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Trinity 11: God justifies the humble apart from works for the sake of Jesus' atoning sacrifice

8/28/2017

Luke 18:9-14

"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector." Now we've heard this parable so many times and we've heard of Jesus' run-ins with the Pharisees, so we might get the wrong idea. When we hear the word Pharisee we think "bad guy." There is nothing worse than being a Pharisee. It's practically a cuss word in Christian circles. And some go to great lengths to prove that they are not Pharisees, even deliberately sinning! But Jesus didn't choose a Pharisee, because Pharisees are known bad guys. Rather, he chose a Pharisee, because they were known to be good guys. Everyone who first heard Jesus tell this parable thought that the Pharisee was the good guy. The tax collector on the other hand was certainly the bad guy, a cheat, a Benedict Arnold, an enemy of God and his people! So, it came as a greater shock that the tax collector rather than the Pharisee went down to his house justified than that the tortoise beat the hare in a race.

Why is this such a shock? What does it mean to be justified? To be justified means to be declared righteous by God. Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. To be righteous means to be in a right relationship with God. It means that God is pleased with you and accepts you and will welcome you into heaven. The Pharisee thought that God was pleased with him and would welcome him into heaven, because his works were so good. Everyone thought that God would declare the Pharisee righteous! Just look at how well he follows God's Law! But God is not pleased with the Pharisee's works. He doesn't declare him righteous. This is a shock! And so God shows us that none of our works can make us righteous before God.

Many take this the wrong way. They assume because God wasn't pleased with the Pharisee that the works he bragged about are all rotten. But this isn't true. The Pharisee thanked God. Isn't this what we are all commanded to do; pray, praise, and give thanks? Is it not wicked to be an extortioner; to steal other people's money? God certainly is not pleased with adultery, but forbids it in all its forms. Fasting is certainly fine outward training, as we learn in our Small Catechism. And giving a tenth of all that you earn to the Lord is not only commanded by God to Israel, but it is the example of the Patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob. If every Christian trusted in God enough to give a tenth of all they made to the Lord, congregations would be less burdened and could more easily focus on missions to spread God's righteous wealth throughout the world! We should all strive to do as the Pharisee says. So, why was God not pleased?

God was not pleased, because the Pharisee trusted in himself. He thought that his works would earn him favor with God. In fact, he trusted in his works instead of God. And by so doing he proved his righteousness to be a mere façade, while he was still rotten on the inside. The Pharisee prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men," which could actually be turned into a good prayer. We should all thank God that we are not unrepentant, faithless, sinners. The only reason any one of us doesn't steal or commit adultery or behave in any unjust way is by the grace of God. Thank God that he has spared me of such wicked sins. If it were not by his grace I certainly would be the worst of the worst sinners, an unbeliever and a blasphemer (1 Cor. 15:10). But the Pharisee is not thanking God for rescuing him from sin and unbelief. He is using his prayer as a pretense, so he can brag and claim to be better than others.

The Pharisee was not humble. He was godlike in his own eyes. He didn't repent of his sins. He didn't ask God for mercy. He actually thought that by a few outward acts he had fulfilled the entire Law and earned God's friendship. But the Pharisee was far from the mark. Every one of his good works were riddled with selfish ambition. And he showed the true condition of his heart by his hatred of his neighbor, the tax collector. You cannot love God and hate your brother. The second table of the law is summed up, "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you do not love your neighbor, all your good works are worthless.

You are not righteous before God by being better than others. And you cannot make yourself righteous by following a set of rules. If you fail at one point of the law, even in secret, even in the privacy of your heart, then you are not righteous before God.

The tax collector was a sinner, no doubt. Tax collectors had the reputation of being disloyal; they worked for the occupying Roman government. They were often greedy thieves; collecting more than they were authorized. By all accounts this tax collector was unrighteous.

But the tax collector doesn't give a defense. He doesn't list off the good things he's done. He offers nothing to God at all. Rather, he stands far off, he beats his breast, and he says, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner."

