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God Invites Us to Sit at The Feast of Salvation

6/14/2021

Eugene Burnand, Einladung zum Gastmahl, 1900. Public Domain

Trinity 2
Luke 14:12-24
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 13, 2021

When the servant returned to tell his master that those invited had refused the invitation to his banquet, the master got angry. Why is he so angry? I’m sure you’ve all declined invitations to dinners and weddings. And you’ve no doubt had your invitations declined. Do you get angry? Perhaps offended. But that’s life. Why does this master get so angry?
Because this master is God the Father Almighty. And he is inviting the people he loves, who have sinned against him, yet he has forgiven them, who have been unfaithful to him, yet he has been faithful to them. And the banquette he has prepared is his very own Son, Jesus Christ, whom he has sent to bear the punishment for their sins on the cross. Christ Jesus is the Lamb, who has been sacrificed for this meal. He was roasted on the cross to perfection (John 19:30), so that all our sins are fully atoned for. Now he is risen from the dead and offers himself as true food and drink to be received by all the faithful, so that they might live forever. The master, God the Father Almighty invites those who deserve to die to come and feast at a meal that gives eternal life to all who consume. He offers them the Gospel that gives eternal life to all who believe.
This is the God, who spoke through the Prophet Ezekiel, “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11) And yet, he watches as his people refuse to turn back and rather go to destruction. This is why our God is rightfully angry. He purchased their salvation. He offered it to them for free. Yet, they spurned his invitation and rejected his generosity and love.
You’ll notice that the excuses they give are not to go and do evil things. The first man says that he has bought a field and must go and see it. Well, what is wrong with that? Isn’t it good to acquire land and to make a profit from it? This is how God intends for us to provide for ourselves and for others. It’s not like the man said, “I go to sue my brother to deprive him of his land.” The next man has bought five yoke of oxen, which he means to test. Again, is this not good work? Did not the Apostle say, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) This man’s trying to make an honest living. It’s not like he says that he is going to steal his neighbor’s oxen. And the third man has just married a wife. Has not God blessed marriage above all relationships on earth, which he defends with jealousy, blesses with children with immortal souls, and likens it to Christ’s relationship with his Church? The man didn’t say he was going off to fornicate or commit adultery.
Yet, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3, “For everything there is a season.” There is a season to work and tend to your marriage, but when God calls you to hear the Gospel, everything else must be put on hold. Remember how Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37) When we prioritize other things, even good things, above hearing and learning God’s Word, we prioritize other things above God. That is idolatry. And it is important for us to remember that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And do you know what will happen when you stop working and fussing and put hearing God’s Word before everything else? You’ll find that God will take care of your farm, your oxen, your marriage, yes, indeed he’ll add everything else unto you (Matthew 6:33). Don’t worry. When he says come, come.
You’ll notice that the excuses these men give are the same type of excuses people give for missing church. They’ve figured it out in their minds. They have a good reason to miss. But they don’t. Whatever your reason for avoiding hearing the Gospel and receiving Christ’s body and blood for forgiveness and salvation, it’s not a good reason. If this offends you, remember the words of Solomon, “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser.” (Proverbs 9:8-9)
The reason it is a sin to skip church is because it is placing other things above God. And it is dangerous, because it shows a lack of faith in the Gospel. We go to church to receive forgiveness and eternal life. We come to accept the invitation of our Lord and taste a foretaste of that banquette of salvation in heaven, which also strengthens our faith for the road ahead. When we choose other things, we show that we value those things more than Christ. That is a sin. What’s worse, we teach our children to value other things more than the Gospel. There is nothing more valuable than the Gospel. If people received $10,000 for every Sunday they came to church, they certainly wouldn’t miss. If there were fines for missing church, they certainly wouldn’t miss. But here, we are offered something infinitely more valuable than all the money in the world. Through God’s Word and Sacrament, we come closer to the Lord our God, we grow in heavenly wisdom, our sins are forgiven, we receive eternity through faith, we actually commune with the very body and blood of Christ! If our faith recognized this, we would not stay away for all the money in the world.
