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Clearing The Noxious Odor of Idolatry

9/22/2023

Trinity 15
Matthew 6:24-34
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
September 17, 2023

The First Commandment is, “You shall have no other gods.” Our Small Catechism explains the First Commandment, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Martin Luther explains in the Large Catechism that whatever you fear, love, and trust in most is your God. So, if you fear, love, and trust in money, your job, your family and friends, or sports more than you fear, love, and trust in God, then money, your job, your family and friends, or sports is your false god. A false god is an idol.
Jesus explains this by saying that whatever you serve is your God. He says that you cannot serve two masters, or you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. So, you cannot serve both God and mammon. Mammon is earthly wealth, often translated as money. So, if you serve money or any other earthly wealth, then money and wealth are your false gods. You can identify your false gods by observing what you serve rather than the true God.
Yet, what does Jesus mean by serve? He certainly isn’t forbidding us from working. Rather, Scripture frequently commands us to work (Genesis 2:15; Prov. 6:6-11; 2 Thessalonians 3:10). He isn’t forbidding us from using money. Rather, Jesus tells us to make friends with our money, who will welcome us into our eternal dwellings when that money fails (Luke 16:9). So, how can you examine yourself to see if you have made mammon into a false god?
Do you worry? Yes, worry is one of the tell-tale signs that you are serving mammon as your idol. Worry is the noxious odor of idolatry. Anxiety is the putrid stench of worshipping the false god of mammon. When you serve money, possessions, and all types of mammon, worry rises from your heart like a foul fume, that disturbs all your senses. And why does worshipping mammon make you worry? Why does serving the god of money cause a noxious stench to trouble all your senses? Because mammon is a cruel god. It is disloyal. It doesn’t promise you anything for certain. Everything money does give you can be taken away and destroyed. Mammon will make you its slave, but it will abandon you for another at the drop of a hat. So, those who worship the god of money will worry. They will be anxious that they won’t have enough. They will worry that they will lose what they have. And the more they worry, the more securely they will be enslaved to this cruel god as the noxious odor of idolatry overpowers all their senses.
So, Jesus seeks to free us from our slavery to this false god by getting us to stop worrying. That seems like an easy enough task. Who wants to be a slave to a false god? Who wants to suffer from anxiety and worry all the time? Yet, surprisingly, this is a near impossible task. Although worrying stinks, although serving mammon leads to bitterness, hatred, and eventually hell, people refuse to be convinced to stop worshipping that awful false god and sniffing its poison-fumes.
Jesus seeks to convince us to stop worrying by pointing out how God takes care of his creation, even though it does not worry or slave away. He points first to the birds of the air, who neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet our heavenly Father feeds them. “Are you not of more value than they?” Jesus concludes. Birds don’t toil for their food. They simply gather what God produces for them. And in a very real sense, so do we. We are commanded to work by God, but it is God who provides for us. Even with the great labor, and study of science, and more labor that goes into growing crops and producing food, we are simply gathering from creation what God has put into it for our sake. We can’t make seeds grow or crops succeed. God is the one who grants the growth and provides the bounty.
So, if God provides for the birds of the air, over which he has granted us dominion and for whom He has provided no savior, how much more will He care for us? “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
And this brings us to a Seed, which none of us planted, but which produced a harvest greater than any. This Seed is the Seed of the Woman, Jesus Christ, whom God sowed in the ground after sending Him to be crucified for our sins. We did not prepare the soil for this Seed except by our sins which required such a sacrifice. We did not raise Him up either! Yet, by God’s sowing and reaping, we receive the gift of eternal life through faith. So, why do we worry about such little things as what we will eat?
Then Jesus points us to the flowers of the field, who again, neither toil nor spin, yet are arrayed in finer garments than even King Solomon, the richest and most splendid of kings on earth. If God so clothes the grass, which will be burned tomorrow, how much more will He clothe you for whom He sent His Son to die? And indeed, God does clothe you with an even more beautiful raiment than all the flowers of the earth. He has clothed you in the very garments of salvation, in a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10), yes in Christ Himself (Galatians 3:27), when He baptized you into Christ’s name. And that garment washed in the blood of Christ will grant you access into the very gates of paradise, where you will live with Christ forever! So, why are you worried about what you will wear?