The word the tax collector uses for "mercy" is not the same word we usually hear in the New Testament. Usually mercy means simply to show pity. But the word the tax collector uses here means, "be propitiated." You can see why the translators chose the word "mercy" instead. Who knows what it means to be propitiated? But to understand this parable, it's important for us to understand what it means to be propitiated. For God to be propitiated means that God is appeased, he is no longer angry, rather he is satisfied. For God to be propitiated debt has to be paid, a wrong has to be amended, atonement must be made. This is important, because the tax collector isn't simply throwing a Hail Mary, hoping that God will have pity. He is praying that God will accept the sacrifice of atonement on his behalf and forgive him his sin for the sake of the sacrifice.

The tax collector stood far off and prayed, "God be propitiated to me, the sinner." Unlike the Pharisee, he didn't want to be seen by anybody. He didn't raise his voice or even look up to heaven, but beat his breast away from the crowd. He didn't want to be seen by anyone, but God. You might wonder, then why he went to the temple? Why didn't he just stay home and pray in his room?

It's not a coincidence that the Pharisee and the tax collector went to the temple at the same time to pray. Every morning and afternoon the priest would sacrifice a lamb to atone for the sins of the people and offer incense. These were also the times of public prayer, when the people would gather and pray after the priest offered the sacrifice of atonement, while he was burning the incense.

The tax collector went to the temple, because he believed God's promise. He believed that God would be where he promised to be. He believed that God would accept the sacrifice. Every sacrifice offered to God in the temple pointed to Christ, who would be sacrificed to atone for the sins of the whole world. This is why the tax collector went to the temple. This is why he used the word, "propitiate" instead of just mercy. He was saying to God, "I believe your promise. I believe that this sacrifice of atonement pleases you. For the sake of this sacrifice, forgive me. This sacrifice pleases you, so be pleased with me!"

And here we see the Pharisee's greatest sin. He was so proud of himself and his own righteousness, he forgot the reason they were gathering in the temple in the first place: the sacrifice of atonement. He ignored the sacrifice. He didn't think he needed it. He thought his congratulatory "prayer" was greater than the sacrifice for his sins.

The tax collector on the other hand beat his breast mourning over his sin. That's what the crowd did after Jesus died on the cross, they beat their breasts in horror for what they had done (Luke 23:48). It is as if the tax collector sees the lamb slain and he knows that this points to the Christ, who would shed his blood for him. And the tax collector becomes the only sinner in the world. He is to blame for God's anger and for the punishment of his own Son. It is as we sing in Lent, "Whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish? It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish; Yea, all the wrath, the woe, Thou dost inherit, This I do merit." (LSB 439, stz. 4).

The tax collector did not claim any good works of his own. Rather, he clung to God's promise in the sacrifice alone. This is the only way anyone can be saved. Only the atoning sacrifice of God's Son can make you righteous. No matter how good you think you are, even if your works are greater than the Pharisee's, they will not justify you before God. But likewise, no matter how terrible a sinner you are, if your sins make the tax collector look like a saint, the atoning blood of Jesus still propitiates God and justifies you. St. John writes, "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1b-2)

The tax collector humbled himself, because he had faith in God's promise. He knew that he had nothing to offer God that could make him righteous. Rather, he trusted in the free gift of forgiveness offered through the sacrifice. We have the same faith. We trust in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. He was buried and was raised on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures. Every sacrifice in the temple pointed to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. When we pray to God for mercy, we pray that God would credit Christ's death to us. We pray that as Jesus died for the sins of the whole world that our sins too would be washed away in his blood. We humble ourselves by receiving God's forgiveness and righteousness as a free gift, just as the tax collector did. And we are exalted, just as the tax collector was justified before God.

The temple is no more. Christ's sacrifice put an end to all atoning sacrifices. Yet we can still go to where God promises to be. We can go to where God feeds us the fruit of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. This morning we humble ourselves before our God and God applies to us the benefit of Jesus' death. We even eat the body slain and drink the blood poured out, which propitiates God to us. We see, hear, and taste that God is propitiated to us. And having in humble faith received God's forgiveness and benediction each one of us returns to our house justified. Amen.

