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

God sends His Angels to Serve the Humble, Who Receive Christ’s Blood through Faith

9/30/2019

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Picture
Archangel Michael, Guido Reni, 1636, Santa Maria della Concezione, Rome, The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202. Public Domain
Matthew 18:1-10; Revelation 12:7-12; Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3  

September 29, 2019  
 
 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. We Christians believe that God created the invisible, those things which cannot be seen. I’m not talking about the air or microscopic organisms, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. I’m talking about things that cannot be seen by the human eye, things which can only be seen by faith. When we confess in the Nicene Creed that we believe that God is the maker of all things visible and invisible, we confess our belief in angels.   
Angels are real. They are God’s servants. They do not have bodies; they are spirits. Yet, when they do reveal themselves to the sight of humans they are always depicted as mighty and powerful. And they are. Psalm 103 calls them “mighty ones.” They make up the mighty armies of God. And the Bible teaches us that God uses these angels, these mighty spirit-servants, to guard and protect us.   
“I walk with angels all the way, They shield me and befriend me;   
All Satan’s power is held at bay When heav’nly hosts attend me;   
They are my sure defense, All fear and sorrow, hence!   
Unharmed by foes, do what they may,   
I walk with angels all the way.”  
How true! “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:11-12) We tell our children that guardian angels watch over them. This isn’t a childhood story. Angels are real. They are mighty. They do God’s will. They see the face of our Father in heaven. And they guard us day and night.  
Angels fascinate people, probably because they are so mysterious. We can’t see them. And when they show up in Scripture it is usually for a very short period of time, and our questions about them are rarely answered. Angels are not as popular media portray them, beautiful and elegant ladies or chubby bare-bummed babies. Again, angels are spirits and do not have bodies, but when they take on a visible form, they are always powerful beings, often with flaming swords and chariots. Angels guarded the way to the tree of life after Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden. Angels fought and conquered Israel’s enemies, closed the mouths of lions, and protected the holy family in their flight to Egypt.   
We are not being superstitious when we say angels kept someone safe when their car crashed or guided them through a painful cancer treatment. Yet, we must remember that our greatest danger is not physical, but spiritual. As there are faithful angels who do God’s will, so are their evil angels. Satan was once an angel of God, but he rebelled. And all the demons are fallen angels, who fought against Michael and his angels. Our enemies are not of flesh and blood, but they are the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, these are the enemies we must wrestle and fight.   
Such battles sound exciting. Many an adventure-hungry young boy longs to see the battle of angels in the sky with the dragon being slain. How we would love to strap on our armor and bear our sword. We’re eager to fight Satan; to mock his demons; to stand side by side with the angelic hosts and strive for victory! Oh, how confident we are that we’d stand with the good angels and fight against the bad!  
Yet, we don’t see the angels, good or bad. Satan doesn’t appear as a red dragon with sulfuric breath and evil eyes. He’s much more subtle. Our battle against Satan and his hordes does not take place in the sky and we don’t get to brandish fiery swords. Rather, we must battle our own temptations and unbelief here in the visible world. We’re attacked by Satan when we let our anger rise up and take control of our senses. When we choose division and discord over peace and reconciliation. Satan attacks when lust rises in our hearts, when our eyes look on those things that should not be seen and when our mouths speak words that should not be said. Satan gains ground in his warfare when he persuades us to ignore God’s Word for days, weeks, and months at a time, to treat it as an afterthought with no place of influence in our lives. Satan advances when your pride convinces you that you are better than others and more worthy of the title of Christian. Satan gains ground when he plants doubt in your mind, which makes you disbelieve God’s word and doubt his promises. Satan’s greatest achievement is the conquest of your invisible soul.   
We can’t see Satan and his demonic hordes at work, but that does not mean they are not there. They’re real. And they work in real life. It doesn’t look exciting. In fact, it’s often boring. Yet, it is destructive. Woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!  
So, who are they who will conquer these dark angels? Who will stand side by side Michael and his angels, dressed in the armor of God, victorious on the battle field? Who are the greatest in the kingdom of God, who can stand such insidious warfare, which turns the world and even your own flesh against you? Can you picture in your head, who they are? These saints? What does Jesus say? … A little child. A humble weakling.   
“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” These are the words of our Lord Jesus, who crushed the head of Satan. The humble will be exalted. The meek are the greatest. To be humble like a child means to receive from God by grace. Children don’t earn their pay. They receive all they have freely. They don’t deserve it. And so, each of us, if we want to be great, if we want to stand victorious over Satan, must humble ourselves and receive from God by pure grace.   
What is it that we humble children receive from God that makes us great? It is the blood of the Lamb Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ himself has conquered Satan. Satan accuses us of sin before God, and Jesus shuts him up by blotting our sins out with his own blood. Satan bruised Jesus’ heal when our Lord was crucified, but Christ crushed his head when he paid for our sins and for this reason, God has raised him from the dead and seated him above all things on his heavenly throne. It is the humble children who are the greatest, because they receive as a gift the greatest, most powerful weapon imaginable. Through faith in the forgiving blood of Christ, you have the power to thrust Satan down from heaven.   
It is not those who overcome temptation every time, who conquer Satan. It is not those, who can boast that they have never sinned or that they have withstood Satan consistently, who can claim victory on the battlefield. The righteous fall seven times, but rise up again. It is those who in humility repent of their sins to God and claim nothing of themselves, but only the shed blood of Jesus, which washes away their sins.   
At Jesus’ darkest hour in the garden as he was betrayed and arrested by the thugs of the chief priest, he refused to request twelve legions of angels to come to his aid, because Jesus knew that all the myriad of the heavenly hosts could not rescue us from sin, death, and eternal damnation. Only his precious blood shed in the atoning sacrifice could take away our sins, undo death’s grip, and raise us to heaven. Only Jesus’ blood can conquer Satan forever and give us victory.   
When you were baptized, Satan was cast down from heaven and his accusations against you were silenced. Every time you receive Jesus’ blood in humble faith, Satan is cast down from heaven at your feet and silenced. Your greatest weapon is not all the heavenly armies, but the precious, inexhaustible, unconquerable blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.   
God grants us, his humble children, the service of angels to guard and protect us both from physical danger and from the assaults of the devil and his minions. They guard us in all our ways, as we cling to the cross of Christ and the truth of his words. Angels do not work independently of Christ Jesus. And they do not help us overcome our foes apart from the blood of Christ. The word angel means messenger. The greatest work angels did was when they announced the birth, resurrection, and ascension and return of Jesus Christ. They announced the Gospel. And through faith in the Gospel, we possess the blood of Christ and have victory over Satan.  
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”, says our Lord. Our angels serve us on behalf of Christ, for we are washed clean in his blood. When they see our Father's face, they see that he is pleased with us on behalf of Christ's blood. Let us not despise our fellow Christians, who are victorious by the blood of Christ, whose Father looks down upon with pleasure, and whom God has sent his angels to protect. Rather, let us love one another and pray for each other. And so, we will fight with the angels against Satan. And with the blood of the Lamb, we will win.  
Let us pray.  
Saturday night: I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that you would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.  
Sunday morning: I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings in life may please you. For into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen. 
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Faith Goes to Where Jesus Is