In the end your worrying doesn’t do you any good. It doesn’t make you richer or make you live longer. Life is much more than what you worry about anyway. It is the unbelieving pagans who are anxious for these things, but it should not be so for the children of God. God already knows all the things you need before you know you need them, and has planned how He will provide them for you. As mentioned before, if God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to death in order to save your soul from hell, why would He fail at this much smaller thing of carrying for your body? If he has made sure to supply you with eternal life, why do you think He will fail to supply you for your temporal life?
Jesus’ reasoning is impeccable. You cannot argue against it. Worrying is a waist of time, even worse, it is harmful to your soul. Worrying is the putrid stench of breaking the First Commandment by fearing, loving, and trusting in the creation rather than the creator. Stop worrying. Stop worshipping mammon. Rid yourself of this putrid stench.
But how? The more you worry, the more you worry. The more you smell the stench of idolatry, the more it captivates your senses to make you a total slave. Jesus tells you how to escape from worry and flee from the bondage of worshipping money. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The Kingdom of God is the reign of God. God reigns over us by sending His Son into human flesh to suffer and die for our sins. God reigns over you by sending His Holy Spirit through His Word and Sacraments to bring you to repentance and create faith in your heart, so that you may receive Christ and all the benefits of His sacrifice for you. Jesus and His disciples prepared people for the coming of God’s kingdom by preaching, “Repent and believe in the Gospel, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mark 1:15; Luke 24:47) So, when Jesus tells you to flee idolatry by seeking first His kingdom, He is telling you to repent of your sins, believe the Gospel, and immerse yourself in His Word, receive His body and blood in the Sacrament, and live as a citizen of heaven here on earth. St. Paul declares, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)
If you refuse to feed or clothe your children, you are rightly accused of child abuse. It is your responsibility to give your children proper food and drink. But the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink. How much more guilty are you of child abuse if you refuse to provide your children with the things of the kingdom of God? Christ does not accept any excuse for putting other things before His kingdom. Buying a field or five yoke of oxen or getting married is not a reason to delay seeking Christ’s kingdom (Luke 14:15-24). Cooking and cleaning as Martha did is not better than sitting at Jesus’ feet and listing to His teaching (Luke 10:38-42). Burying one’s father isn’t even a good reason to delay seeking the kingdom (Matthew 8:21-22)! Because none of these things will grant you eternal life. Yet, slaving and worrying over these things certainly can prevent you from entering eternal life!
Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. St. Paul tells us that the righteousness of God has been manifested to us through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3:21-22). God’s righteousness is Christ’s righteousness. And Christ gives us His righteousness through faith (Philippians 3:9). Christ Jesus made us right with God by bearing our sins for us. His righteousness gives us access to eternal life. And He gives us this righteousness in His Church, which is the Kingdom of God, where His Gospel is proclaimed and His Sacraments are given.
Outside of God’s Kingdom, that is, outside of Christ’s Church there is no true peace and joy, no righteousness or eternal life. But within this Community of Saints, where Christ tends to His sheep, we find a refuge from anxiety and worry. We find peace, which the world cannot give. We learn that all our physical needs are cared for by our Creator, and He has supplied us with an eternal kingdom for our home. Where the Gospel of Christ is preached, the putrid stench of idolatry is cleared from the senses of those who believe, and worry is put to flight. The Gospel causes you to see clearly that God cares for you now and forever.
While we toil on this earth the stench of idolatry will always linger close by. Satan will throw all he has at us, whether riches or poverty, to cause the stench of worry to return. And as sinners, we will struggle. Yet, consider the saints of old, who battled worry before us and how they cast their anxieties on the God, who cares for them. Jeremiah, after King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, wrote these beautiful words in Lamentations chapter 3, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I will hope in Him.” (vss. 22-24) And the Psalmist shouts to God, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)
Do not despair when you worry. Rather, seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness. Run to the Gospel of Christ. Nothing else on earth can clear the noxious odor of idolatry from your senses and give you peace from your worry. Amen.