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Trinity 10:Repentance: Knowing What Makes for Peace

8/21/2017

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Jeremiah 8:4-12
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Luke 19:41-48

"Repent and believe in the Gospel!" Repent is a word we hear a lot at church.  But do you know what it means? To repent means, literally to turn. If a person is going down a road to destruction but then turns around and goes toward safety, he has repented. Everyone must repent or they will be condemned. To refuse to repent is to continue on your own way and not to turn to God's way. The Lord describes unrepentance in our OT lesson, "Like a horse plunging headlong into battle." Repentance involves a change of mind and behavior; to go down a different path than you are currently following.

We speak of repentance in two ways: first, to repent from unbelief to faith in Christ. This is called conversion. The second is daily repentance. This means that the Christian, who is daily plagued with temptation and the weakness of his sinful flesh must also daily turn from his sin and follow Christ.

The first repentance, that is, conversion is quite literally impossible. No one has the ability to convert to the true Christian faith by his own strength. This is because if you do not have faith you are spiritually dead and you have no ability to make yourself spiritually alive. Our Epistle lesson today proved this to be true. St. Paul writes, "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit." Because of this and many other passages in Scripture, we teach our children to confess in the Small Catechism, "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified, and kept me in the true faith."

This means that it is impossible for you to choose to be a Christian, but rather the Holy Spirit creates faith in your heart without your cooperation, before you can choose Jesus. He does this through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus and Baptism.

Now this teaching creates problems in our minds. If no one can choose to come to faith, but only the Holy Spirit can create faith, why doesn't the Holy Spirit create faith in everyone, so that all people will be saved? Why do some not believe and go to hell, while others believe and go to heaven?

Many have tried to answer this question. Some have determined that God did not intend to save all people and that Jesus only died for the few people he chose to save. This teaching must be rejected, because Scripture teaches the opposite. St. Paul writes in 1 Timothy chapter 2 that God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." And Jesus did not die for some people, but for all people. St. John writes that Jesus Christ is "the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2) And Jesus demonstrates in our Gospel lesson that he desires for Jerusalem to repent and be saved by his weeping for that apostate city. God does not desire for anyone to go to hell.

Others have tried to answer the question by saying that it does not depend on God, but on us. They say we have the ability to either choose God. It's up to us. But we must reject this teaching too as it clearly contradicts the Bible as we just heard. Instead, we must put this mystery in the category of things God has not chosen to reveal to us in this life. We confess that those, who are saved, are saved by grace and are converted by the Holy Spirit without any cooperation on their part. Yet we confess that those who are condemned are condemned of their own fault for rejecting Christ and the Holy Spirit. They cannot blame God for their just condemnation just as we cannot take credit for our undeserved salvation. This seems to be a contradiction. But we accept it by faith. We leave the mystery to God.

Yet this does not mean that we should be apathetic about God's Word. The Holy Spirit works through the word of God to create faith. This means we should baptize our children, because there is the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). We should confess Christ to others and hear his words ourselves, for "faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." (Rom. 10:17)

When God converts you to trust in Christ, he does not do so, so that you can continue in sin, follow your lusts, covet, steal, and hate. "That is not the way you learned Christ!" (Eph. 4:20) Instead God intends you to walk in his way, to fear, love, and trust in him above all things, to love your neighbor and consider others more important than yourself, to curb your sinful passions with the word of God and prayer.

This is not an easy task! We have received the Holy Spirit and the new man in our conversion. Before our conversion we were incapable of cooperating with the Holy Spirit, but now that God has enlivened our new man in us, we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit to do good. Yet we still remain sinners in the flesh! We complain with St. Paul, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out." (Rom. 7:18) We must repent every day, because every day we turn from God's path and walk in our own way. This is our sinful nature. We must fight against our sinful nature. To refuse to repent is to reject Christ, who bought you.

This is a very serious issue, because not one of us isn't plagued with temptation every day. Yet it is the call of many loud voices, including voices claiming to speak for Christ, that you do not need to repent. That whatever makes you "happy" is good and you should do it and not let anyone judge you for it. They say God loves you just the way you are, so you don't have to change a bit. Just keep doing what you're doing.