9/23/2019

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Picture
James Tissot, "The Healing of the Ten Lepers," 1886-94, Brooklyn Museum. Public Domain.
Luke 17:11-19  
“Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” These words of our Lord seem peculiar in a couple of ways. First, why is Jesus disappointed that only one of the ten cleansed lepers returned? Didn’t he tell them to go show themselves to the priests? Why should they turn back to Jesus?  
Well, first we need to understand why Jesus told them to go to the priests in the first place. It was the priests’ job to inspect those healed of leprosy and to offer the appropriate sacrifices. You can read in Leviticus chapter fourteen of the elaborate rite God ordered for declaring a leper clean. After a priest found that the leprosy was healed, he would take two birds. One, he would kill and pour its blood into a basin of water. The other bird he would dip in the bloody water along with some cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, then sprinkle the man seven times with these things before letting the bird go free. Then eight days later, the man had to bring two male lambs and a ewe lamb along with some grain and oil. And with one of the male lambs, the priest would offer a guilt offering, whereby he would take some of the blood from the lamb and put it on the man’s right earlobe, thumb, and big toe and do the same with the oil before offering the sin, grain, and whole burnt offerings. And all this the priest did in order to “make atonement for him.” (Leviticus 14:20) 
So, Jesus sent these men to the temple in Jerusalem so that the priests could do these sacrifices for them and they could be atoned for. Yet, we must realize something about these sacrifices and all sacrifices in the temple. All of them proclaim Christ Jesus and the sacrifice he would make for all sins. In Hebrews chapter nine it states, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” 
Jesus Christ is greater than all sacrifices in the temple. He alone makes atonement for the sins of the whole world, something the blood of beasts could never do. So, when this Samaritan returned and fell down to worship God at Jesus’ feet, he returned to him who is a greater High Priest than any priest working in the temple, who offers a greater sacrifice than any offered in the temple. Jesus is greater than the temple itself. The temple is where God dwelt. Yet, Jesus is God, and in Jesus God will dwell bodily for all eternity. This is why Jesus asked where the nine were. He wanted them to have faith in him, who is greater than the temple with its high priests and sacrifices. 
The other reason Jesus’ words seem peculiar is that he asks, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” This sounds funny to our ears, because God is everywhere! And the Bible clearly teaches that you cannot run away from God’s presence. You can give thanks to God anywhere, whether you are at home, or out in the woods, or stranded on a deserted island; you could take a rocket to the moon and still be able to give thanks to God there! So, how does Jesus know that the other nine did not give thanks to God their entire jog to the temple? And that they didn’t continue giving thanks their whole lives? 
And this is the way most people think. Since God is everywhere, I can worship him at my leisure, whenever it is convenient. Yet, it is different when you know where your God can be found. This Samaritan knew where his God could be found. He recognized Jesus as his God and Lord. He worshipped God and gave thanks to him at Jesus’ feet.  
Jesus asked, “Where are the nine?” for good reason. He cleansed them of their leprosy. He did for them just as he did for this Samaritan, who believed in him. Yet, they did not return to him. They did not worship him. They did not have faith in him. And, so it is today. God sends rain to the good as well as to the bad and lets his sun shine on the unjust as well as the just. God feeds, clothes, and shelters unbelievers along with Christians. He grants success to life-saving treatments for cancer and other horrible diseases to the benefit of the wicked and the good. And these are all light things in the eyes of God. Jesus, our God and Lord, made atonement for all of our sins, paying for them with his blood. He has erased the debt of all mankind and won for all people forgiveness of sins, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.  
Yet, Jesus may well ask today, “Where are the others? Were there not many more who were clothed, fed, cured, and rescued? Did I not win salvation for the whole world? Where are the rest? Was there found no one to return and give thanks to God, except these?  
The Samaritan returned to worship Jesus at his feet, because he had faith in Jesus. Faith draws you to Jesus. The one who has faith seeks Jesus where he will be found, and goes to him to receive every good thing from him, to learn from him, to give thanks to him, and to sing his praises. Yes, faith will pray to God and trust in him in any place and time, whether on the battlefield or at the grocery store, but faith will always seek to go where God promises to be found. This Samaritan knew where he could find his Lord. He was just a few hundred yards away from him. He had just heard his voice. So, he ran back and fell at his God’s feet.  
When Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He promised to be present where his word is taught and believed and where his sacraments are administered. Jesus is present in the Baptismal waters. Jesus is present in the Sacrament of his body and blood. Jesus is present with his words of healing wherever his word is proclaimed in truth. We don’t look to the hills for our help; we look to the Lord, who made heaven and earth, where he promises to be. And he promises to be in his word and sacraments. This is where you find Jesus.  
That is why we are here today. We are here, because we know where Jesus is. He’s here. Here he cleanses us. Here he forgives us and strengthens us. Here he receives from us our thanksgiving and praise. When you kneel at the Communion rail, you kneel before Jesus himself in true worship. There you return to him from whom all blessings flow.  
We need to be where Jesus is. We all heard St. Paul list off the works of the flesh, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and we could list off quite a few more like these, which burden our conscience. Scripture is clear that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. And yet, we do such things, don’t we? Although we desire to walk by the Spirit, our sinful flesh overpowers us, convincing us to do those things we know we should not want to do. We’re guilty. We need Jesus. We need to hear that he forgives us. We need to be cleansed of our filth. We need to be strengthened, so that we can walk by the Spirit. We need to give thanks to him and sing praises to him, for not abandoning us to our sins. We need to be present where Jesus promises to be present.  
Jesus said to the Samaritan, “Your faith has made you well.” Well, that is what most English translations say. The word Jesus used is actually the word for save. But the word can mean “healed” in certain contexts, and the Bible translators figured that the context implies “healed” instead of “saved.” Except, all ten of the lepers were healed. Only one of them had faith. The others cried out to Jesus for help, but they didn’t have faith in him as their God. They called him their master, but not their Lord. Only the Samaritan returned to Jesus. Only the Samaritan bowed down at Jesus’ feet. Only the Samaritan had faith. And only the Samaritan was saved, at least that day.  
God heals everyone. He feeds them and takes care of them, whether they have faith or not. But he only saves those who have faith. Only faith, which trusts in Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing saves. And saving faith draws you to Jesus, where he can be found.  
I don’t know what happened to the nine. I sincerely hope that they did come to faith in Christ. I know that was Jesus’ desire too. Yet, I know what happened to the Samaritan. He was saved. He is currently in heaven singing praises to God with the heavenly hosts. And we who trust in Jesus for forgiveness and healing will meet him someday. You, who trust in Christ will meet him just as you will see your Savior Jesus face to face, because your faith has saved you. Amen.  
 