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The Difference between a Christian and a Heathen

9/3/2023

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Trinity 12
Mark 7:31-37
Pastor James Preus
August 27, 2023

What’s the difference between a Christian and a heathen? Well? How do you tell the difference? Two men eat lunch, one is a heathen the other, a Christian. How do you tell them apart? The heathen eat just like the Christians do. Two men work a job. They both dig, lay pipe, haul gravel, and drive truck. What’s the difference? Does the Christian swing a hammer different than a heathen? Can you tell the difference between a Christian engineer and a heathen engineer sitting at his computer? Can you tell which house was built by a Christian and which one was built by an unbeliever? Two families go on vacation, one is Christian, the other are unbelievers. How do you tell them apart? You watch a basketball game. Can you tell which players are Christians by the way they dribble and shoot? Christians eat like the heathen do. They work like the heathen do. They rest like the heathen do. They play like the heathen do. They spend time with their families like the heathen do. So, what sets the Christian apart from the heathen? Two things: the ears and the mouth.
Now how can I say that? What is so special about the ears and the mouth that they of all things set a Christian apart from an unbeliever? Well, it is what you do with the ears and the mouth. Ears hear words. And the mouth speaks words. And Christ’s Kingdom stands only in the Word of God. Jesus says, “If you abide in my words, you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32) It is the ears that receive God’s Word. It is the mouth that confesses God’s Word. St. Paul says, “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So ,faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:13-17)
So, the difference between a Christian and a heathen is that a Christian’s ears listen to the Word of God, but the heathen’s ears do not listen to God’s Word. And a Christian’s mouth confesses God’s Word and speaks according to God’s Word, but a heathen’s mouth does not confess God’s Word or speak according to it. And that is the primary difference between you and the heathen. You listen to God’s Word and believe it. And you use your mouth to confess Christ and praise Him.
Here we see the gravity of the mute and deaf man’s situation and the great mercy Christ showed to him by opening his ears and loosing the bonds of his tongue. Without his hearing, the man could not hear the Gospel, which is the only way to be saved. God reaches our heart and causes it to be born again by going through our ears. The Holy Spirit convinces us with real words to turn from sin and to trust in Christ. So, Jesus did not simply make this man’s quality of life better by opening his ears to hear the voices of his family, friends, and co-workers. Jesus saved this man by opening his ears to hear the Gospel, so that He may believe and be saved. Jesus didn’t just loosen the man’s tongue, so that he could communicate clearly. Jesus cleansed His lips, so that He could praise His God and Savior with pure doctrine.
And this is the greater miracle we should all desire. What good is your hearing, if you will not listen to Christ’s Word? What good is your mouth, if you use it only to speak idle words and do not praise your Savior? And such refusal to understand what one hears is spoken of frequently by Jesus and the prophets, “Seeing, they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13; Isaiah 6:9-10) Indeed, it would be better to be deaf and not be able to hear at all than to have ears that hear, but refuse to understand and accept the words of Christ. And we see this very much in this deaf and mute man. Jesus communicates with him, although the man cannot hear. He uses sign language, so that the man can understand that Jesus intends to heal his ears and mouth.
This is what I deal with frequently when I visit our elderly shut-in members. Many of them are hard of hearing. I must speak slowly and loudly, looking them in the eyes and opening my mouth widely, so that they can understand my words. I frequently point out the passage of Scripture I am reading, so that they can read along with me. And they, hard of hearing though they are, will look intently at my mouth as I preach. Although their hearing is almost gone, they have better ears than most people, who see no value in listening to God’s Word preached! Indeed, it would be better to lose your sense of hearing completely, but have the desire to hear the Gospel through sign language and the written word, than to have perfect hearing, but ignore God’s preaching, or having heard it, to let the seed sown in your ears be devoured by Satan, scorched by persecution, or choked out by the cares and pleasures of this life, as Jesus warns about in His parable of the sower and the seed. (Mark 4:3-88; 14-20)
Of course, Jesus concluded that parable by saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Mark 4:9) And that is a warning we should heed now. How much time do you spend listening to things that are of no benefit to your soul or are even harmful. It seems today that no one can stand silence. People go grocery shopping with earbuds in their ears. People don’t talk to each other while they exercise, they listen to their favorite podcast or music. And much of the discussion of these podcasts is irreverent and crass. And the music produced today is more often than not charged with sexual inuendo or demonic messaging. You have your choice of political commentators to listen to on the radio or on the internet twenty-four hours a day, spouting off their opinions as if they actually matter. Few seek out Christian council from their pastor or another Christian strong in the faith, but rather seek out advice from those, who ignore Scripture and tell them what they want to hear. And that is how most find their preacher as well, seeking out teachers to scratch their itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3).
We are bombarded with noise, hours and hours of messages enter our perfect ears every day, yet, we can’t seem to stand listening to Christ’s Word for twenty minutes on a Sunday morning. And what is the result of this? Our mouths become fountains of foolishness, false doctrine, and even debauchery. St. Paul warns, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:4) Here St. Paul teaches us to guard the words of our mouth. But why does filth fall from our lips? Why do we make crass jokes, swear, and cuss? Because we listen to such filth. You cannot remain unaffected by what you hear. Likewise, St. James warns, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not be so. (James 3:10) We curse, swear, utter false doctrine, and slander our neighbor, because that is what we choose to listen to.
But if you listen to the evil and idle words of this world and you repeat these words with your mouth, how then are you different from the heathen? What makes you different from an unbeliever? The two things that set you apart from the unbelievers, is that you hear Christ’s Word and confess His Word. But if you stop listening and stop confessing, then you are no different than an unbeliever. People will repeat to themselves the lie that they do not need to hear God’s Word in order to be a Christian and they can keep their faith private instead of confessing it. Yet, that is not what Scripture says. Rather, Jesus says, “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:47) and St. Paul declares in Romans 10, “With the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (vs. 10) God’s Word travels from the ears to the heart and then from the heart out the mouth. That is how a Christian is made. That is how a Christian’s ears and mouth work.
No one can seem to agree on why Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. Earlier in this same region, he had told a man from whom he had cast out a legion of demons to go and tell what God had done for him (Mark 5:19). Yet, increasingly, Jesus tells those whom He heals not to tell anyone. What is clear; however, is that they don’t obey Jesus. They tell everyone who will listen.
And Jesus certainly would have expected this. This is the way God’s Word works. It cannot remain dormant. It must work through the ears and into the heart and out the mouth. “He has done all things well!”, they proclaimed. Indeed, He has. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. Even more. He opens ears to understand the Gospel and hearts to believe it. And He even prepares praise from the mouths of little babies (Matthew 21:16). He has opened our ears to not only hear, but to listen to His grace. And so, He has created a clean heart in us to believe in Christ our Savior.
He has done all things well! Indeed, He is the only man who has ever done all things well. Adam did evil. And so, have his children after him. I have not done all things well. Have you? Of course, not. Yet, Jesus has. We have been disobedient, and so have merited eternal damnation. Jesus has been perfectly obedient, and so has earned for us eternal life. He did all things well, even to the cross, where He bore the burden of our sins and washed them all away in His blood. By doing all things well, Jesus has won for us eternal salvation and He has left nothing undone that needs to be done to save us.
And that is why our Salvation and indeed the entire Kingdom of Christ can be delivered to us in words. It is not up to us to earn our salvation with our arms and legs or intellect. It is not up to us to build Christ a kingdom by our labor. Christ has done all things well. He has prepared a kingdom for us and paid our entrance into it with His innocent suffering and death. And so, Christ’s kingdom comes to us through words. And we receive our salvation through our ears by listening to this Gospel and believing it. And so, God prepares good words of confession, thanksgiving, and praise from our lips. We can speak good words to our neighbor, because God has spoken good words to us. It is God who has set us apart from the heathen with His Word, so let us keep His Word in our ears and mouth for our salvation. Amen.