But this is a very dangerous teaching. God forbids you Christians to covet your neighbor's stuff, to steal, to hate and murder, to fornicate or engage in any form of sexual immorality, even to lust, to get drunk, to gossip, to despise hearing his word, in short, God forbids you from following your own path. He has bought you with a great price. People think it is freedom to do whatever your flesh desires. But this is not freedom. St. Peter warns against these false prophets, "They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved." (2 Peter 2:19)

The proverb goes, "The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire." (2 Peter 2:22) That describes each of us, doesn't it? So, we must turn from our wicked desires and ways each day and devote ourselves to God. There is not a day that we will not have to battle sin until we die.

Battling sin is certainly a daunting task, so it is no surprise that people have always followed prophets, who give an easy way out. The Lord condemns the false prophets in our OT lesson, "They have healed the wounds of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there was no peace." In other words, these prophets didn't heal the wound of the people's sin at all. They simply said, "Oh, it's not a big deal. God isn't upset at you. You aren't sinning. Just keep doing what you're doing." Now while that certainly put a smile on their faces at the time, it led to their ultimate destruction. It led them away from God. It caused them not to repent!

Jesus mourns over Jerusalem in our Gospel lesson, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!" The false prophets gave them peace without repentance. They offer the same peace to us today. But this is not true peace. True peace comes from the one and only Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. He died for the sins of all sinners, so that whoever repents and believes in him shall have true peace.

God does not desire to condemn anyone. A few verses after our OT lesson the Lord says, "For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me." See the sorrow our God feels over the sin of his people! It is the same sorrow Christ displays as he enters Jerusalem the very week he will be crucified. You see, God does not grieve over our sins, but then look away the way we might see something disturbing on the news and turn the channel. Our sins actually wound our God. Our wound became his wound when he hung on the cross winning true peace the false prophets would never understand.

Jesus tells us that Jerusalem would be destroyed, because they did not know the time of their visitation. That is, they did not recognize Christ and repent of their sins and believe in him. And Jerusalem was destroyed. In 70 AD, about forty years after Jesus spoke these words Roman troops surrounded Jerusalem, killed hundreds of thousands of Jews, and burned the temple to the ground. God punished them for their unbelief and this is a warning for us to repent.

Do you know the time of your visitation? This might sound threatening after all this talk of sin, punishment, and repentance. Repentance itself seems like a scary thing. What if I don't repent well enough? Will I ever be good enough for God? And if I keep on returning to my sin, what's the point? But repentance doesn't simply mean to turn from doing what is bad and do what is good. If that were how you were saved, you would never be saved. To repent means to turn from your way to Christ's way. This means to turn to Christ for forgiveness.

God asked at the end of the chapter where we find our OT lesson, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?" God wants to heal his people. He wants to heal you. You don't know the time of your visitation simply by recognizing your sins and trying to do better. You recognize the time of your visitation by recognizing the Balm of Gilead, Jesus Christ your true Physician. God is angry at the false prophets because instead of turning his people to true medicine and healing, they drive them deeper into sickness and death. God doesn't simply want you to recognize your disease. God wants you to recognize the true medicine that cures your disease.

Jesus Christ is your true medicine. I hope by now you recognize your disease. You're a sinner. You need to repent every day. But repenting doesn't do you any good if you don't get healed. If you don't turn to Jesus, you'll just keep returning to your vomit and wallow in the mire. If repenting doesn't lead you to Christ's forgiveness, your constant repenting will simply exhaust you, so that you give up. But when you truly recognize your visitation, you recognize your Savior Jesus. You see that you don't simply turn from a path of doing bad things to follow a path of strict rules. Rather, you turn to Christ, who lovingly forgives you and gives you his Holy Spirit to guide you on your path.

You recognize your Visitation where Jesus promises to come to you. In church we begin each service in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because Christ first visited you in your life when he Baptized you in this name. You recognize Jesus' visitation when you not only repent of your sins, but believe in Christ's forgiveness earned with his blood. You recognize your Visitation in bread and wine, believing that here Christ's true body and blood are the balm that heals your body and soul from the sin from which you've turned.