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The Law Imprisons, so that the Promise of Christ might set us free through faith

9/16/2019

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Picture
Jan Wijnants, Parable of the Good Samaritan, 1670, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Public Domain
Galatians 3:15-22 
Luke 10:21-31 
September 15, 2019 
 
Four hundred thirty years before God gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, God made a promise to Abraham that all nations of the earth would be blessed through his Offspring, the coming Christ. Four hundred thirty years before God gave the Law, Abraham believed God’s promise and God counted it to him as righteousness. Four hundred thirty years before God gave the Law, Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ, through faith he saw it and was glad. The promise offered the inheritance of eternal life to all people who believe. The Law of works, which came four hundred thirty years afterward cannot nullify the promise.  
Why then the Law? You cannot be justified by the Law. Scripture says, “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” (Galatians 3:11) Our Epistle lesson makes this clear. The Law does not offer a new and different way to salvation. So, why the Law? St. Paul tells us that the Law was added because of transgressions: sins. If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law. But the law does not give life. Rather, it kills. God added the Law in order to imprison us all under sin, so that we might be saved through faith in the promise of Jesus Christ.  
If the Law does not imprison you under sin, then you will think that you are free from sin. You won’t value the promise that God gives eternal life as a free inheritance through faith in Christ. The Law is necessary to show you how much you need Christ; how much you need forgiveness and salvation. You cannot do it on your own.  
Our Gospel lesson gives us a perfect example of a man, who gets imprisoned by the law. A lawyer thought he was clever. He thought he could test Jesus and find some fault in him. So, he asks him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asks him, what is written in the Law, and the lawyer answers correctly, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” So, then Jesus responds, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” It is as if Jesus is saying, “It is not the hearers of the law, who will be justified, but the doers. Don’t be proud of yourself that you answered correctly; now you must do it.”  
Here the lawyer has been put into a corner. His plan to trap Jesus has backfired and the Law has caught him in its chamber under sin. This is why St. Paul warns, “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)  
Yet, the lawyer hasn’t given up yet. He still tries to get out. He asks, “And who is my neighbor?” He doesn’t ask, “Who is my God?” or “How can I truly love God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind?” He thinks that he has loved God simply by not setting up an idol of gold, by going to the temple and outwardly observing the Sabbath. It is as God says in Scripture, “This people honor me with their lips, while their heart is far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13) But why does the lawyer ask who his neighbor is? It’s because he’s trying to soften the command. He’s trying to make it easier to obey. He’s still trying to justify himself.  
Yet, it’s not just that he is trying to make the law easier to obey, but he has revealed the true condition of his heart. Why must he know who his neighbor is? So that he knows whom he must love. It’s because he doesn’t want to have to love every person he meets. He only wants to love those whom he absolutely has to love. This is no love at all. The lawyer’s heart is far from his neighbor and far from his God. And with this question, the bonds and shackles of the Law tighten their grip, and the prison cell closes in closer. And Jesus tells a parable.  
We all know this parable well. A man goes down to Jericho from Jerusalem, but he doesn’t make it. He’s jumped by robbers, stripped, beaten, robbed, and left halfdead on the side of the road. And three individuals come by. With which one does the lawyer identify himself? Which one of these travelers are you?  
The first two are a priest and a Levite. These are good people, respected by all. They are no doubt going to Jerusalem to worship in the temple, offer sacrifices, pray, and study the Scriptures which teach you to love God and your neighbor. The lawyer is friends with many priests and Levites. So are you. Perhaps you even are one. Yet, do the priest and Levite stop and help? No, they pass right on by.  
Now, this is understandable. The priest and Levite would risk a lot helping the beaten-up man. They could be made unclean and unable to participate in the sacrifices in the temple or even made late to the festival or Sabbath they went to observe. It was dangerous, perhaps the robbers were waiting nearby for a second victim. And besides, was it really their job? Certainly, some law enforcement officer would be passing by soon, someone more equipped to help. That didn’t fall under their vocation, did it? They didn’t beat up the man. They didn’t steal from him. The priest and the Levite aren’t to blame if the man succumbs to his injuries and dies.  