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God Justifies the Sinner

8/24/2023

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James Tissot, "The Pharisee and the Publican," 1886-94. Public Domain.

Trinity 11
Luke 18:9-14
Pastor James Preus
August 20, 2023

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” This oft-repeated proverb of Jesus summarizes how one goes to heaven or hell. To exalt oneself means to lift oneself up high. No one is more highly exalted than God, who dwells in the highest heaven. Those who exalt themselves seek to ascend to God. Whoever exalts himself to God will be humbled. To be humbled means to be brought down low. You can’t be humbled lower than hell. So, Jesus says that everyone who exalts himself to God will be cast down to hell. But whoever humbles himself, acknowledging that he deserves hell, God will lift-up to heaven. You cannot exalt yourself to heaven. Only God can exalt you. He exalts the humble.
Jesus teaches us in this parable that those who trust in themselves that they are righteous are those who exalt themselves before God and are therefore cast down to hell. God is righteous. All righteousness comes from God. To be righteous means to be in a right relationship with God, it means to be brought up to God’s presence and to be looked upon favorably by God. The Pharisee was self-righteous. He did not wait on God to exalt him and declare him righteous. Rather, he declared himself righteous, that is, he justified himself. And for this, God condemned him.
The Pharisee in Jesus’ story went to the temple to pray. He stood separate from the people, fitting with his title Pharisee, which means “one who is separated.” He then thanked God in his prayer, but his thanksgiving was only a pretense to boast in himself. He says, “God, I thank you, because I am not like other men.” He is not thanking God for making him different than other men. It could have been a good prayer if the Pharisee had said, “God, I thank you that you have kept me from sin and unbelief, which has captured other men.” But no, the Pharisee only brags about his own actions. “I am not like other men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, even as this tax collector.” Fitting with those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, the Pharisee despises others, even accusing the tax collector of extortion, unrighteousness, and adultery. Think of it, the Pharisee stands in the same building where the sacrifice of atonement for sins is offered, and he points out to God another man’s sin!
Yet, this is the manner of all the self-righteous. Because if you will justify yourself, then you must condemn others! Why? Because no one will be justified by works of the Law (Galatians 2:16). If you ignore the works of everyone but yourself, and only consider your own works according to God’s Law, then you will only see your own sin (Romans 3:20). You will only see how you have failed to love God and your neighbor as you ought. But, if you can drag your neighbor into the mix, then you can convince yourself that you are more righteous than your neighbor. And so, slandering one’s neighbor in his heart has been the mode of justifying oneself since the fall into sin!
Check if you have done this? When is the last time you justified your own actions by comparing them to another? “Oh, I may have looked at women with lust, but I’ve never cheated on my wife like others I know.” “Sure, I’ve lost my temper at my wife and children, but I’ve never stuck them, like the sleaze with his mugshot in the paper.” “I may be cheap at times, but I’ve never stolen like others.” “I’ve hated my neighbor in my heart, but I’m not a murderer.” And so, the self-righteous justify themselves in their own hearts, seeking to lift themselves up to God by stepping on the necks of their neighbors. If you look at the Pharisee closely, you might find yourself looking back from the mirror.
Then the Pharisee tries to inflate his righteousness by bragging about his works. “I fast twice a week.” That’s good, but what good is fasting if not to learn that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God? And God’s Word says that no one living is righteous (Psalm 143:2; Ecc 7:20). “I tithe all that I get,” he brags. Very good. You gave back a tenth of all that God has given you. But have you observed the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness? (Matthew 23:23) The Pharisee’s boasts may be able to fool those around him and even his own conscience, but they cannot fool God, who looks on the secret heart.
The tax collector demonstrates to us how one is exalted to heaven by being humble. He, like the Pharisee, stands by himself, but for a different reason. The tax collector feels unworthy to stand in the congregation of the righteous. He cannot even lift his eyes up to heaven, because he is ashamed. He beats his breast, showing that he recognizes that the source of his sin and shame comes out of his own heart, a point the Pharisee completely misses. By striking his breast, he behaves like the crowd leaving the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion, lamenting the great injustice that has been done, for which they only can blame themselves (Luke 23:48). It is as if the tax collector is saying, “On me, me only is the guilt. It is all my fault.” And that is what he says, “Have mercy on me, the sinner.” Our English translation has him say, “a sinner,” but it is better translated as the sinner. He does not do as the Pharisee and we so often do, and point out the sins of others. He doesn’t say, “Yes, I’m a sinner, but everyone’s a sinner, so it’s not that bad.” No, he doesn’t bring up anyone else’s sin but his own, and confesses himself to be the guilty sinner. He doesn’t try to distance himself from his actions, but acknowledges that they came from his own heart. No, the tax collector does not exalt himself to heaven declaring himself righteous before God. Far from it. Rather, he drops himself into the depths of woe. To the world this seems counterproductive. Yet, we must remember what Scripture says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15)