The first man, who gave an excuse not to come said that he must go and see his field. In Greek it says that he has a compulsion to go and see this field. Well, what is compelling him to reject the banquette to go and do something he could do any other time? What compels us to reject hearing the Gospel? Is it not Satan himself? Is it not our sinful flesh, which constantly rebels against God?
This man has no real need to go and see his field instead of going to the banquette of salvation. But he feels compelled. It’s like the smoker, who says he wants to quit, but keeps on buying another pack of cigarettes. Or the drunk, who says he’ll quit drinking, but his body compels him to consume what he knows is killing him. How awful it is to be under the control of another force that drives you away from what is good! Jesus says that whoever sins is a slave of sin. And so, this man, with ears he does not hear and with eyes he does not understand, but rather he follows his master, the devil, and flees from what is good. We think we are free when we choose to do other things instead of worshiping Christ, but that is not freedom. It is slavery of the worst kind.
Those who have rejected the Master’s invitation will never taste it, but will be condemned to hell. And while the Master, God almighty, is angry at those who have rejected his invitation, he still shows his loving kindness. The Master desires to save all people. He sends out his servant into the streets and lanes of the city to gather the poor and crippled and blind and lame. He tells him to go out quickly. This is an urgent matter. And so, we should recognize it as such today. It is urgent that we hear the Gospel and that we believe it, so that we are saved. Without it we are slaves to Satan. Without it we will die and go to hell. Yet, in this banquet to which the Lord invites us, we have certainty of salvation and friendship with God.
When the servant returns and tells the master that all he has commanded has been done, the master urges him to go out and compel more people to come in, so that his house may be filled. This shows that God desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Yet, what does he mean by this word, “compel.” As the man was compelled by his master Satan to refuse the invitation to the banquet, will Christ then force people into the kingdom of heaven against their will? No, not in that way. Rather, the Lord uses the word compel to show the power of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit has the power to change our stone hearts to be hearts of flesh. He has the power to change our unwilling hearts to be willing. Through the proclamation of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit makes us willing so that we rush into the banquette with the desire to eat with and learn from our Savior.
This should give us confidence to confess our faith and invite people to church. The Lord says to compel them to come in. Well, we all know, with the exception of our children, we can’t force anyone to go to church. And you can’t force anyone to believe the Gospel. But you can confess Christ as the Savior of sinners. You can invite people to come to church. You can tell your loved ones that they should be here to hear God’s Word and to receive forgiveness and salvation. And Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit, God himself, works through these words to change hearts. Through the word alone, he can compel people to come in by changing their hearts.
Perhaps those who will not come think that they are unworthy to come to church, that they do not fit in. Perhaps you think that you are not worthy to sit at the feast of Salvation. Well, you’re right. You’re not worthy. But the Master didn’t invite the worthy. He invited the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. What does this mean? It means he invites those who cannot pay him back. God invites sinners to comes and eat at his banquette, to be his guests, and to receive forgiveness and eternal salvation. It is as Jesus said to the chief priests and elders, who refused to believe in him, “the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you” because they believed.
This Gospel lesson teaches us that God invites manifest sinners to come to his banquette. He invites those who have ignored his word, skipped church, gotten drunk; he invites fornicators, liars, thieves, murders, adulterers, homosexuals, and any other kind of sinner you can think of. He invites them to turn from their sin and receive healing from him. He invites them to consume Jesus, who was prepared as a meal for them on the cross, through faith. God invites you. Whether you are poor, blind, or lame; whether you’ve skipped more Sundays of church than you’ve gone, whether you feel utterly unworthy; he invites you to rejoice with him at the feast of salvation, to receive forgiveness and kindness, to learn from him and grow closer to him.
The invitation is for now. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now. Come and feast on the Lord in faith. Come and see that he is kind and forgiving. Come and break away from anything that would compel you to ignore this invitation. Come to church to hear the Gospel and receive Christ’s body and blood, and you will find rest for your soul. Amen.