Except, they are. It is their job to help the poor man. It is their vocation. This is what love calls us to do, to help those in need. The Fifth Commandment, “You shall not murder.” does not simply forbid that we hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but it commands that we help and support him in every physical need.  
The priest and the Levite failed. The Law hems them in. They’re stuck in a cell with their sin of hatred for their neighbor. They should have helped. What about the lawyer. What was going through his mind? Did he try to justify the actions of the priest and Levite? Does he identify with them? How about you. How does the law speak to you concerning this? Are you the priest or the Levite? Have you loved your neighbor as yourself and done unto others as you would have them do unto you? Does the Law convict and imprison you?  
Now, let’s look at the Good Samaritan. What does he do? As soon as he sees the man, he has compassion on him. His heart aches for this man and his suffering! He does for the man, what the man wishes someone, anyone would do for him. He helps him. He pours on oil and wine to stave off infection. He binds up his wounds. He puts him on his own animal and leads him to an inn. He pays for his medical care and when he leaves, he makes sure that this stranger gets all the attention he needs, promising to pay whatever cost accumulates when he returns.  
The Good Samaritan doesn’t make you look good, does he? He truly loves this man and treats him as he would want to be treated. He truly is good. Are you good?  
Yet, Jesus doesn’t answer the lawyer’s question; does he? Well, not exactly. Jesus then says, “Which of the three proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” Jesus wants this lawyer, hemmed in and shackled by the Law, to identify himself as the beat-up man. And he wants him to see the Good Samaritan as his neighbor.  
Jesus is the Good Samaritan. He is truly good. He has fulfilled the Law by loving God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. He did not see equality with God a thing to be grasped, but became obedient even unto death on a cross. Jesus loves his neighbor. He willingly died for the sins of the whole world. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse, as it is written, “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” By his death, he breaks the bonds of the law, opens the door and frees us.  
Satan, the world, and your own sinful flesh beat you up and left you mangled on the side of the road. Your sins are killing you. They lead only to hell. The priest and the Levite symbolize the Law. Will the Law help you? No. The Law tells you to do. You can’t do. You’re beaten up. The Law doesn’t help. The Law condemns. The Law only helps those who help themselves. The Law passes by.  
The Good Samaritan is Jesus. He doesn’t pass by. He has compassion. Your suffering is his suffering. He wants to take away your pain. He binds up your wounds caused by your own sins. He pours his grace upon you, baptizing you, cleansing you in his blood, preaching the Good News of the Promise to you. He carries you where you have no strength to take yourself. And he brings you to the inn.  
The inn is Christ’s holy Church. Here in the inn, Christ makes sure that you are taken care of. He instructs the innkeeper, who is his minister how to care for you to bring you back to good health. He supplies the Church with all that she needs to provide necessary care and he promises that his provisions will never run out. Christ daily and richly forgives your sins, he speaks his word of grace to you, he even feeds you his own body and blood, which is medicine like non-other, because the one who eats such food becomes like it: immortal. When Christ returns, he will find all those in his inn healthy and whole.  
The Law imprisons you, so that you have no place to go, but to Christ. The Law makes your sins visible, shows you who you really are, a beaten-up sinner at the side of the road. The Law shows you that you cannot help yourself. This is why even Jesus preached the Law to this lawyer. To hem him in, so that he would be ready to believe the promise.  
Unless you see yourself in need of salvation, you will not accept Christ. And unless you see Jesus as your Good Samaritan, you will not love God or your neighbor as the Law requires. “Go, and do likewise,” Jesus says. Do as the Good Samaritan has done to you. Do not try to justify yourself by loving God and your neighbor the minimal amount possible. Rather, love as God has loved you in Christ Jesus. Love God, sing his praises, hear his word, pray to him, because he has given you an inheritance through Christ. Love your neighbor, whomever that might be, do unto them as you would have them do unto you, because Christ has loved you even when you were his enemy.  
No, Jesus is not a Law giver. He is the promise keeper. And he frees us from the condemnation of the Law. Yet, to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself remains the greatest good you can do. It was good before the Law was given and it remains good after Christ has rescued us from its threats. Now, we are free to love God and our neighbor. To love is a fruit that the Law cannot force, but which is produced by the love of God received through faith.  
Four hundred thirty years before the Law was given, God gave Abraham a promise. And it is this promise by faith in Jesus Christ that we believe. And it is by faith in this promise that we will inherit eternal life. Amen.  
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The Triune God Restores His Creation