Repentance won't do you any good if you do not turn to Christ for free undeserved forgiveness. But every time you turn to Christ he does heal you. No matter how many times you turn, how many times you repent from sins that keep haunting you, Jesus heals you. To know the time of your Visitation is to recognize that Jesus saves you a sinner and gives you true peace with God purely through faith in him. Amen.

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Trinity 9: Unrighteous Wealth Vs. True Riches

8/13/2017

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Luke 16:1-13

Jesus calls money unrighteous wealth. This is not simply because people use money to buy and do terrible things and people do wicked things to obtain money. Jesus calls money unrighteous wealth, because everything you buy with it will perish.

Money can only buy things that break, rot, rust, or otherwise turn to nothing. And if your wealth does last, you lose it all when you take your last breath. Jesus calls it mammon, that is earthly wealth. He says, "No servant can have two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

And indeed, mammon is the greatest false religion in the world. The masses rush after it. They devote their time and talents; sacrifice marriages and faith; in short, they worship mammon: money, and all it can buy.

This is a cruel false religion that never satisfies and conks out on even its most devoted followers when they die. And it is a dangerous threat to Christians, as Jesus warns in his parable about the sower and the seeds, "As for those sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches chokes the word, and it proves unfruitful." (Matthew 13:22)

So, it is somewhat astonishing that the master in Jesus' parable commends the unrighteous manager. Isn't the unrighteous manager a cheat? Yes, but the master doesn't commend the manager for being a cheat. Jesus says, "The master commended the unrighteous manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light."

He commended the unrighteous manager for being wise and diligent. He was in a pickle and he thought quickly to get out of it. He lost his job. He had a little time to gather his books. So, he quickly calls his master's debtors and uses his master's money to make friends. The master isn't commending him for being a cheat, but for being smart and industrious.

And it is true that the worshippers of mammon are much wiser in dealing with mammon than Christians. Well, they're more devoted to it. In fact, sadly, it seems the disciples of earthly wealth are more devout to their god than the followers of Jesus are to Christ. When I was a fourth-year seminarian I would often fill in services at vacancy congregations. To get to one congregation I had to drive on the Queen Elizabeth Way, which goes to Toronto. The highway is normally packed Monday through Friday, but on Sunday morning it was smooth sailing. People are willing to drive an hour to work, but few would do that to find a faithful church.

But God does want you to use this unrighteous wealth wisely. After all, he gave it to you. Just like the manager in our text, you aren't working with your own money. You're working with God's money and God's possessions. Everything belongs to God. God says in Psalm 50, "For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine." Everything in your bank account, every possession in your house, yes, even your beating heart was given to you by God and they all rightly belong to God. And God has some opinions (mark sarcasm) on how you should use his property. And just like the master in our Gospel lesson, God wants you to be generous with his possessions.

Did you catch that in our lesson? The master commends his unrighteous manager, because of his shrewdness, that is, he commended him for wisely using wealth to secure future wealth. But the manager did it at the master's expense. Although the manager cheated his master, it seems that the master wanted the manager to be generous with his property. And this is certainly true with God.

Our Lord says, "Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwelling." When what fails? The unrighteous mammon that God has given you. And it will fail. Nothing you buy will not fail, waste away or be lost. Yet God, nevertheless, wants you to use this transitory wealth to make friends, who will greet you when you enter your eternal dwelling. Well, who will greet you in your eternal dwelling? Not your car or your house or your best bottle of bourbon. The person sitting next to you! They believe in Christ Jesus! They will welcome you in heaven! Do they have need with which you can help with the mammon God has given you? And of course, Jesus died for all human beings, and whoever believes in Christ will be saved, so potentially every person you encounter could welcome you into heaven. Perhaps this will give you perspective on why you should help those in need!

God also wants you to be generous to his Church. Yes, there are many con artists and televangelists pretending to be pastors, who will gladly take your money to make themselves rich. But that does not give you an excuse to not support the true proclamation of God's Word. When you support your local congregation and good Lutheran missions, you are using your unrighteous wealth, which God has given you, in a righteous way. By supporting the proclamation of God's Word, you help many friends, who will greet you in heaven.