Yet, it is not his acknowledgment of his own sin that ultimately lifts the tax collector out of the pit of hell into the heavenly places. The word the tax collector uses for mercy reveals his steadfast faith in Christ his Savior, which justifies him. The word the tax collector used for mercy is perhaps best understood as “make atonement for me.” It can also be translated as “be propitiated to me” or “be expiated toward me,” but few people understand what those words mean. I think you are all familiar with the word atone. Atone means to cover a sin or wash it away. It means to make amends. The Pharisee and the tax collector are standing in the temple, where each morning and evening a lamb is sacrificed to make atonement for the sins of the people. The Pharisee points out the sins of others for which God makes atonement, to boost himself. The tax collector points to the sacrifice of atonement and prays to God, “Let that atonement be for me, yes, even for me!”
Of course, it isn’t the lamb sacrificed in the temple which makes atonement for any sins, but the Lamb of God to whom these lambs point, who makes atonement for the sins of the whole world. The Apostle writes of Christ in Hebrews chapter 2, “Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make atonement (or propitiation) for the sins of the people.” (vs. 17) And St. John writes in his first epistle, chapter 2, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” And by propitiation, what he means is atonement. Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, has made atonement for the sins of the whole world. He has paid for them with His blood. He has washed them away, covered them, made amends for them, however else you want to explain atonement, they are gone! And this tax collector in fervent faith prays that that payment for sins would be applied to him personally. And by the fact that Jesus says that he rather than the Pharisee went down to his house justified proves that God answered his prayer.
And here we must make a clarification about humility and pride. The world turns Jesus’ words on their head and claims that if you say that Jesus is the only way to salvation, then you are prideful. The world says that it is arrogant to say that you know the way to heaven and that there is no other way. But it is not arrogant to say that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). It is not prideful to say that you are certain that you stand righteous before God for the sake of Jesus’ innocent shed blood, suffering, and death. You are not boasting in yourself when you confess that you know you will go to heaven when you die, because Christ has prepared a place for you. Rather, Scripture exhorts us, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17; Gal. 6:14) And we should never stop boasting in the cross of Jesus Christ, which alone grants full forgiveness of sins and makes us righteous before our God. We do not exalt ourselves by standing on God’s Word, rather those who claim that we cannot know are the ones who exalt themselves above God’s Word.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re arrogant or prideful for standing on the promises God makes to you in Holy Scripture, when He says that Jesus has washed away all your sins, when He says that your Baptism has clothed you in Christ and has indeed saved you (Gal. 3:26; 1 Peter 3:21), when you confess that Christ indeed feeds you His body and blood in His Sacrament for the forgiveness of your sins. This is not arrogance or pride, but humbly receiving from your gracious Father’s hand in heaven.
Jesus says that the tax collector went down to his house justified. Do you think he felt righteous? He didn’t look righteous. Jesus doesn’t tell us about any good works he did? Presumably, he bore fruits of repentance as Zacchaeus did, who gave four-times more to anyone he defrauded and shared his wealth with the poor (Luke 19). And we’ve heard that St. Paul worked harder than any other apostle after being saved by grace (1 Cor. 15). But we’ve heard of no good works from this tax collector, just that he went down to his house justified. Although good works indeed follow saving faith, no works done by this tax collector contributed to his justification before God. So, I ask you. Did this tax collector feel righteous?
It doesn’t matter. Probably not. That’s not the point. The Pharisee sure felt righteous, but that didn’t do him any good. He looked righteous too, but that did nothing for him before God’s throne. It is not how you look or feel that determines whether you are righteous before God. It depends entirely on your faith in Jesus Christ, who made atonement for your sins. You may be the worst sinner in this congregation. You may feel like the worst sinner here. Your shame may be welling up in your heart, so that you feel the compulsion to beat your chest until it’s numb. But you should believe for Christ’s sake that your sins are covered. You should believe that God has clothed you with a garment of salvation and a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). You should believe that though your sins are like scarlet, Christ has washed them clean in His own blood (Isaiah 1:18). You should believe that God has made atonement for you through the death of Christ Jesus your Savior. And you should humbly receive this promise, because God has promised it to you. Amen.