9/9/2019

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Picture
Bartholomaeus Breenberch, Jésus guérissant un sourd-muet/Jesus healing a deaf-mute, 1635. Public Domain
Mark 7:31-37 

Pastor James Preus 
Trinity Lutheran Church  
September 8, 2019 
 
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.” (Genesis 1:1-4) The Triune God created the heavens and the earth. The Father created all things through his Son and with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the waters. God the Son is also known as the Word of God. St. John’s Gospel begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1-3) God said. He spoke a word. He did not create anything without speaking a word. And so, he showed from the beginning that all things were created through the Word. The Father created nothing without the Son and the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and giver of life.  
The Holy Trinity created the race of man. Man and woman are a special creation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Scripture writes that on the sixth day, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. …' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Here the one God uses the plural pronouns “us” and “our” to show that humans are created in the image of the Holy Trinity.  
And in Genesis chapter two Scripture goes into even greater detail of how the Holy Trinity worked to create the first man, “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (vss. 5-7) 
In this marvelous account we see the workings of the Holy Trinity. The Father formed the man out of dust. He used water to make the mud. He spoke; the particular work of the Son of God. And he breathed life into him; the work of the Holy Spirit, the giver of life and breath. The heavens and the earth are God’s creation. The Father created nothing without his Son and the Holy Spirit. Mankind is the crown of God’s creation. “And God saw everything that he made, and behold, it was very good.” 
Of course, we know it did not stay good. “All mankind fell in Adam’s fall; one common sin infects us all. From one to all the curse descends, And over all God’s wrath impends.” When our first parents sinned, they changed the entire creation from good to bad. The life that reigned before gave way to the rule of death. And love and peace with God were replaced with enmity. God’s creation was broken. Man lost God's image and became sinful. And sin brought death.  
Only God created the universe. No one and nothing else could. And no one except God can restore God’s creation to its previous glory. Adam and Eve tried to cover up their mistake, but they failed. God found them. He knew what they had done. It is like when a small child finds his mother’s knitting project and decides to play with the needles. When mom returns, he hastily tries to put the needles back. But it’s too late. He’s ruined the project and he does not know how to fix it. His mother must take away the needles and mangled yarn and fix it herself. This is what God must do. We cannot fix the creation. We cannot fix ourselves. We need God to fix us.  
To fix his fallen creation, God needed to address the cause of its ruin: sin. So, God went to work, much like he did when he first created the universe. God spoke through the mouth of his prophets and finally through an angel. The Holy Spirit descended upon a virgin daughter of the man of dust. And God the Son, the eternal Word through whom and by whom and for whom all things were made, became a son of the first man of the ground. In the womb of the Virgin Mary, God formed the second Adam, by whose obedience the earth would be restored.  
Adam deserved to die, because of his sin. And all his children deserve to die, because of their sin. Yet, this second Adam committed no sin. Yet, on behalf of Adam and all his children, he died, laden with the sins of the world. He obeyed his Father’s command. He did what the Holy Spirit anointed him to do when he was baptized in the Jordan River. Jesus Christ died to conquer sin and death for us.  
As with the creation of the world and of the first man, God saves without our help. His creation was good without our work. And so, God accomplished the work of salvation for all mankind, the restoration of his lost creation, without our work; without our help. And this teaches us that we are saved by grace, apart from our works. This grace is received through faith.  
In our Gospel lesson Jesus demonstrates the work of the Holy Trinity. He restores the broken body of this deaf and mute man in the same manner that he created the world and indeed restores the world. Jesus looked up to heaven. He shows that he can do nothing apart from the Father, even as the Father creates and restores nothing apart from his Son. Jesus sighs. He lets out a deep breath, demonstrating that the Holy Spirit and giver of breath works through his word. As with the creation of the world and of Adam, he uses water. He spits. He touches the man, even as God touched the earth and mist to form Adam. Yes, here we see the Holy Trinity restores in the same manner in which he creates.  