Jesus says, "If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches." People are unfaithful with unrighteous wealth, because they don't consider it a loan from God. Instead they worship their unrighteous wealth. And since they worship their unrighteous wealth, they do not worship the true God. Jesus says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21) If you worship unrighteous wealth, you will not recognize true riches.

What are true riches? Well, like unrighteous wealth, true riches are given to you by God. But unlike unrighteous wealth, true riches do not waste away or get lost. Not even when you die! True riches last forever. And like unrighteous wealth, God wants you to use your true riches wisely.

True riches are the Gospel and the eternal life given by the Gospel. This includes Baptism, Absolution, the preaching of the Gospel, and the Lord's Supper. These riches that you receive here on earth are eternal, because they give you Jesus and eternal life with him. Baptism joins you to Christ's death and resurrection and gives you new birth. Absolution isn't debt forgiveness from a credit card. It is worth much more than that. Absolution removes the guilt that would surely send you to hell, by placing it on Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, who washes your sin and guilt away in his own blood. Preaching cannot be compared to watching a show or hearing a lecture, because Christ has chosen to come to you through the preaching of his word and he has promised to create and strengthen saving faith through it. The Lord's Supper is not a ritualistic snack that you can forego for long periods of time without any negative repercussions. This is the true body and blood of Christ that not only forgives your sins, but gives you the strength to continue in your faith.

These are true riches, because they all give you Jesus. God is generous, no doubt. He feeds you and clothes you. He gives you a good job, good husband or wife, children, house, etc. Yet these don't even touch on God's generosity. God's generosity is seen in its extreme in his giving of his Son, Jesus Christ to die on your behalf, covered in your sin, to give you eternal life as an innocent child of God.

And so, God wants you to handle these true treasures that give you Jesus and eternal life wisely. He does not want you to neglect them, but use them. Remember your Baptism, Hear God's Word. Take advantage of the free forgiveness of sins! Eat Christ's body and blood, do not stay away for no good reason.

And as with the unrighteous wealth God gives you, he wants you to be generous with true riches. God has forgiven you, so you must also forgive others. The power to forgive even your enemy does not lie in you, but it flows from the blood of Jesus that has washed away your sins.

It is a wise use of unrighteous wealth to not spend your entire paycheck, but save a little and invest. And it is wise to use your money to take care of your children, buy them food and clothing, invest in their education and health, and such. But the greatest investments and wisest planning with unrighteous wealth can never compare to the use of true riches. Everything you do for your children with unrighteous wealth, while good and wise and right to do, will eventually waste away. But your child's baptism does not waste away. When you bring your child to be baptized, you give your child a heavenly treasure worth much more than a mutual fund or a warm meal and a clean bed to sleep on.

Likewise, education is a fantastic investment that will benefit your children for the rest of their lives. But it is learning to trust in the Lord that comes from being taught Jesus' words that will last beyond this life. There is nothing more precious that you can give your children or loved ones or an enemy or a stranger than to share the Gospel, even to just invite them to church or say a prayer for them. Because the greatest riches you have are not in stocks or bonds or real estate. Your greatest riches are your faith and the things your faith receives: Jesus' love and forgiveness given through his word and sacraments.

You are all very wealthy; rich beyond your wildest dreams. You probably won't think so if you count your wealth in dollars and property. But all that will waste away soon enough. You are wealthy with possessions that will never waste away, because God is unbelievably generous. He has made you rich with the blood of Jesus Christ, our God and brother. God loves being generous to you. He loves giving his wealth to you. He gives his wealth to you today! And it is God's desire that you recognize the true wealth he gives you. Amen.

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Trinity 8: Beware of False Prophets

8/13/2017

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Matthew 7:15-23
August 6, 2017

"Beware of false prophets," Jesus warns. Well, what is a false prophet? First you have to know that a false prophet isn't going to come out and tell you that he's a false prophet. He looks good. He looks like he's sent by God and that he's going to tell you the truth of what God says. They're dressed in sheep's clothing, Jesus says. False prophets are in pulpits and in seminaries, they wear crosses around their necks and carry Bibles. So, you can't tell a false prophet simply by looking at him. "By their fruits you will know them." What are their fruits? Their prophecies, that is, their words. You will know that they are false prophets by the words they preach and teach.