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The Infinite Is Capable of the Finite

8/4/2023

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Trinity 7
Mark 8:1-9
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
July 23, 2023

Seven loaves of bread are not enough to feed 4,000 men! These seven loaves of bread were probably intended to feed Jesus and His twelve disciples. They wouldn’t be able to feed many more. There is only a finite amount of bread. Once it is eaten, it’s gone! Yet, with just seven loaves of bread, Jesus not only feeds 4,000 men, plus their wives and children (Matthew 15:38), but they ate until they were satisfied. What’s more, they filled seven baskets full of leftover bread! And these weren’t small baskets. Each could hold fifty loaves! This word for basket is used in Acts 9, when it says that they lowered St. Paul from the city wall in a basket. So, a grown man could fit in each of these seven baskets. So, with those seven hampers full of bread left over, they had way more food than they started with, and could have fed many more people!
How is this possible? Seven is a finite number. The more bread that is eaten, the less there is. Seven loaves cannot become seven hampers full of bread. Yet, with Jesus that is exactly what is done. Jesus is God. He can satisfy the needs of every living thing (Psalm 145:16). And what is more, it is Christ’s fervent desire to satisfy our needs! Jesus said to His disciples, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” The word Jesus uses here for compassion comes from the word for inward parts. It means to have deep sympathy. We get the sense that Jesus feels the hunger in their stomachs and He is not satisfied until they are satisfied. So much does He care for His creation.
And we could end the sermon there. God cares for you; don’t worry. He is both able and willing to provide for you as He does for every living creature on earth. So, give thanks to Him, be generous, and seek first the kingdom of God. Yet, it is the kingdom of God, which this parable teaches us so much about. The Holy Spirit didn’t cause this story to be written simply to teach us that God cares for our bodily needs. He caused this to be written, so that you would see how Christ provides for the Kingdom of God and for you as a citizen of it!
St. Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)! By death he means eternal hell, as Jesus teaches us (Matthew 25:41; 13:41; Mark 9:48). And so, we know that God sent His Son to take on our human flesh and suffer and die in our place on the cross to make satisfaction for our sins. But, wait a minute. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All deserve the eternal fiery death of hell. Yet, God sent one man, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for the sins of all. Well, if billions and billions of people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, yet God sent one man to suffer and die, how is it that the sins of all are paid for? Wouldn’t He just make satisfaction for one of those sinners? It's like the seven loaves and the 4,000 all over again. Seven loaves cannot feed 4,000 men and their families. And one man cannot make atonement for the sins of countless people!
Yet, He does! St. John writes in the second chapter of his first epistle, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) Propitiation means that He has made satisfaction for our sins. Christ Jesus, by His death, has made satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Our debt has been paid! That is why He can give us eternal life as a free gift from God (Romans 6:23).
And this is exactly what this story teaches us. Numbers in Scripture often have a special meaning. Why did Mark write 4,000 when we’re told there were also women and children, making the number much higher? There is significance in the number 4,000. Four is the number of the earth with its four winds: North, South, East, and West. 1,000 is the number of completeness. By feeding bread to the 4,000, Jesus foreshadows that He will provide the Bread of Life for all people. Christ Jesus is the Bread of Life come down from heaven, who gives Himself to be feasted on through faith. We feast on this Bread of Life when we believe that God is reconciled to us for the sake of Christ’s suffering and death.
Seven is a holy number. Three is the number of the Holy Trinity. Four is the number of the earth. So, seven is God plus the earth, the number of the Church. Seven also symbolizes completeness. God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. By using seven loaves of bread, Christ shows that He will completely satisfy His Church with every spiritual need! And by the fact that seven large baskets of bread were left over, He shows that His Church will never run out of His grace to forgive, strengthen, and save.
Although Christ is just one man, His blood provides an endless flow of forgiveness. Although Christ is just one man, His body opens the grave for all bodies. How? Because He is God. His human nature does not limit His divine nature. Rather, His divinity empowers His humanity.
The finite is not capable of the infinite, said a smart man named John Calvin. Finite means to have bounds and limits. Finite can be measured. A twenty-ounce bottle can fit twenty ounces of water in it. It can’t fit 1,000 gallons. Once it surpasses twenty-ounces of liquid, it begins to overflow. Infinite means to have no bounds or limits. Infinite cannot be measured. “The finite is not capable of the infinite” is a logical statement, because an immeasurable amount of liquid cannot fit in a measurable container.