And the restoration of this deaf and mute man is not independent of Christ’s cross. On the cross Jesus let out a cry to God the Father as he gave up his last breath, and so he finished his work of taking away our sins. And so, this sigh from our Lord as he restores the ears and tongue of this man shows that all our ailments are healed through Jesus’ cross. This miracle is only a foreshadow of what Christ will do for all of us through his cross. We’re all going to die. Our whole bodies will need to be restored, not just our ears and tongues. And through the work Jesus accomplished on the cross, it will be done. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will restore us to our intended perfection, our intended goodness, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  
We are saved through God’s work, not ours. It was impossible for us to save ourselves. Rather, we are saved through faith when we believe that God has redeemed us through Christ Jesus. As Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. … For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Romans 10:9-10, 13)  
Yet, there is a problem. In order to believe, you must first hear the Gospel. And in order to confess, you must first have a tongue ready praise your God. Yet, in our sinful state inherited by the first man of dust, we do not have such ears and tongues. We have ears, but we cannot hear the words of God. We hear sounds. We hear words and sentences and we can understand the grammar, but because of our sinful flesh, we cannot truly understand and believe the Gospel. In such a state we cannot confess Christ. Out of the heart the mouth speaks. And Jesus teaches us that out of the heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. Such a heart cannot make a tongue sing praises to God! 
So, for us to truly hear and understand and believe the Gospel, we need God to open our ears. And for us to confess God rightly, we need God to loosen the bonds of our tongue and purify our hearts. And our Gospel lesson shows us how this is done. It is done through the work of the Holy Trinity. The God who created the universe, the God who restores all creation through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of his Son, is the same God who must open our ears and loosen our tongues, so that we may believe and confess this Gospel.  
A couple weeks ago Lane and Drew Brown were baptized. They were about a month old. They don’t speak English yet. I might as well have been speaking Aramaic. Yet, through the words of Christ spoken through this unworthy pastor, and through the water poured upon their heads, the Holy Trinity opened their ears to hear God’s Word and loosened their tongues to confess the name of Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit himself hovered over those Baptismal waters, even as he did at the creation of the world. We believe that the words spoken joined those babies to Jesus’ cross. And through those words, Christ has granted them healing that only his suffering and death on the cross can give. 
This is how our God works. This is how he restores his creation here and now. All of us, when we were baptized experienced the work of this Holy Trinity, who creates and restores. God speaks. He sends the Holy Spirit. He saves us not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-8) When you were baptized, God healed you through the power of Jesus’ cross.  
This work of the Holy Trinity continues throughout our life through the ministry of the Word. God the Father continues to send forth his Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word and through the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood to give to us the merits of Christ. Through the word of Christ, God continues to open our ears and loosen our tongues, so that we can believe this Gospel and be saved. It is through hearing the word of Christ that we continue in the grace of our Baptism, and that we finally defeat death.  
A few days after Lane and Drew were Baptized, our sister in Christ, Eveline Benn died. Yet, she too was baptized into Christ 97 years ago. The Holy Trinity opened her ears to hear the Gospel. And he loosened her tongue to confess his name. And not even death can take that away, because she was baptized into Christ’s death and Christ has conquered death. She will rise again and live forever.  
The Holy Trinity has indeed restored his creation, which was corrupted by our sin. He is indeed growing his Church as he opens ears and loosens tongues to hear and confess Christ’s holy name. And as it was said at the creation of the world, and as it was said when Christ healed the deaf mute, and as it is sung by the Church throughout the world, so will it be declared for all eternity in the new creation: He has done all things well. Amen.  
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God justifies sinners through faith alone