False prophets teach contrary to God's Word while leading you to believe that they teach God's Word in truth. They lie and tell you they are telling the truth. This is the worst offense against the Second Commandment, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by his name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks." False prophets say that God said something he didn't say. They place God's name on a lie. This is clearly forbidden by God.

Protection from false prophets is the first thing we pray for in the Lord's Prayer. "Hallowed be Thy name. How is God's name kept holy? God's name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God's Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!" (From Luther's Small Catechism, First Petition of the Lord's Prayer)
Every time you pray the Lord's Prayer you pray that God would protect you from false prophets, who teach lies in God's name. False prophets teach many different lies. They are not united as Christ is. Their teachings don't come from Christ, but from Satan. And Satan will lead you away in whatever way he can.

A very popular false teaching today that is taught by many who claim to be Christian ministers is that the Bible is not entirely reliable. Now they normally won't outright tell you that they think the Bible has errors. They'll try to sound academic and say, "Well, not all of the Bible is meant to be taken literally." But they don't simply mean that the Bible has sections of poetry, visions, and parables, which need to be treated as such. They use this language to disregard historical records in Scripture that they think seem farfetched or make them uncomfortable. So, they deny that God created the world and human beings the way he said he did and they depend on theories promoted by atheists. They will deny the miracles of Jesus and they will try to convince you that all this doesn't really affect your faith anyway.

They will deny that Paul wrote his Epistles or claim that we don't have to accept everything that St. Paul or other apostles write, (ignoring the fact that Christ Jesus himself made these men his apostles and gave them their words to speak). And they'll even say things that sound really Christian, like the Gospel is the most important thing in the Bible and the Gospel is the real authority of Scripture. Meanwhile they chip away at every other teaching of Scripture until you don't realize that they have assaulted the very Gospel of the forgiveness of sins won by Christ.

These false prophets are very successful, because they are very appealing. They don't tell you what God tells you (or only half of what God tells you). Instead, they will tell you what you want to hear. St. Paul warns, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

So, people follow false teachers, because they tell them what they want to hear. This is quite natural for sinners. When you seek advice from friends do you take the advice that is the most sound or the advice that makes you look good or is the easiest to follow? And so, people follow after false prophets, who say that God doesn't have a problem with fornication or homosexuality or abortion or divorce or greed. It's a lot nicer to hear that you don't need to repent of your sins or that your family and loved ones don't need to repent from their sins than to hear that you are a poor miserable sinner in need of redemption. These false prophets seem friendly and loving. The Jesus of those traditionalists sounds unloving, archaic, and bigoted.

But you have to remember the source of these teachings. Teachings that promote sexual immorality, murder, and covetousness do not come from God, but from Satan. Satan does not love you. He wants to murder your soul. God loves you. Jesus died for you out of love for you. Yes, God will lay down the law. He will tell you that you are a sinner. He will tell you to repent. But everything he does is out of love. If you continue in your sins you will go to hell. You cannot have saving faith while you continue in impenitent sin. Jesus calls you out of your sin to eternal life. Satan wants to keep you in your sin so that you go to hell.

Who is more loving? A father who disciplines his disobedient child or a stranger who speaks sweetly and offers candy to the child if he gets into his van? It is far better for a child to endure a spanking and a scolding from his father, who loves him than to accept sweet candy from a stranger, who wishes to do him harm. And so, we should flee the sweet talk of false prophets and listen to God's word, both the Law, which rebukes us, and the Gospel, which comforts us.

Those who deny that the Bible is without errors are not the only false prophets. Many so-called conservative churches still teach falsely. They will deny the saving power of Baptism, even though Scripture clearly states that God saves us through Baptism. They'll deny the pastor's authority to forgive and retain sins and that the Lord's Supper is Christ's true body and blood for us Christians to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. They deny these teachings, because they place their own sinful reason over the clear words of God. You should avoid such churches. Do not attend them. Do not worship there. Instead go where all of Christ's means of grace are given to his people.

