one without hope, to one with certain hope of salvation.  
Jesus tells a few stories to explain how this repentance is accomplished. I want to focus on the first two about the lost sheep and the lost coin. In these first two stories, Jesus is the shepherd and the woman. We sinners are the lost sheep and coin. You’ll notice with both of these stories; Jesus doesn’t talk a whole lot about what the sheep or the lost coin does. Rather, it is the shepherd and woman who do all the work. The Shepherd searches the lost sheep and when he finds it, he picks it up and carries it home on his shoulders. The lost sheep is completely helpless. It can’t find its way home. It is vulnerable to every predator from bears and lions to wolves and jackals. I once even saw a report of so-called carnivorous bushes, so named by shepherds, because of how lost sheep would get their wool stuck in the thorns of bramble bushes and would only get more entangled the more they struggled and would often die of thirst in the plant's clutches! Sheep are helpless. Jesus describes only the work of the shepherd to save the sheep; not the sheep to save itself. And the coin is even more pathetic than the sheep! It can do nothing but sit and wait until the woman finds it! 
Jesus describes the work of repentance as his work, not the sinners! This conflicts with how we naturally think of it. We think of repentance as something we do to change our hearts. Yet, how can a sinful heart change itself? It cannot. Rather, God must change our hearts.  
Just as it is God’s work alone, which sent Jesus to pay for our sins on the cross and rise from the dead, so also it is God’s work alone to turn our unbelieving hearts dead in sin to believing hearts alive in Christ. We look at the preaching of the Gospel as a work of men. But it’s not. Sure, men labor in studying the Word of God and proclaiming it in easy to understand words. That is a lot of work. It is a difficult task. But no human being can bring another to faith. It is God alone, who works through the preaching of the Gospel to create faith. God alone makes alive.  
Yet, this does not mean that God works apart from the words of Christians. Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ. No one ever came to saving faith apart from hearing the Gospel. Pastors preach the Gospel to their congregations; fathers and mothers teach the good news of Jesus to their children and bring them to church; Christians confess Christ before their friends and neighbors; this is how God creates faith in the hearts of sinners. The woman lit her lamp and swept the house, searching diligently for the lost coin. This is the work Jesus does through his Church to find what belongs to him. The lighting of the lamp and sweeping is the proclamation of the Gospel.  
This great effort of the shepherd and woman shows to us how precious we are in Jesus’ sight. We are not worthy of God’s forgiveness, but that does not mean that we are not valuable to Christ. He paid a dear price for us. Knowing the cost, he paid the price to set us free with his bitter pain and death. And knowing every one of your sins, he seeks you with his promise of forgiveness and salvation. Jesus wasn’t ashamed to eat with tax collectors and sinners, cheats and fornicators. He wasn’t ashamed to clothe himself in their sins and wash them away in his own blood. And he is not ashamed to seek out sinners, to forgive them, to tell them that he knows their sins and he has covered them forever.  
It might seem that since only one of the one hundred sheep and only one of the ten coins got lost, that this parable is about just a few individuals, but probably not you. Wrong. This parable is about you. You are the lost sheep; the lost coin. One thing that really bothers Christians is the fact that they still sin. You renounce your sin. You confess your love for Christ. You promise yourself and God that you will live a better life, but then you fall. Perhaps it’s a sudden slip into selfish anger or filthy lust; perhaps you’ve strayed away from God’s Word, fell from the faith, and lived as if God does not matter in fornication, greed, or violence. Or perhaps you’ve come to realize that the pretty exterior you’ve built up for yourself is really just whitewash on a tomb, and that nothing really good dwells in you.  
This is painful and embarrassing; to call yourself a Christian, yet know that you don’t deserve that title. Yet, God doesn’t call you a Christian, because you deserve it. He calls you a Christian, because he bought you at a great price. You are his. The woman looked for a coin. Coins usually have the image of the head of state. Since our nation is a republic, we have dead presidents and founding fathers. But in nations with monarchs and emperors, it is the king whose likeness imprints every coin. You are God’s coin. His image is imprinted on you. This was done in your Baptism when you put on Christ. This means you belong to God. You are precious to him. He is going to seek you out. And he does this by proclaiming his forgiveness for Christ’s sake.  
We gather every week to confess that we are poor, miserable, sinners, who deserve nothing by punishment. And every week Jesus receives us and forgives our sins. Jesus is not ashamed to be found with us. He rejoices that he has found what belongs to him. And the angels in heaven rejoice with him. Amen.  