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Storing Treasure in Heaven

6/6/2021

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"The Bad Rich Man in Hell," James Tissot, 1886-94. Brooklyn Museum. No Known Copyright Restrictions.

Trinity 1
Luke 16:19-31
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 6, 2021

“Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.” So answered Abraham to the rich man when from the depths of hell, he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to refresh him with a drop of water from his finger. What does Abraham mean by this? We know this story dispels the myth that the rich are rich, because God is pleased with them and that the poor are poor, because God is displeased with them. But does Abraham here mean that the rich will all go to hell and the poor will all go to heaven? No, that isn’t right either. Abraham himself was a very rich man and was received into heaven. Abraham is not speaking of the outward conditions of the rich man and Lazarus, but rather the condition of their hearts. We cannot determine from a person’s outward appearance, whether he is rich or poor, that he will go to heaven or hell (Ecclesiastes 9:3).
  The rich man not only had great material wealth, but he held his earthly wealth in his heart as his true treasure. Lazarus, on the other hand, not only had no earthly wealth, but he did not desire anything on earth, but to be satisfied with the crumbs, which fell from the rich man’s table. He was as St. Paul declared, “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” (1 Timothy 6:8) This is because Lazarus’ true treasure was in heaven, as Jesus elsewhere preached, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
This means that we should beware of the love of money. Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24). Whether we are rich or poor, we should guard against the love of money. Your wealth cannot help you in hell and may very well be a hindrance to your salvation.
So, what was Lazarus’ true treasure that he stored up in heaven? It was Christ. This is shown by the fact that Lazarus was taken by angels to the bosom of Abraham. That Lazarus was brought to the bosom of Abraham shows that Lazarus trusted in the same promise given to Abraham, that he received that promise, and that he truly is a child of Abraham through faith.
The greater promise God gave to Abraham regarded not the land of Israel or a nation that lasted for a few centuries on this earth. The greater promise God gave to Abraham regarded the Christ. From Abraham would come him through whom all nations of the earth would be blessed. Abraham’s offspring would be numbered as the stars in the sky, from every nation. This is because from Abraham would be born the Christ, Jesus, God’s own Son, who came to take away the sins of the whole world, so that not only the children of Israel, but all nations could hope in him. Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. And so, Abraham’s offspring as numerous as the stars are those who hold the faith of Abraham, as the Apostle Paul writes, “Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7)
Lazarus, whose name means God is my help, had the faith of Abraham. He held Christ as his true treasure, so that even if he were to be dressed in the finest robe in the rich man’s wardrobe and were to dine at his table, he would remain poor in spirit and an heir of heaven.  The rich man chose his earthly wealth as his heaven. He exchanged eternal paradise for temporary pleasure. Now he has neither, but Lazarus is comforted.
This lesson illustrates the condition of each man’s heart, but that does not mean that outward actions cannot give evidence of the condition of a person’s heart. The rich man showed that he had no love for God in his heart by how he hated his brother Lazarus. Lazarus was at his gate covered in sores and starving to death, and the rich man couldn’t be bothered to help him. You cannot love God if you hate your brother (1 John 4:20). This should be a lesson to us to bear good fruits of love. As God has loved us, so ought we to love one another. And in order to tear down the false gods from our heart, we should take breaks from serving ourselves and be of service to others! When you are generous to the Church and to missions, you show that you do not worship your wealth, but that you treasure the Gospel. When you take time and money to help those in need and think about them and pray for them, you demonstrate that you have love for someone else other than yourself.
Yet, outward actions alone cannot change the heart to posses the one true treasure. The rich man could have easily washed Lazarus’ wounds, clothed him, fed him, and given him a soft bed to sleep on if he wanted people to think highly of him while still maintaining his wealth as his true treasure. The rich man’s problem was that he was an unbeliever. His lack of love was only the rotten fruit of his unbelief. He needed to be converted in his heart, so that Christ alone was his true treasure. Only then would he bear good fruit.
We all have problems in our lives. If you don’t have any now, then just wait, they’ll come around. And everyone tries to solve the outward problems in their lives, while ignoring the root problem. If only we can get him to withdraw the divorce papers; if only we can finalize the divorce; if only he can find a better paying job, if only the teacher will let her retake the final, if only she can get this surgery done, if only we can convince the judge to let him off on probation, if only he can get through rehab, if only they can just get married. This is the way we think. If only the rich man had dressed Lazarus’ sores and given him a warm meal, he would have escaped hell. No. We don’t solve our root problem by simply dealing with the outward problems. We need a change in our hearts.
The rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus from the dead to his brothers, thinking that if a dead man bore witness to them, they would repent. He was right that his brothers needed to repent. The word used here for repent means to change one’s mind. His brothers needed to be converted. They needed to stop worshipping earthly treasure and hold Christ as their true treasure. But the rich man was wrong that a dead man rising from the dead could accomplish this. Abraham makes clear, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
Here, Abraham is teaching us that only the power of God’s Word can change a sinner’s heart. By Moses and the Prophets, Abraham means the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. Moses refers to the first five books of the Bible. The Prophets refer to the rest of the Old Testament. If a person does not hear the word of God from Holy Scripture, he cannot be converted; he cannot hold Christ as his true treasure; he cannot be saved. And there is no substitute for God’s word.
Here we should see how foolish it is to neglect hearing and learning God’s holy Word, and how precious a treasure we should consider it to hear Scripture and its preaching. Holy Scripture teaches us to repent of our sins and to despair of these false gods that lead us to hell. Holy Scripture reveals to us our Savior Christ Jesus, who has borne our sins on the cross and gives us eternal life through faith. Hell is real. Those who go there cannot come back. Rather, they suffer in anguish in the flame forever. The rich man went to hell, because he rejected Christ as his true treasure. He rejected Christ as his true treasure, because he disregarded Holy Scripture which reveals Christ to us.
This month has been named Pride Month. Of course, pride is a vice, which goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Yet, what this Pride celebrates is sexual immorality, specifically homosexuality and gender fluidity, which is identifying as a “gender” other than the biological sex God made you. Usually, these fake observances can be ignored, like national Burrito Day (April 7), but not so with this observance. The entertainment and media industries along with corporate America have united to press the observance of pride in sexual deviancy on our children. Children TV stations such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney, as well as Netflix have children shows and cartoons made for young children, which promote same-sex relations and gender fluidity, and which encourage children to do unspeakable things to their bodies. These shows teach our children at a very young age to celebrate evil, to spurn repentance, and to find Christ’s sacrifice for sins on the cross absurd and unnecessary. Many parents let their children watch these stations without even checking what these cartoons are about, while neglecting to have devotions with their children or even bringing them to church.
These are dire times. There are many powerful people who are working much harder to bring your children away from Christ than most Christian parents are working to keep them in Christ. Through your television and internet devices, people who hate your Savior Jesus and who want your children to embrace what is evil have direct access to your children. It is incumbent on every Christian parent to control what their children watch on TV and on the internet and keep them from viewing this anti-Christ filth, which is intended to groom their children to embrace immorality. It is also incumbent upon all Christian parents to have devotions, that is, to read the Bible and pray with their children and to bring them to church to hear God’s holy Word, so that they can learn to repent of their sins, hold Christ Jesus as their true treasure, and love their neighbor. It is not loving to embrace sin. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6).
God calls us to love. It is plain that the rich man did not love, and so he went to hell. But you cannot love unless you first receive God’s love through faith. You can only receive God’s love by receiving Jesus Christ, whom God sent to die for your sins and earn you an eternal home in heaven. We all have the same number one need, and that is Jesus. Our sins burden our consciences and threaten hell. Only Jesus offers forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe. Only through Jesus can we learn to truly love our neighbor and do what is right. Jesus died for all people and for all sins. Those who promote pride in sexual immorality do not love sinners. Jesus died for homosexuals and for those who feel like they are not what God has made them, because Jesus loves them. Jesus won forgiveness and salvation for them, just as he has for us. Celebrating their sin does not help them anymore than it would help us. But holding Christ as their true treasure does help, because only Jesus can rescue us from sin. And it is only through hearing the word of God that we can know and believe in Christ Jesus, have eternal life, and bear true fruits of love. May we pray for those trapped in these sins, that they would know Christ. And may Christ dwell in our hearts always, so that we may love our neighbors and inherit eternal life. Amen.