The worst kind of false teaching is the teaching that claims that you must earn your own salvation. This teaching robs Christ of his glory. And it sets you up as your own false god. If you must earn your own salvation by your good works you must trust in yourself, how good you can be instead of trusting in Christ's sacrifice on the cross for your sins. Beware of false prophets, who will twist scripture and torture your conscience to convince you that Christ's death is not enough to win your salvation. Trust in Christ alone and trust in him unceasing!
But does this all really matter? Isn't it just important that we're all "Christians?" Why get so bent out of shape with the details? Indeed, this is the way most people think. People are more discerning of what brand of pop they drink than the purity of God's Word they listen to. And so, it is important for us to listen to our Lord's words once again. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." They aren't sheep. They're wolves. What do wolves do? Wolves kill. They murder. That is Satan's goal with false teaching. His goal is to destroy your faith, to separate you from Jesus. He is not loving. He does not bring you closer to Jesus. His goal is for you to trust in yourself, despair of God's gifts, forsake God's word, to die without hope or with false hope.

So, while it is true that there are Christians, who will go to heaven, who attend churches run by false prophets, this does not mean that marking and avoiding false prophets is unimportant.
This is a matter of life and death. It is very important for you to beware of false prophets; to guard against them. Now, how do you do that? Immediately after our Gospel lesson Jesus says, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25)

You are founded on the rock if you believe in Jesus' words. The best way to be founded on the rock is to learn your Catechism. We call it Luther's Small Catechism, because Martin Luther wrote the explanations in our Catechism. But Martin Luther didn't give us the Small Catechism. God did. The Catechism is simply the basics of what a Christian needs to know to be a Christian. All the teachings of the Catechism come from the Bible. The Catechism is made up of six chief parts: The Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, The Lord's Prayer, Baptism, The Office of The Keys, and The Lord's Supper. The Ten Commandments were given by God to Moses and are listed in Exodus chapter 20. The Apostles' Creed, while it does not exist in the Bible in that exact form is a summary of the Apostles' teaching about God as found in Scripture. Jesus taught us to pray the Lord's Prayer. Jesus gave us Baptism, the Office of the Keys, and the Lord's Supper. The Catechism clearly and simply explains what Scripture teaches about these three means of grace!

Every one of you should have your Small Catechism memorized. Not just the youths, who are preparing for Confirmation. Everyone from the little children just learning to pray to the elderly should be learning their Small Catechism by heart. And every one of us should use the Catechism in our daily prayers. And fathers should lead their families to pray it and teach it to their children.

You are much less likely to fall for the devil's lie that sexual immorality is not a big deal if you know your Ten Commandments by heart. You will be able to answer the Jehovah's Witness or Mormon at your door if you know the Apostles Creed and what it means. I believe that Jesus Christ, true God begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. Tell that to the Jehovah's Witness when he tries to deny that Jesus is true God.

You pray the Lord's Prayer every day. But do you know what the words mean? Your Small Catechism gives a simple explanation to each petition, to help you pray!

Do you have your Small Catechism memorized? Do you pray from it each day? Are you prepared to guard yourself against false prophets?

You must be able to judge your pastor. You must be able to judge me to determine whether I am teaching you God's Word in truth or whether I am a false prophet. You can't simply judge me based on your own thoughts and opinions. To recognize the fruit of a false teacher and the fruit of a true teacher sent by God, you must be built on the Rock. You need to know your Catechism. That is how you know your Savior, Jesus.

The truth matters. Because the truth reveals to you your Savior Jesus. Satan does not love you. The lies he spreads through false prophets do not help you. But the truth sets you free from sin, death, and hell. The truth is, God loves you. He loves you so that he sent his Son to redeem you with his own precious blood and innocent suffering and death. He loves you so that he washes you clean in Jesus blood through Baptism. He loves you so that he convicts you of your sin so that he can forgive you. He loves you so that he feeds you Christ's own body and blood, so that you can say, "Yes, I have received Jesus' forgiveness. God says so!" God loves you. And he shows you his love through his pure teaching. So, guard and cherish his teaching. Amen.

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

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Rev. James Preus

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