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The Lord Will Fill His Banquet of Salvation

6/22/2020

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Picture
Title: The Poor, The Lame And The Blind Called into The Supper. Date: 1873; Source: The story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation; Author: Unknown; Public Domain
Luke 14:12-24 
Trinity 2
​June 21, 2020 

 
A man puts on a banquet and invites many, but those invited declined the invitation. They chose not to come. That was their choice, was it not? These men were free, right? No. They were not free. And when we examine their words closer, we see that indeed they were slaves of the most miserable kind. The first man said he bought a field that he needed to go and see instead. In Greek he said, “I have need.” That word for need, αναγκην means necessity or compulsion. It’s used to say that someone has a “natural need,” like hunger or thirst. And it is even used to mean “compulsion exerted by a superior.” Well, obviously the man did not have a true natural need to go see a field, although he felt like he did. He was compelled by his own flesh to go and see the field instead of accepting the invitation to the banquet. His flesh had become his master, his superior, who forced him to do what it wanted him to do. And we see the progression of control this master exerts over its subordinates as the third man claimed, “I cannot come” literally, “I am not able to come.” So strongly has the flesh exerted its control over these men that they literally cannot act against it. They are bound, enslaved. They cannot come to the banquet.  
And this becomes all the more tragic when we realize who it is who invites them to this banquet and what the banquet is. God himself invites these men to the banquet. And the meal is not roast beef or chicken, but Christ Jesus himself! “Everything is now ready.” God declares. Everything was made ready when Jesus Christ, true God, took on our human nature, lived under the law in our place, died for the sins we deserved to be punished for, and rose from the dead. Christ Jesus was prepared for us not on a spit or in an oven, but on the cross where he endured God’s righteous judgment for our sins. Hotter than any oven burned the fierce wrath of God against his own Son, and Jesus made atonement for the sins of the whole world. And God rejoiced in his Son. When Jesus had done all this for us, he cried, “It is finished.” before he gave up his Spirit to God the Father and permitted his lifeless body to be laid in a tomb, confident that God would raise him up victorious on the third day.  
This is the Gospel! God is reconciled to us sinners, because Christ Jesus took God’s wrath away. The invitation to the banquet is the proclamation of the Gospel. Feasting at the banquet is the feasting of faith as Jesus says in John 6, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (vs. 35) And this feast of faith is not just a casual meal; eat if you want, leave it if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. No! This meal is a matter of eternal salvation or damnation! Everyone needs this meal if they will have eternal life! Jesus again says, “Truly, truly, I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:53-56) 
So, you see that this banquet is of the utmost importance. He who feasts at this banquet lives forever! He who sits down at this feast inherits the kingdom of heaven! So, you see the tragedy of these “free men” bound to the compulsion of their flesh! They reject eternal life! They feel under compulsion to ignore God’s call to freedom and to go and take care of mundane things that can wait!  
This is madness! Insanity! This is like a starving man, who has not eaten in a week, who’s dying of thirst, being offered cool water to drink and a healthy meal to eat and him saying, “No thank you. I have to go buy some shoes.” What lunacy! Who can stand such a thing! Yet, they cannot help it! They’re bound to the impulses of their flesh, which only fights against the Spirit of God, as Scripture says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8) 
The sinful flesh resists hearing and believing the Gospel. And this is something all Christians should be aware of. St. Paul warns Christians, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16-17) Christians must continue to battle their own sinful flesh, which wars against their new self, made alive by the Holy Spirit. And what does the sinful flesh constantly do? Resist hearing and believing the Gospel of Christ.  
Just compare the similarities between the excuses made by these men declining to go to the banquet and the excuses made to skip church, where the Gospel is proclaimed and where Christians feast on Christ in faith. “I have to go look at my field. I have to go test my oxen. I’m married; I don’t have time.” None of these activities are sins in and of themselves. But to do these things instead of feasting at God’s banquet of salvation is madness that only one enslaved to his sinful flesh could rationalize. And we’re not speaking of real reasons to miss church like physical sickness or disability, but the purposeful refusal to go to church in order to do anything else. Such behavior does not come from the Spirit, but the compulsion of the sinful flesh.  
Many Christians are upset about the recent Supreme Court decision on Bostock vs. Clayton County, which determined that the word “sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes sexual orientation and gender identity. And they should be upset. This ruling will be used to target Christians with expensive litigation for attempting to live according to their Christian values. This has already been happening. Jack Phillips, a baker in Colorado is being sued for the third time for refusing to make messages that conflict with his Christian faith. And he is just one of many examples. When Jesus said that the world that hated him would hate us also, he meant it. Christians, who will share with us the mansion Christ is preparing for us in heaven will suffer here on earth because of rulings like Bostock vs. Clayton County.  