So, Calvin reasoned that Christ’s body and blood could not be present in the Lord’s Supper, because Jesus’ human body is finite, as all human bodies are. Jesus’ body can be measured and is bound by limits, just as all human bodies are. And, as with all human bodies, Jesus’ body can only be in one place at one time. So, He couldn’t possibly be on countless altars and in countless mouths while He is up in heaven. Nor could His blood be separated from His body while it still flows in His veins. So, Calvin thought.
And perhaps Calvin is right that the finite is not capable of the infinite. However, the infinite is certainly capable of the finite. You see, when we speak of Christ, who is true God and true man, we do not speak of His limits according to His human nature. Rather, we speak of His limitless power according to His divine nature. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 3 that He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” So, Christ, who is true man and true God in one person, can in human flesh do everything God can do. So, if He wants His body to be present at many altars at one time and to be able to be consumed by the faithful without tearing His body apart, He can do it. And we know that He wants to do this impossible thing, because He stated in no uncertain terms, “This is my body; this is my blood.”
So, just as Jesus was able to satisfy the hunger of 4,000 men, plus women and children, with just seven loaves of bread and have even more left over, and just as He was able to make satisfaction for the sins of billions and billions of people with His one body on the cross, so is Christ able to feed His entire Church on earth His true body and blood in the Sacrament. The bread and wine used over the past 2,000 years in countless observances of the Lord’s Supper would measure in millions of pounds and gallons of bread and wine, yet as the seven baskets were filled after everyone was satisfied, so Christ still has more to offer us, to sustain us on our journey here on earth. When Christ gave thanks and broke bread in the wilderness, providing an abundant meal with much left over, He foreshadowed that He would provide an abundant meal for His Church when He gave thanks and broke bread on the night in which He was betrayed.
This morning Brexley, Kolter, and Walker were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It was only a little bit of water used, not even enough for a bath. It couldn’t have cleaned very much dirt off their bodies and is probably already dried off. Yet, here again we must remember that the Infinite is capable of the finite. That water poured on those three children was not just plain water, but it was the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word. God works through His Word. So, as God is infinitely powerful, His Word is infinitely powerful. St. Peter writes in 1 Peter 3, “Baptism now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (v.21) So, the appeal to God for a good conscience does not dry off as the water does. The infinite has been joined to the finite. We don’t consider the weakness of the water, but the boundless power of God’s Word.
Through Baptism, God washed those little children clean in the blood of Christ and filled them with His Holy Spirit. He granted them a new birth and clothed them in Christ’s righteousness. As long as they believe this promise from Holy Scripture, they possess it.
The crowd stayed with Jesus three days, so that they had no food even for their long journeys home. Jesus wasn’t the only one to notice this lack of food. Surely, each of those 4,000 men was aware that his bag was empty and he had nothing left to feed his kids. Surely wives were nudging their husbands saying, “Benjamin, we’re out of bread.” And apparently, his reply was, “Where else are we to go. This man has the words of eternal life.” And so, from this crowd, we learn what our greatest need is. We are finite creatures. And we are obsessed with the finite, especially when they are running out. We’re concerned about paying for food and clothing and our homes and health care and other needs of the body, which will fade away. But we neglect our need for Christ’s Words, which will never pass away, even if the heavens and earth pass away. We must remember that we worship the Infinite God. He can provide for your bodily needs and He always does. He feels your hunger. He is compassionate. Yet, He desires to satisfy a much greater need. He desires to grant you food for your soul, so that you may live eternally.
Your sins are your greatest problem. They are rooted deep into your flesh, so that your old self continues to strive toward wickedness as long as you live. And your sins merit you eternal damnation in hell! And your sins combat your faith, striving to pull you away from Christ. Your bodily hunger is of zero importance next to your need for the Bread of Life from heaven! If you do not feast on Christ in faith, then you will perish eternally in hell! The crowd spent three days with Jesus, neglecting their need for food for their bodies, yet most can’t get through a fifteen-minute sermon without thinking about what they’re going to have for lunch.
You have a tremendous spiritual need, yet not an infinite one. The Infinite is capable of the finite. Christ can and does satisfy your spiritual need, so that you may have certainty of eternal life. So, let us to not neglect this need, but come to Him who satisfies for eternity. Amen.