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Born Again by Water and the Spirit

6/1/2021

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Jesus and Nicodemus on the Rooftop, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1899. Public Domain.

Trinity Sunday
John 3:1-15

Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
May 30, 2021

Nicodemus was a very smart man, a teacher of Israel, a ruler of the Jews, a man who stood out even among the Pharisees. This does not describe someone unless he is both intelligent and hard working. And Nicodemus pursued even more knowledge of God. This is why he meets Jesus at night, to learn from the teacher come from God. Yet, Jesus gives Nicodemus a lesson, which blows all his great learning and studying and hard-earned status away. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
What does this mean? It means that despite his years of dedicated study and astuteness, Nicodemus could not see the kingdom of God, that is, he could not believe and understand the Gospel unless he were born again. No, Jesus is not talking about a physical rebirth, but one of the Spirit. Nicodemus like the rest of mankind is born of the flesh. That which is born of flesh is flesh. The flesh avails nothing (John 6:63). “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) By flesh, Scripture means the natural condition to which you are born, that is, your sinful condition, which you inherited from your first father Adam. Just listen to how Scripture describes those born according to the flesh:
“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)
King David cries, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5)
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8)
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)
And so, Jesus tells Nicodemus that if he wants to see the kingdom of God, that is, if he wants to be saved and have true knowledge of God, he must be born again. Nicodemus cannot by his own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ his Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit must call him to faith by causing him to be born again. We cannot cause ourselves to be born again. Just as baby Flint did not do anything to cause himself to be born of the flesh, neither can we cause ourselves to be born again of the Spirit. The Lord spoke through Jeremiah, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also can you do good who are accustomed to evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23) We cannot change ourselves. God must change us. He must give us a new birth, or we cannot believe in him, we cannot recognize the Holy Trinity, we cannot see the kingdom of God, we cannot be saved.
When Nicodemus asks Jesus how this second birth takes place, Jesus answers, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Now, this is an obvious reference to Baptism. In Baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to us through the water and the Word, just as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus when he was baptized in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit always comes through God’s Word, but in Baptism Christ joins water to this Word and Spirit. This is how God has chosen to cause us to be born again and to join us to Christ, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 5, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” And again, Titus 3 says that he saved us, “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (vs. 5)
There are those who question how water can cause one to be born again. They deny that Baptism has the power to cause rebirth. Yet, it is certainly not the water alone that causes a person to be born again, but the Holy Spirit, who works through God’s promise joined to the water. Could the Holy Spirit cause a person to be born again apart from Baptism? Sure, he could. But the ordinary way that Jesus has taught us to born again is through the water and Spirit in Baptism. Jesus could certainly have and he did recover the sight of the blind without putting mud on the blind man’s eyes and having him wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9), yet when Jesus chose to use mud and washing, how foolish would it have been for the blind man to rebuke Jesus and say, “No, heal me by your word alone. I don’t need this mud and washing!”? Again, think of the leper Naaman, whom Elisha told to wash in the Jordan seven times. How arrogant would it have been if he had refused to wash in the Jordan according to the word of God from the prophet. He would have remained a leper all his days. And think of the people of Israel in the wilderness dying of venomous snake bites. Those who refused to look at the bronze serpent on the poll perished. Only those, who believed in the Word of God from Moses looked up at the bronze serpent and were saved through faith.
Baptism does not compete with faith. Faith alone saves. But what is faith, but to believe and hold onto God’s promise in the Gospel? And Baptism is indeed Gospel, because it promises forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who believe.