Yet, even if America were to completely ban Christianity and the proclamation of the Gospel, that would still be better than to live in a body that compulsively refuses to hear the Gospel. To live under the compulsion of the flesh is the worst slavery you can be under. At least under the tyranny of the state you can still seek out the Gospel and hear it in secret. If the Gospel were banned, we’d still hear it and confess it. We’d meet in basements, cemeteries, barns out in the country. Because we need the Gospel! We can’t live without it. Banning the Gospel would be like banning water. We’re going to find water. We won’t rest until we do!  
We need the Gospel. We are compelled by our renewed self to hear it and consume its lifegiving medicine. But to lose the sense that the Gospel is a necessity is the worst condition you can be in. It’s like a death sentence. Because even if the saving Gospel is readily available, if you are enslaved to your flesh, you won’t drink. You’ll instead feel compelled to go play with a ball or sit on your couch and fiddle with your phone.  
In an urgency to have his banquet hall filled, the master said to the servant, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in.” People get uncomfortable with the word, “compel.” In fact, this word is very much related to the word used previously by the man rejecting the invitation, when he said he had need (αναγκην) to see his field. The master says, αναγκησον, compel them to come. Does this mean God forces us to believe in him? No. However, when we consider the compulsion we suffer under our sinful flesh, the word “compel” is of great comfort.  
The servant compels the people to come to the banquet not with physical force or threats, but with the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1:5) The Gospel is powerful. The Holy Spirit, who is God, works through the Gospel. This means that through the Gospel he changes hearts, causes new birth, and leads you in a new life. It is like that hymn states, “He rescues me from sin/ And breaks the chains that bind me. I leave death’s fear behind me; His peace I have within.” (LSB 713:2) 
The proclamation of the Gospel not only satisfies the hungry soul, but it causes the soul to hunger! Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6) O how blessed we are to have been given such hunger and thirst. Without it, we would pass up the feast of salvation to fiddle with sticks! Psalm 42 states, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” These are words of the faithful. And such thirst God will never leave unsatisfied. When the master tells the servant to compel the people to come, he commands him to change their minds so that they recognize their greatest need and then to satisfy them thoroughly with the banquet he has prepared.  
God’s earnest desire is for the banquet hall of the feast of salvation to be filled. So, he in great mercy continues to send forth his servants to proclaim the Gospel empowered by the Holy Spirit. God’s house will be filled. Jesus’ blood was not shed in vain. We are invited to come and eat. May we by God’s grace answer the call and feast with him for eternity. Amen.  
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Faith Working through Love

6/14/2020

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Picture
Trinity 1 
Luke 16:19-31 
 

Our Gospel lesson today is famous for its portrayal of heaven and hell. The poor man Lazarus was carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham where he was comforted. The rich man died and suffered torment in the flame of Hades. And since we are all going to die and will all go either to heaven or hell, it is good to examine this story to see how one gets to heaven. But many get it wrong. Some think that since the rich man went to hell and the poor man went to heaven, then it must be a great sin to be rich and a wonderful virtue to be poor. Yet, there are many examples of extremely wealthy saints in the Bible including Abraham himself! And poor people can certainly go to hell! Rather, when Scripture criticizes the rich and blesses the poor, it means to condemn the worship of earthly goods and to commend the poor in spirit, who store up their treasures in heaven. This is why Abraham said to the rich man that he had his good things in his lifetime, but Lazarus had bad things. The rich man chose his earthly wealth as his true treasure in which his heart trusted. Lazarus rather kept his treasure in heaven through faith.  
Another error concluded from this text is that the rich man went to hell, because he failed to love while Lazarus went to heaven, because he did love. In other words, Lazarus’ works were better than the rich man’s works. Yet, this is not what Jesus’ story says. Jesus doesn’t list any good works of Lazarus. Lazarus was just poor and hungry. So, how do you get to heaven according to this Gospel lesson? Abraham tells the rich man, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” 
Moses and the Prophets refer to the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. In other words, the way to heaven is revealed in the Bible. Well, what does the Bible say? St. Paul cites Genesis 15, written by Moses, when he says, “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Galatians 3:5-9)  
So, if the rich man’s brothers would listen to the writings of Moses, what would they learn? They would learn that it is those of faith who are blessed to be with Abraham in the next life. Your works cannot save you! Rather, you are saved through faith in the promise of God; that promise is salvation through Jesus.  