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Righteousness on the Inside

7/21/2023

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Trinity 6
Matthew 5:17-26
Pastor James Preus
July 16, 2023

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

What does Jesus mean by righteousness? Righteousness is an attribute of God. It is the order by which He runs the universe. Righteousness is what is right. Righteousness is the will of God. God expresses His righteous will in the Law and the Prophets, which are the Holy Scriptures. If you are to be righteous, you must conform yourself to God’s holy Word. You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees falls short, because it is superficial. Their righteousness is all outward works. Jesus calls them whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside, but filled with dead men’s bones and all uncleanness on the inside. They add rules to God’s commandments, not to become closer to God, but to make it easier for sinners to follow. And what is worse, they teach others to be like them. So, they not only refuse to enter the kingdom of heaven, but they prevent others from entering as well. But the Holy Spirit didn’t cause this to be recorded for our learning, so that we can judge and condemn a bunch of religious zealots who lived two thousand years ago. The scribes’ and Pharisees’ superficial righteousness is prevalent today. You should be concerned for yourself. Do you think you’re a good person, because you have conformed yourself to a few rules, because you have controlled your behavior? That is not the righteousness of God.
Jesus’ teaching is much different than the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus gets to the heart. “You have heard it said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement.” Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Some think that by contrasting His teaching from what they had heard from of old, Jesus was contrasting His teaching from the Law and the Prophets. But Jesus is the true teacher of the Law and the Prophets. Jesus has not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them.
So, for you to be righteous, you must not simply behave properly on the outside, but your very heart must be righteous. You must desire to do God’s will from the heart and to serve your neighbor out of sincere love for him. Yet, this is impossible by your own power. Scripture says in Romans 8, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” God indeed made mankind in His image with original righteousness, so that the first man and woman desired to do God’s will from the heart. Yet, that original righteousness was lost in Adam’s Fall. Now, all born according to the flesh can do nothing but sin, as our Hymn of the Day states:
From hearts depraved to evil prone,
Flow thoughts and deeds of sin alone;
God’s image lost, the darkened soul
Seeks not nor finds its heav’nly goal. (LSB 562:3, All Mankind Fell)
So, for you to have true righteousness before God, you must have a new heart. What Jesus says here, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” is very much what He said to the Pharisee Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) For you to have a righteousness that gains entrance to the kingdom of heaven, you must have a new heart. You must be born again.
But how can you be born again? Your first birth is after the image of Adam, the man who fell into sin. In Adam’s image you are a sinner. After whose image can your second birth be, so that you can have a pure and righteous heart? Christ Jesus is the true Son of God from eternity. He took on our human flesh without infecting Himself with original sin. In human flesh, Jesus lived righteously from the heart before God. Yet, He took on the sin of the whole world and was punished in the stead of all people. Being God in the flesh, His passion for our sins and innocent death made full satisfaction for our sins. So, in Jesus we have the image of God restored in human flesh. In Christ, mankind has access to true righteousness. So, if you are to be born again, you must be born again after the image of Christ.
St. Paul, who lived as a Pharisee and exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees according to the Pharisees’ standard, writes to the Philippians concerning his blameless righteousness under the law:
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (Philippians 3:7-11)
So, St. Paul makes clear that it is not your works under the Law that will justify you, but only faith in Christ, who gives you His own righteousness as a gift! (Romans 3:20-28; Galatians 2:16)
This righteousness is earned for you by Christ alone. Only Christ’s righteousness gains access to God and His kingdom. And this righteousness of Christ is received through faith alone. This righteousness is given through Christ’s Word and Sacraments. Baptism, which is not just plain water, but water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word gives you the righteousness of Christ. Jesus even teaches that Baptism grants the new birth by which you are born again of the Spirit (John 3:3-6). Without new birth, you cannot believe in Christ or receive His righteousness. The Absolution, where God’s minister declares your sins forgiven in the stead and by the command of Christ also gives you this righteousness of Christ, because righteousness is the opposite of sin. The Lord’s Supper too gives you Christ’s righteousness, because it grants forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The preaching and teaching of the Gospel gives you Christ’s righteousness, because it declares to you God’s grace and mercy for the sake of Christ Jesus, who died for you. All these means of grace are empowered by the same Holy Spirit through the Word of Christ. All these give the same righteousness of Christ, which He earned for you through His perfect obedience. And the righteousness these means of grace give is received through faith alone apart from your works.
This grants great comfort and assurance to the conscience stricken by its own sins. Our sins give us alarm, because we know they set us apart from God. But Christ’s righteousness can never be condemned. So, if you have Christ’s righteousness through faith, then you have certainty that God accepts you. Faith believes the promise of Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper, and the preaching of the Gospel, that God is reconciled to you for the sake of Christ Jesus. This does not depend on your works, but on Christ’s righteousness alone.
Yet, Satan and our old sinful nature always try to twist this word of comfort for their own perverted uses. St. Paul teaches that as sin increases, God’s grace to forgive sins increases even more (Romans 5:20). So, the mind set on the flesh asks, “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?” If Christ gives us His righteousness as a gift and our own works don’t get us into heaven, then why not just do whatever we want, no matter how sinful it is? But this is the way of thinking of an unregenerated unbeliever. Sixteenth century Lutheran Pastor, Johan Spangenberg explains it this way, “Just as it is impossible to have fire without heat, it is no less impossible for the righteousness of faith to be without good works.” This is most certainly true. If you have Christ’s righteousness, then you have been born again. If you have been born again, then you have a new self, born after the image of Christ, which desires to do good. Your new birth has caused you to be a good tree, which bears good fruit. St. Paul explains it in Romans 6, “How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
In Baptism, our old self was crucified with Christ, so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing (Rom. 6:6). Your old self cannot believe in Christ. Only your new self, born again of the Spirit can believe in Christ. So, if you have faith to receive Christ’s righteousness, then you also have the desire to do what is right from the heart.
There is a debate whether Jesus means His own righteousness given as a gift or the righteousness done by the Christian, when He says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Yet, the righteousness of Christ received through faith and the righteousness done by the Christian through faith are so closely united as heat is to fire, that the question is almost moot. The righteousness of the Christian indeed exceeds that of the scribe and Pharisee, because it is done by the heart! God is the judge of our works, not humans, who cannot look upon the heart. Yet, it is essential for you to recognize that even your works done from a Christian heart do not earn your salvation. Only the righteousness of Christ earns your salvation. Yet, the works of a Christian can only be done if you possess Christ’s righteousness through faith.
Jesus emphasizes the close relationship between the righteousness of Christ received through faith and the righteousness done by the Christian be exhorting us to be reconciled. Don’t murder; don’t even get angry! Leave anger to God. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. What’s more, make friends with those who hate you. Repent if you have sinned against others and forgive those who have sinned against you. Do not even offer God your gift if you are not reconciled with your fellow Christian. This is the righteous fruit Jesus desires to be produced from the heart, because He Himself came to reconcile us to God while we were still sinners.
The righteousness of Christ you hold in your heart through faith, which alone grants you access to heaven, cannot lie dormant! As fire cannot but produce heat, so Christ’s righteousness in a believer’s heart cannot but produce good fruits of righteousness. So, put to death what is sinful in you as often as it rises. Do not get angry at your brother or sister in Christ, but seek to be reconciled and live as friends. Bring your sins and their sins to the blood of Christ to be washed away forever. Don’t hold grudges or be afraid to speak honestly with each other. You have died to such unrighteousness when you were joined to Christ in Baptism. And Christ has ignited a fire of righteousness in you that desires to burn warmly, so that God is glorified by others on account of your good works. Amen.

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

Clearing The Noxious Odor of Idolatry

The Difference between a Christian and a Heathen

God Justifies the Sinner

The Infinite Is Capable of the Finite

Righteousness on the Inside

Rev. James Preus

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