Today is Trinity Sunday. We confess one God in Unity, yet three persons in Trinity. The Father is God. The Son is God. And the Holy Spirit is God. Yet, there are not three Gods, but one God. The Father is not the Son nor is the Son the Holy Spirit nor the Holy Spirit the Father, yet these three are one God. This is impossible for our human reason to understand, even less for our sinful flesh to believe. Yet, those who are born again believe it, because those who have been born again trust in the Gospel. The Holy Trinity reveals himself in the Gospel, and so, Holy Baptism reveals to us the Holy Trinity. God the Father causes us to be born again by sending us his Holy Spirit through his word. Yet, he joins the Spirit and Word to water. He does this for the sake of our faith. The wind blows and we hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from or where it goes. How do you know that you have been born again? Because the Word has been joined to the water. Have you been baptized? Has the water touched your skin? Then believe that you have received the Holy Spirit. Even more, believe that you have been joined to Christ Jesus, to his death and resurrection. God uses water, because water is physical, and we are physical beings. The water touches our skin and tells us that Jesus has died for us. We are washed in his blood, which truly flowed from his open wounds. As Jesus rose from the dead, so will we who have been buried with Christ in Baptism be raised to new life.
We are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The entire Trinity works in our Baptism. The Father sends the Son, who shed his blood for us. The Father sends the Holy Spirit, who causes us to be reborn after the image of Christ. We are washed in the same water, which wet our Savior Jesus. Through Baptism, God opens our eyes to see the kingdom of God through faith.
And what is the kingdom of God? What is it that we see when God causes us to be born again by water and the Spirit? Jesus tells Nicodemus. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” In Numbers chapter 21, the people of Israel grumbled against the Lord. So, he sent fiery serpents that bit the people and many of them died. So, God told Moses to make a serpent and put it on a pole, so that whoever looked at the serpent would not die. Moses made a bronze serpent and lifted it up. It was metal, not venomous as the snakes were that bit them. And so, Christ Jesus is without sin of his own as he dies for the transgressions of all mankind. Yet, the bronze serpent bears the image of the curse which plagued the people of Israel. And so, Jesus bore the image of the curse of sin as he died on the tree. It was certainly offensive to the people of Israel that the God who forbade the worship of metal images commanded them to look to a bronze statue for rescue from their snakebites. And so, it offends people that the Christ, God’s own Son died a miserable death on the cross.
Yet, there lifted high was their salvation. There on the cross we see the kingdom of God.  Unless you are born again, this message is offensive. Unless you are born again, Jesus on the cross looks like a loser who can help no one. Yet, when the Holy Spirit causes you to be born again, your eyes are open to your salvation upon that cross, God’s kingdom coming with power; power to forgive your sins; power to crush the head of Satan; power to open the kingdom of heaven to all who believe in him.
Through Baptism we receive a spiritual birth by the power of the Holy Spirit. As children born of the flesh need milk and then solid food, so also do those born of the Spirit need spiritual food. That spiritual food is the Gospel of Jesus Christ the crucified. To be born again, means to have faith in Christ. When you look at Christ on the cross through faith, you see the Holy Trinity. God the Father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins. Christ Jesus, God’s Son from eternity and our brother according to the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary in space and time, pays the ransom for our sins on the cross. And the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, causes us to be born again, so that we can recognize this brutal death and victorious resurrection of Jesus as our Salvation.
The Gospel is our spiritual food without which we cannot live. We’re still in the wilderness. The fiery serpents of sin and temptation continue to bite us as we continue to battle our sinful flesh and the power of Satan in this world. We need the healing power of Christ Jesus. We need to recognize the Holy Trinity, who saves. If we reject the Gospel, we reject our new birth by the Spirit. But when we believe in the Gospel, we receive forgiveness of our sins and certainty of our salvation every day of our lives.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, our God has caused you to be born again, so that you can see his Kingdom through Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit. Do not close your eyes to this salvific sight. Do not close your ears to the voice of the Spirit. Rather, through the faith of a newborn child of God, enter into your Father’s Kingdom by clinging to Christ the crucified, so that you may live in his kingdom in eternity. Amen.
Let us pray.

Baptized into Your Name Most Holy
O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
I claim a place, though weak and lowly,
Among Your saints, Your chosen host.
Buried with Christ and dead to sin,
Your Spirit now shall live within. Amen.

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The Holy Spirit Grafts Us into The True Vine, So That We Bear Much Fruit

5/23/2021

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Christ The True Vine, Athens, 16c. Public Domain.