Scripture says that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness in Genesis chapter 15, where Abraham laments to God that Eliezer of Damascus will be his heir, because he has no son. God insists, “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And God provided Abraham a son, Isaac. Yet, this too has led to a false teaching. Jews thought that they were blessed, because they were the physical descendants of Abraham and Isaac. Jesus hints at this when he says that Lazarus lied outside the gate of the rich man’s house. Lazarus is a variant of the name Eliezer, which means, “God is my Help.” God said Eliezer, the Gentile from Damascus, would not be Abraham’s heir. So, Lazarus too, this Gentile stands outside the household of Abraham longing for the food that falls from his table, just like that Canaanite woman, who once said to Jesus, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Yet, Jesus then showed compassion to that Canaanite woman. This rich man, however, let Lazarus starve. Likewise, those who think God is the God of the Jews only would deny salvation and fellowship with God to non-Jews.  
Yet, is that what God says? Certainly not. You are not an heir of God’s Kingdom, because you are a physical descendent of Abraham. If you remember, Abraham had multiple sons. But only Isaac was his heir. Why? Because Isaac was the son of promise. St. Paul explains this, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the freewoman was born through promise. … Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.” (Galatians 4:21-23, 28) St. Paul teaches us that we are children of Abraham through faith in the promise, just as Jesus shows that Lazarus the Gentile who sat outside the rich man’s gate was nevertheless a true son of Abraham.  
Scripture links the flesh and the works of the flesh together and the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit together. You are not justified before God by your natural birth. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew or Gentile, black or white. God shows no partiality. Likewise, you are not justified before God by your works according to the flesh. This is why St. Paul writes, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) Not your flesh of natural birth nor the works your flesh do can save you.  
Rather, you are saved through the Spirit when you have faith in the promise of Christ. God credits your faith as righteousness, because Jesus Christ himself is your righteousness. He fulfilled the laws demands for you. He suffered the punishment of hell for you. Abraham believed that God’s promise was true, so God declared Abraham righteous. And God declares you righteous when you believe that God is reconciled to you for Christ’s sake. This can only be accomplished by the Spirit, who works through the Word of God.  
That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. When you are born again through the Spirit and have faith in God’s promise, you then produce fruits of the Spirit. The primary fruit of the Spirit is love. When you possess the love of God through faith, then you produce love. Spiritual fruits are produced when you are spiritual. It is evident that the rich man was not spiritual and had no faith, because he showed no love. He let Lazarus starve and suffer when he could have helped him. Had he had faith in God’s love for him, he would have shown love to Lazarus.  
The rich man had no faith in God’s promise, because he refused to listen to the Word of God in Holy Scripture. He even tried to correct Abraham when Abraham told him that his brothers should listen to Moses and the Prophets. “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He doesn’t get it. First, Abraham is not his father. Abraham is the father of those of faith. And this man is rejecting the very source of faith, Holy Scripture. Second, if they do not listen to God from Holy Scripture, neither will they believe if someone should rise from the dead. This very thing happened! Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and the Jews who refused to believe in Him plotted to kill Lazarus. And when Jesus himself rose from the dead, the Chief Priests paid the soldiers to lie and say his body was stolen. Unless God’s Word converts you, you will never believe.  
Holy Scripture teaches both Law and Gospel. Those who refuse to learn from Scripture not only lose the Gospel that saves, but they also lose the benefits of the Law. This is certainly common today. The Ten Commandments are removed from public squares and most children are not taught them. In fact, even many churches stop teaching portions of God’s Law that are now deemed too offensive, especially those portions of Scripture that teach sexual morality and respect for authority. And faithful churches are often maligned for holding to teachings of Scripture that are now politically incorrect. Yet, faithful teaching of the Law is good. The Law teaches you to love your neighbor. If we would love one another as Scripture teaches, our lives and the lives of others would be better. Also, while the Law condemns you for your sin, the Gospel reveals that Jesus has made atonement for all your sins and offers you free forgiveness. So, there is no benefit in removing the Law.  
And those who do remove the Law do not liberate anyone. Because while they take away God’s good commandments, they replace them with commands of their own. And these commands are not good or loving. They make you apologize for things that are not sins. And what they require you to do, does not help your neighbor. And even worse, they offer no forgiveness for transgressions against their man-made laws. Rather, you must make atonement for your transgressions against social progress, which seeks to destroy the Church, family, and state. And you’ll find that your atonement is never enough for these earthly judges until you deny the God who made you and your Lord who redeemed you. 