9/3/2019

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Luke 18:9-14 
September 1, 2019 
 
Jesus directs this parable at those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. He tells of two men, who go to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Now, we generally think of Pharisees as bad, because they frequently clash with Jesus. But we have to remember, at this place and time in history, Pharisees were good. They were devoted to God’s word and worship. They followed the rules. They were the prime example of good Jewish citizens. You wanted your son to be a Pharisee. That would make a mother proud.  
Tax collectors on the other hand were hated by everyone. And not for no reason. Not only did they collect taxes for the much-hated Roman government, but they frequently stole, collecting more than was required, making themselves rich by burdening their countrymen. Yet, to the certain surprise of those listening to this parable when Jesus first told it, Jesus declares that the tax collector went down to his house justified and the Pharisee didn’t!  
To be justified means to be declared righteous by God. The Pharisee trusted that God would find him righteous because of all his good works. He thought his works were good enough to earn the approval of God. The Pharisee was works-righteous.  
Now, that’s not to say that these aren’t good works to do. He says that he is not an extortioner, a liar, or an adulterer. He makes a point that he is nothing like that low-life tax collector. He fasted twice a week, showing that he was not a greedy glutton or drunkard, but disciplined his body for the sake of his religion. He tithed, meaning, he gave ten percent of all of his income to God. If you were to place him into today’s society, he would be the most loved citizen and member of the church. It would be great if we all did these things listed by the Pharisee.  
Yet, Jesus tells us that all these good works were no good and failed to please God. Why is that? Because these were only outside works, while the Pharisee’s heart was far from God. Jesus teaches us that these two commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself; sum up all Scripture. Yet, the Pharisee showed that he loved neither the Lord God nor his neighbor.  
He showed that he hated his neighbor. He despised the tax collector. He didn’t pray for him. He didn’t show pity to him. He didn’t consider that he was as miserable a sinner as he was. No, he hated the tax collector and all sinners who failed to set up the righteous veneer that he did.  
Of course, Scripture teaches us that you cannot love God and hate your brother, because whoever loves God must also love his brother. And the Pharisee shows that he does not love God, because he does not give God the glory. Yes, he “thanks” God that he is not like other men, but this is more of a pretense than an actual prayer of thanksgiving. He then continues to say, “I, I, I.” He doesn’t actually confess that it is God who leads us out of temptation and delivers us from shameful living. He performed a bunch of outward works, but he didn’t actually love God and his neighbor.  
If the Pharisee were truly righteous, he would have prayed for the soul of the tax collector, spoken with him and restored him to God in a spirit of gentleness, as St. Paul writes, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” But the Pharisee did his works without love, so God was not pleased with his works.  
Scripture also says, “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Romans 13:9) So, if you do all that the Pharisee did and more, and live the perfect outward life, yet you do not love, then your works are worthless. Your motivation for all good works must be love.  
Those who trust in themselves to be righteous treat others with contempt, because they are insecure. The Pharisee needed to live up to a certain standard to prove that he was righteous. Well, he obviously could not live up to God’s standard. God’s standard is that you be perfect, even as he is perfect. So, instead, the Pharisee compared himself to others. That’s easy. Just find others, who mess up more than you do and judge yourself compared to them. Yet, this is not how God will judge you. And, this leads only to hating those, whom you are commanded to love.  
We love, because God first loved us. You cannot love, unless you are confident in God’s love. But you are not confident in God’s love, if you trust in yourself to be righteous. Rather, you must always find excuses for why God should love you.  
Works-righteousness not only produces the opposite effect of God’s desired righteousness, which is love, but it is foolish. Scripture tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20). No one is righteous, no not one. All fail to keep the commandments perfectly. God makes no distinction between Pharisee and tax collector. They both fall short of God’s glory.  
And this is why the tax collector behaves much wiser than the Pharisee and goes home justified by God. The tax collector does not try to justify himself. He does not bring God a list of his accomplishments or good works. Rather, he acknowledges that he is a sinner. In fact, while the Pharisee pointed out the sins of others, the tax collector calls himself the sinner. He does not point to the faults of anyone else. He doesn’t compare himself with others or blame others. He takes ownership of his own sin, he strikes his breast in shame, and he begs God for mercy.  