Pentecost/Confirmation Sunday
John 15:5; John 14:23-33
Pastor James Preus

Trinity Lutheran Church
May 23, 2021

Joel Alexander Hallgren, your confirmation verse is found just a few verses after the end of our Gospel lesson, John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” I pray that you learn this verse well and live by it until you die and inherit eternal life. May we all recognize that Jesus is our one true vine. We are but branches that live off of him. Without Jesus, we cannot live. Without Jesus we can do nothing good. Your faith in Christ is not just one of many tidbits about yourself, like that you enjoy playing soccer and running the 200-meter dash. Your faith in Christ is your everything. Your faith in Christ is your life. Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Your faith in Christ is not an appendage to your life. God lives within you. You are joined to Christ as a branch is to a vine.
This is most certainly true. Yet, how is it that we are joined to Christ as a branch is to a vine? Earlier in John chapter 15, Jesus tells us that the Father is the vinedresser. And Jesus tells us in our Gospel lesson that the Father sends to us the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name, who teaches us all things. And this is indeed how God the Father, our vinedresser joins us to Christ, our vine. He sends to us the Holy Spirit.
You are by nature a branch from a wild vine planted by the sin of our first father Adam, which produces bitter and sour grapes, that is, you are by nature a sinner, who cannot please God. When you were baptized, the Holy Spirit cut you off of that wild vine of Adam and grafted you into the true Vine, Jesus Christ. As long as you are joined to Jesus Christ, you will live. As a vine sends sap and nutrients into its branches, so Christ Jesus gives you his righteousness and life. Yet, just as when you cut a branch off of a stem, it shrivels up and dies unless it is grafted in again, so too would you dry out and die if you were cut off from Christ. Your leaves would wither. Your flowers and fruits would fall off. For apart from Christ, you can do nothing.
Yet, how is it that the Holy Spirit grafts you into the vine of Christ? And how is it that you remain attached to this Vine and are not cut off? Jesus tells us. He tells the disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will teach them all things and bring to their remembrance the things that he had said to them. And this indeed was fulfilled. On that first Pentecost after Jesus ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit rushed upon the disciples and divided tongues of fire upon their heads and caused them to proclaim the mighty works of God in Christ Jesus in numerous languages, which they had not previously learned! And so, we also know that the Holy Spirit caused the apostles to write the New Testament, so that we know that the Bible is trustworthy and is indeed the Word of God. This means that the Holy Spirit speaks to us today. No, there are not tongues of fire on any of our heads. And I am preaching to you in the language I first learned as a child and which you all speak at home. Yet, the tongues of fire and the speaking in tongues were merely outward signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit. We still have the Holy Spirit with us today, working through the same Word of Christ, and igniting a flame in each of our hearts which burns through faith in Christ and produces love toward God and one another, as we will hear the children sing:
O Sweetest Love, Your grace on us bestow;
Set our hearts with sacred fire aglow
That with hearts united we love each other,
Ev’ry stranger, sister, and brother.
Lord, have mercy!
Through the proclamation of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit joins you to Christ Jesus by creating faith in your heart. And through the proclamation of the Gospel, Jesus gives you everything to survive. You live by faith in the forgiveness of sins, which Christ Jesus has won. Jesus has died to sin for you and is risen, never to die again. So, you having died to sin, being cut off from the wild and sinful stem of Adam now live forever attached to the imperishable vine of Christ.
You are cut off from the vine of Christ when you cease to hear Christ’s words and receive his Sacrament. You receive your nourishment from Christ through faith. Faith receives the promise. The promise is in the words of the Gospel and the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, which offer free forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake to all who believe it. But, if you stop hearing Christ’s word and if you stop receiving his Sacrament, then you cut yourself off from the Living Vine. In that case, your faith will dry out, your leaves will shrivel, your fruit will drop off prematurely, and you will die. You cannot have saving faith if you reject the Gospel of Christ. This is why you promise in your Confirmation vows that you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully. This is what Jesus means when he says, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” To live without the Word of God and Christ’s Sacrament is to live apart from Christ, to be a severed vine that will dry up and be burned.
This again is why the children will sing these words:
To God the Holy Spirit let us pray
For the true faith needed on our way
That He may defend us when life is ending
And from exile home we are wending.
Lord, have mercy!
The Holy Spirit keeps you in the true faith by proclaiming Christ to you, by feeding you his body and blood. You need this true faith not just today, not just at your confirmation, but throughout your entire life, especially when you exit this life to enter the one to come. And so, this should be our constant prayer, that the Holy Spirit would tend to us, so that we are always attached to the Vine of Life.
Jesus says that whoever abides in him will bear much fruit, but that apart from him you can do nothing. To be grafted into Christ the Vine has a greater effect on you than when a branch is grafted into a regular stem. For when a branch is cut off from a tree and grafted into another tree, it continues to produce the fruit of its original tree. But the vine of Christ has such an effect on the branches grafted into him, that he actually changes the branch to be like him and changes the fruit to be good fruit like his. It is as St. Paul writes, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” So, you as a Christian, must consider the works you do as the works of Christ, which you perform through faith in Christ Jesus.
Yet, this is a hard thing to believe. We look at the fruits produced by the Holy Spirit that first Pentecost and in the years following. Men speaking the mighty works of God in tongues they never learned. Men and women prophesying and old men dreaming dreams. The apostles laid their hands on the sick and healed them and were bitten by poisonous snakes and survived. Our works are not nearly so splendid. And many have had this thought before us, so they made up mighty works to prove they had the fruit of the Spirit, by fasting, saying long prayers, going on long pilgrimages, and what is common today, trying to speak in tongues and giving heart-wrenching testimonials to prove their fruits.
Yet, you must stop looking at the fruit, that is, you must stop looking at your own works to determine whether you are attached to Christ. Rather, it is those who are joined to Christ who produce much fruit, not those who produce fruit who are then attached to Christ. It is Christ who works in you through faith. So, if it is Christ who works in you, then even your ordinary works are abundant fruit produced to the glory of God. So, when you obey your parents, do your homework and help clean-up around the house, you are bearing great fruit. When you say your prayers every day and go to church every Sunday; when you marry a Christian spouse, love your wife and support her, bring your children to be baptized, teach them to pray and bring them to church, when you do your job diligently and are honest, when you help your neighbor and humbly do what is right, these are abundant fruits of the Vine, which Christ has caused to be produced in you, his branch.
Yet, this offends the world. They see these works and find nothing special about them. They despise Baptism and the word of God. And many of the other works you do, they claim to do them themselves, and even better. How can Christ say that without him you can do nothing? Aren’t there many people who do not believe in Christ, and who without Christ do many and more of these things than you do? This is why we must not focus on the outward work, but on the faith, which trusts in Christ. What Christ Jesus does is far better. All that we do of ourselves is for selfish gain and following after the lusts of the flesh. But what we do through faith in Christ is holy, honors God, and even, as it is when we bring our children to Baptism and to church, results in eternal life. This is because Christ is perfect. He forgives our sins and even sanctifies our works. Our boasting is never in ourselves, but in Christ.
Having been grafted into Christ by the Holy Spirit through faith in the Gospel of Christ, we have peace with God. This peace is not the same peace as the peace given by the world. The peace of the world comes from obeying the world’s wicked commands. The peace of the world is slavery to sin. It is temporary comfort and shallow love. But the peace, which comes from Christ is reconciliation with God. It is to be forgiven. It is to know that even though your works are imperfect and riddled with sin, God is pleased with you on account of Christ. It is to know that you are joined to Christ Jesus so closely as a branch is to its vine, that you know that as long as Christ lives, so you too will live. As long as you are joined to Christ through faith, you will have this peace. Let us pray.
Shine in our hearts, O Spirit, precious light;
Teach us Jesus Christ to know aright
That we may abide in the Lord who bought us,
Till to our true home He has brought us.
Lord, have mercy! Amen.