And of course, ignoring God’s Law does not free you from God’s Law. As St. Paul says, “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.” (Romans 2:12) The wages of sin is death, whether you acknowledge your sin or not.  
So, there is no advantage in ignoring God’s Word in Holy Scripture. For while Scripture does reveal your sin to you, which is unpleasant, just as it is unpleasant to hear from your doctor that you have a deadly disease, Scripture also reveals the way of salvation, how your sins are forgiven for Christ sake and you become a child of Abraham and indeed of God himself through faith in Jesus. And it is only after being liberated by the Gospel of Christ that you can then produce good fruits of love. Only a faith that clings to Christ, who was perfected in love on the cross, can imitate this love and grow in it.  
Dear friends in Christ, casting out the Holy Scriptures, because we think they’re too harsh or old fashioned does not help us in any way. We can live in our own imaginary land where we and the world around us think that we are wonderful and righteous. That’s what the rich man did. He was adored by the world around him, because he followed their rules of self-love and worship of wealth. But living without God’s Word places you in hell on earth. To be away from God’s Word is to be away from God’s promise of love and mercy shown to us by Christ’s death on the cross. But to abide in God’s Word is heaven. God’s Word reveals to us God’s love; that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone. The Holy Scriptures reveal to us that God is our help, so that even if we have nothing on this earth, we have a certain treasure in heaven. Amen.  
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The Evangelical Trinity

6/7/2020

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Picture
William Brassey Hole, Jesus and Nicodemus, commons.wikimedia.org, Public Domain
Trinity Sunday 
John 3:1-15 
June 7, 2020 
 
Today is Trinity Sunday. Our Church is named Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. We call our church, Trinity, because we believe in the Triune God. Tri means three. Unus means one. Our God is three in one; three Persons, yet one God. The words Trinity and triune are not in the Bible, yet the teaching of the Holy Trinity is indeed in the Bible.  
There are a few examples in the Bible where the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is revealed in a few short passages, for example when Jesus is baptized and the Father from heaven calls Jesus his beloved Son as the Holy Spirit descends upon him, and when Jesus commands that his disciples baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But really, the teaching of the Holy Trinity is constantly and continually taught throughout the entire Old and New Testament, so that, the more you read the Bible, the more you recognize the Holy Trinity on every page.  
God is one. Deuteronomy 6 states, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Yet, God is three persons. The Father is God. The Son is God. And the Holy Spirit is God. And although these three Persons are distinct from one another, they are not three gods, but one God. The Bible calls the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit God. The Bible records how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are worshipped by both angels and humans. The Bible tells us that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, and omnipresent. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do things that only God can do; they create, forgive sins, heal, raise the dead, and give eternal life. They are indeed three distinct persons. The Father begets and sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit. Yet, Scripture declares that these three are one God. The Bible teaches the Holy Trinity and all Christians everywhere at all times have confessed the Holy Trinity. If you believe in the Bible, you believe in the Trinity.  
We call our church Evangelical. Evangelical means Gospel. Gospel means good news. Our Church is dedicated to the preaching of the Gospel, the good news, as St. Paul declared, “Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16). That is why we call ourselves Evangelical.  
And of course, to be evangelical means to be Trinitarian. The Father sends his Son. The Son dies on the cross for the sins of the whole world. The Holy Spirit proclaims this message of forgiveness and salvation to the whole world through the proclamation of the Gospel, even working rebirth in the hearts of sinners, so that they can believe this good message and be saved! The Holy Trinity is an evangelical God! 
This is why it is necessary for every church that claims to believe in the Holy Trinity to proclaim the Gospel that God saves sinners through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in this Gospel will be saved. Yet, if the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, she must first proclaim the Law. The Law is the love that God commands of us as Scripture says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” This command of love is taught in the Ten Commandments. The commands, “You shall have no other gods; Honor your father and your mother; You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal” are all commands to love God and your neighbor.  
God’s Law is good! How wonderful would it be if people would actually try to live according to God’s Law; if people considered the needs of others before their own and did unto others as they would have them do unto them, no matter whether they were black or white, rich or poor, young or old! We would have less violence, riots, and looting, that’s for sure. If men stopped fornicating and instead got married and supported their wives; taught their sons how to be men; to work hard and be honest and protect the vulnerable; to set an example to their daughters of what type of men they should marry. Yes, if more people in our nation would try to live according to God’s Law, we would have less violence, less injustice, less poverty, in short, a better country to live in.  