And this is not just a desperate appeal by a man, who has nothing else to lose. The tax collector prays to God in faith. The word he uses for mercy here actually means, “be propitiated to me” or “make atonement for me.” It is the same word used for the Mercy Seat, which is in the Holy of Holies in the Temple, where God himself sits. From the Mercy Seat God accepts the sacrifices of Israel and makes atonement for their sins. And every sacrifice points to Christ. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 3 that God put forward Jesus Christ as a propitiation, that is, a sacrifice of atonement by his blood. When the tax collector said, “God, be propitiated to me the sinner” he was pleading to God for mercy for the sake of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, to which every sacrifice in the temple points.  
“God, be merciful to me a sinner.” are words of faith. The tax collector believes God’s promise that he will make atonement for the sins of his people. Every sacrifice made in the temple is a sermon that preaches that Christ will make atonement for sins. With these words the tax collector confesses his faith in Christ. He uses almost the exact words as Psalm 79, which state, “Atone for our sins for your name’s sake.” The tax collector holds God to his promise. God cannot deny him atonement of sins any more than he can deny his own name. God must keep his word.  
And God has kept his word. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ to make atonement for our sins. Jesus is the only human being, who truly is righteous of himself. He loved God perfectly with all his heart, soul, and mind. He loved his neighbors to the very end, as he died for their trespasses. Jesus paid the price that the blood of countless beasts sacrificed in the temple could never pay. Jesus paid for our sins with his own precious blood. That is what it means to make atonement. That is what it means for God to be propitiated. God is no longer angry with sinners, but pleased with them for the sake of Jesus’ suffering and death.  
When the tax collector prayed to God to be merciful to him, he prayed that God would credit this sacrifice of atonement to him too. He showed that he trusted not in his own works, but only in the merits of Christ. And it is only the merits of Christ that can justify a sinner. This is why Scripture says, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:4-8) 
None of us can stand before God by our own works. In Psalm 130 we hear, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” God knows all your sins. Standing before God isn’t like going to a job interview where you present a resume filled with all your best achievements and hope that the boss doesn’t find out about anything embarrassing in your past. No. God already knows everything about you. You can’t hide from him. The Pharisee couldn’t. And the tax collector knew he couldn’t. Yet, God is merciful. He sent his Son to make atonement for your sins, to forgive you, to give you a righteousness that is not your own, but is a gift from Christ to you.  
The tax collector is a good example to us of humility. Jesus says that the humble will be exalted. Humility and faith go together. Through faith, you receive a gift. You don’t work for it. You believe it and you receive it. For this you must be humble. You don’t try to earn it, like the Pharisee did. You don’t claim that you deserve it. Rather, you let God exalt you according to his promise and mercy in Jesus Christ. This is why repentance and faith go together. It is impossible to have saving faith in Christ while not having sorrow over your own sin. We have faith is Christ, because we know what our sins have earned us. And we desire to receive from Christ what can only be received by grace.  
This lesson is a severe warning to those, who think that they do not need God’s forgiveness and that they are righteous by their own works. No one is righteous of himself, except Jesus Christ alone. Yet, this lesson is a great comfort to those who know their own sin and unworthiness. There is no sin for which Christ has not atoned. There is no sinner so terrible that God cannot forgive. We poor sinners have a gracious God, who is merciful to us for the sake of Jesus Christ. Each of us can go home justified by God today, not because any of us is better than anyone else, but because we have received Christ’s righteousness as a gift through faith. We come to God empty, and we go home full.  
This righteousness that we receive through faith will also bear fruit. Not rotten hypocritical fruit, like the loveless works for the Pharisee. But true fruits of love, which come only from a heart made clean by the blood of Christ. Yet our confidence remains always in Christ’s righteousness, even as St. Paul confessed that he would be found by God not with a righteousness of his own, but one that comes through faith in Christ. That is our righteousness too. Let us pray.  
I have naught, My God, to offer,  
Save the blood of Thy dear Son;  
Graciously accept the proffer:  
Make His righteousness mine own.  
His holy life gave He, was crucified for me;  
His righteousness perfect He now pleads before Thee;  
His own robe of righteousness, my highest good,  
Shall clothe me in glory, through faith in his blood. Amen. (One Thing Needful, J. H. Schroeder, ELH 182:6).  
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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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