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The Significance of Jesus’ Ascension

5/17/2021

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The Ascension, John Singleton Copley. 1775. Public Domain

Ascension Day (Observed)
Acts 1:1-11; Mark 16:14-20
Pastor James Preus
May 16, 2013

Last Thursday marked the fortieth day of Easter. St. Luke tells us that Jesus, after his death and resurrection, showed himself alive to his disciples for forty days before He was taken up into heaven. Yet, for most people Thursday passed by with little noted significance. But should the day of our Lord’s ascension to the right hand of God the Father be ignored by the faithful? Don’t we confess in the Apostles’ Creed every day, “He ascended into heaven…”? Let me give you four reasons why we should celebrate Jesus’ ascension into heaven not only on the fortieth day of Easter, but every day.
First, Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of God the Father proves that Jesus is victorious over sin, death, and the power of the devil. When Jesus sat down at the right hand of God, he fulfilled what David prophesied in Psalm 110, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” Jesus is the Lord God. He is the eternal Son of God the Father, who from eternity has shared in his divine essence and majesty along with the Holy Spirit. Yet, for us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. Not only did the Son of God take on our human flesh, but being born under the Law, he humbled himself to the point of death on the cross. In our place he fulfilled the law actively, that is, in our human flesh he perfectly loved the Lord God with all his heart, soul, and mind and loved his neighbor as himself. And in our place, Jesus also fulfilled the law passively, that is, in our human flesh he bore the punishment of all our sins on his body and soul.
Our Savior Jesus was vindicated Easter morning when he rose from the dead. He proved that he was innocent of all sin, that he is truly God’s Son and the teacher of truth, and that he has washed away all our sins forever. Now, in his ascension, God the Father took him who was made for a little while lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5). It is as St. Paul says, “[the Father of glory] raised [Christ] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he has put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:20-23)
What does this mean? It means that our Lord Jesus is victorious over our enemies and rules over all powers and authorities. Your sin is under Jesus’ feet. Satan, who attempts to lead you into sin and unbelief and accuse you before God is now crushed under Jesus’ heal. The Law, which condemns you is under Jesus’ feet along with death and hell. And all other powers and authorities are under his dominion. We have bad government on this earth. Our own government sanctions the killing of unborn children, the destruction of the family with bad laws that destroy marriage, and increasingly, the persecution of the church. History will repeat itself. Christians will suffer from governmental persecution. Yet, these governments too remain under Jesus’ feet. Jesus is in charge. All powers and authorities on earth will pass away. But Christ’s rule will never pass away.
The second reason we should celebrate Jesus’ ascension to God’s right hand, is because it proves that he is always with us. This might sound contradictory. Jesus ascended into heaven. His disciples watched him go. How can he be with us? There is a lot of talk lately about flying rockets back to the moon and even astronauts landing on mars in the near future. Maybe that’ll happen. But I assure you, astronauts will never find Jesus in their adventures among the stars. Elon Musk can’t build a rocket to the right hand of God the Father. Yet, this does not mean that Jesus is far away from us. In fact, it is precisely because Jesus is at God the Father’s right hand that we know that he is with us in the Church today.
It is exactly as God says in Isaiah chapter 57, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (vs. 15). Jesus dwells in the heaven of heavens. Yet, Jesus dwells also with us lowly creatures here on earth. How can this be? Because the right hand of God the Father is not a location far off in a distant galaxy. The right hand of God the Father is God’s right hand of power. Jesus is not limited by his position at the Father’s right hand. Rather, he is unlimited in his power. He is able to do far more than we can either ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). The term, right hand of God, does not refer to a local place, but rather to a position of power. Most people are right-handed. When a person is called someone’s right hand man, it means that that person accomplishes the work the other person sends him to do. Jesus does the work of God the Father. Jesus at the Father’s right hand is all powerful. We celebrate Jesus as the Father’s right-hand, because at the Father’s right hand Jesus is with us here on earth.
This is indeed what Jesus promises us. He doesn’t simply tell his disciples to go out and preach the Gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15), but he also promises to be with them always even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). When Jesus’ ministers proclaim the Gospel, they are not only delivering words, but they are delivering Christ Jesus himself, as Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” St. Mark even records that the Lord Jesus accompanied the disciples in their preaching and worked with them (Mark 16:20). And he works with us today as well. Jesus is with us today in this church. This is where he promises to be. We all were baptized by different pastors at different times and places, yet, it was the Lord Jesus who baptized all of us and clothed us with himself. At the altar, although we cannot comprehend how this can be, we eat the true body and drink the true blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, because Christ has ascended to the Father’s right hand. And so, we have Jesus bodily with us here today. Every time you have heard the absolution spoken to you by your pastor, it was spoken to you by Christ himself.
All this is possible, because Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4, “He who descended is the one who also ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.” And indeed, he has filled his Church. And he has raised us up with him and seated us with him even now in the heavenly places through his Word and Sacraments, a reality we will realize more clearly when our faith is turned into sight.
The third reason we should celebrate Jesus’ ascension is because, as the angels told the disciples, Jesus will return in the same way he ascended (Acts 1:11). We all will see Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven. He will come to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). This is the natural result of Jesus ascending to the Father’s right hand, because Jesus has received all authority from his Father, so naturally, he has also received the authority to judge. And the world must be judged. And Jesus has warned us that he will come at a moment we do not expect. Now, this might sound like a strange thing to celebrate. Jesus’ judgment sounds terrifying. How awful are the words Jesus foretold that he will say to some, “I tell you, I never knew you.”? (Matthew 7:23)
Yet, for us who trust in Jesus and believe that his death has taken away our sins and that through him we are reconciled to the Father, Jesus’ return to judgment is not a terrifying thought. Jesus promises, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24) Jesus does not come to judge us, but rather to bestow on us the crown of righteousness. Rather, Jesus says, “whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16) Our sins cannot condemn us, because Jesus has taken them away. It is not, “Whoever has committed the greatest sins will be condemned,” but rather, ‘Whoever does not believe will be condemned.” This is because Jesus has already paid the price for our sins. The only way we can be condemned is if we reject Jesus. (Which many people do, because they refuse to listen to his word and repent of their sins). But for those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus for salvation, Scripture says, “So Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28)
And this brings us to our fourth reason to celebrate Jesus’ ascension to the Father’s right hand, because Jesus will return to bring us to live with him. Through Jesus’ ascension, we too will ascend to live with Christ before the throne of God in righteousness and purity forever. St. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
As surely as Jesus has ascended to the right hand of God the Father, so surely will he return to bring us to be with him. This is a real salvation. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He has a human body, which was nailed to a cross and laid dead in a tomb, which truly rose from the dead and dwells gloriously in heaven. And we will see that same body descend to meet us. And our bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). We will dwell with Jesus in our bodies, which will be changed after the image of his imperishable and immortal body. What our eyes cannot yet behold, we will see with our own eyes. Jesus’ bodily ascension into heaven means that our end is not to be disembodied spirits floating around in the heavens, nor will be become angels. Jesus became a human being to redeem human beings, body, soul, and will. We will truly live bodily with Jesus in a physical new heavens and new earth, one that is not corrupted by sin, but which will last forever, world without end. Amen.
When we celebrate Jesus’ ascension to the Father’s right hand, we celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil; we celebrate that Jesus is with us today in his Church through the ministry of his Word and Sacraments; we celebrate that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead; and we celebrate that we too will ascend to live with Jesus in imperishable bodies without sin, death, and suffering forever. These are things worth celebrating. Amen.

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

God Invites Us to Sit at The Feast of Salvation

Storing Treasure in Heaven

Born Again by Water and the Spirit

The Holy Spirit Grafts Us into The True Vine, So That We Bear Much Fruit

The Significance of Jesus’ Ascension

Rev. James Preus

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