Yet, that is not the main reason why churches must preach the Law. God did not give us his Law, so that we could be a safer and more prosperous country. God gave us his Law to show us our sin and need for a Savior. God’s Law doesn’t simply want you to improve. Rather, God’s Law says, “You must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) That is the Law. It condemns you to hell, so that you look not to yourself, but to God for salvation. “And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24) That is Gospel. The Gospel does not require works from you, but bids you to believe that God is merciful to you for Christ’s sake. Evangelical churches proclaim the Law, so that sinners know their need for the Gospel. And evangelical churches preach the Gospel to sinners, whose consciences are stricken by the Law.  
God uses the Law and Gospel to bring sinners to faith throughout the Old and New Testament. Jesus himself uses the Old Testament account of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness to preach Law and Gospel. In Numbers chapter 21, the people of Israel grumbled against God and Moses, so God sent fiery serpents to bite them, so that many died. The serpents were the law. “The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56) Yet, when the people cried out to Moses, God told Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, so that whoever looked at it would not die. So, Moses made a bronze serpent. The bronze serpent was the Gospel; it represented Christ. It was in the form of the curse which killed them, yet it saved them. Likewise, Christ Jesus took the form of our curse to save us. Scripture says, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Galatians 3:10) We fail to keep the Law, so we are cursed. Yet, Scripture says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13) Therefore, whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life, just as whoever looked at the bronze serpent survived his snake bite.  
This is the Law and Gospel. Salvation is received as a free gift to those who know from the Law that they need salvation as a free gift. And salvation is a free gift. We heard in our Epistle lesson, “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” God doesn’t give you salvation, because he owes it to you. He gives you salvation, because he loves you.  
We call our church Lutheran. The Lutheran reformation began about 500 years ago, but the teaching of the Lutheran Church is grounded in Scripture and has been confessed from the founding of the Church. We confess the Holy Trinity with the ancient Church as it is taught in the Bible. And we are evangelical! We know the mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel. The main focus of the Lutheran Church has always been that sinners are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Yet, the underlining reason that Lutherans split from Rome had to do with authority. Lutherans believe that the Scriptures alone are the source of all Church teaching. The Holy Spirit works through the teaching of the Bible to create faith. The Roman Catholic Church did not follow Scripture alone, but rather saw Scripture as a part of the greater tradition of the Church which shared its authority with councils and traditions of men.  
Nearly 500 years ago, another group attempted a reformation in Europe. They were called the Socinians. They too claimed that all of their teachings came from Scripture. Yet, they denied the Holy Trinity and they denied the Gospel that Jesus made atonement for our sins, but rather taught that Jesus was a human example for us to follow. How could a group that claimed to follow the Bible stray so far from the Bible’s teaching? Because they insisted that the Bible would not contradict their own reason. If they’re reason could not understand how something in Scripture could be, they explained it away.  
The Socinians should have paid closer attention to Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a smart man, but he could not understand how one could be born again. Yet, Jesus points out to him that he doesn’t even understand earthly things. Do you know where the wind is going or where it came from? No? Then why are you interrogating God on how he accomplishes heavenly things? That which is born of flesh is flesh. Our human reason cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God, because it is corrupted by sin. This is why we must be born again by water and the Spirit. Faith in the Gospel is a gift that is received by those who have received rebirth by the Holy Spirit. God designed for this rebirth to happen in Baptism, where the promise of the Spirit is joined to water. Don’t ask how this can be. This is from God! Our job is not to question how, but believe what God tells us!  
We believe in the Holy Trinity and that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not because it makes perfect sense to our sinful and weak minds, but because Scripture clearly teaches this. And those who have been reborn by the Spirit accept the words of the Spirit with renewed minds. To be Lutheran does not meant to follow some smart German, who lived 500 years ago. To be Lutheran means to believe the teachings of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, having been born again by water and the Spirit.  
We call ourselves a church. Martin Luther wrote, “Thank God, today a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.” That sounds like heaven. Indeed, church is heaven on earth, because heaven is to be with Jesus. We don’t believe in a God far away from us. We believe in the Triune God, who shepherds us here on earth with his Gospel until he leads us to our eternal home prepared for us by Jesus. May God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit keep our congregation faithful to her name, so that He may dwell with us today and we may dwell with Him in eternity. 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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