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Trinity 1 Love Flows from Faith in Christ

6/25/2019

1 John 4:16-21
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 23, 2019

On June 25th 1530 in Augsburg, Germany, a number of princes and cities presented a confession comprised of twenty-eight articles before Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, which articulated the teaching of what would later be known as the Lutheran Church. These twenty-eight articles are known as the Augsburg Confession. The fourth article is the most important, because it deals with how a sinner is accepted by God. It reads, “Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight (Romans 3 and 4).”
To be justified before God means that God finds you innocent of all sin. It means that you are saved. There are basically two teachings on how a human being is saved: 1. by doing good works, and 2. by grace through faith. The Lutherans came down decisively on that second option. Lutherans believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, apart from our works. We are accepted by God and declared righteous through faith when we believe in Jesus Christ, not on account of our own works.
This is the clear teaching of the Lutheran Church. It is also the clear teaching of the Bible. St. Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes in Romans chapter 3, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” In fact, St. Paul goes on to discuss our Old Testament lesson in the next chapter, “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-6)
So, it is clear from both the Old and the New Testament that we sinners are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by works of the law. But this does not mean that works of the law are bad or that we Christians should not do them. What are works of the law? Well, the law is summarized in God’s command to love: to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself. Scripture plainly says in Romans chapter 13, “love is the fulfilling of the law.”
And so, the law is good. It is good to love. Then why can’t the law save you? Because all the law can do is tell you what is right. But the law cannot give you the ability to do what is right. The law can’t make you love God. The law can deter you from hurting your neighbor physically or from stealing from him, but the law cannot make you love your neighbor from your heart. We are by nature sinful and incapable of loving God. Yes, even unbelievers can do outwardly good works according to the law, but no one can love God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. And that is what the law demands of you.
The law demands perfection and threatens punishment if you do not obey. Well, how can a sinner fulfill the demand to love when God’s righteous wrath hangs over him? Can I make my children love me by threatening to punish them if they don’t? Can a husband gain the affection of his wife by demanding that she love him? Of course not! And so, it is with us and God. As long as the threat of punishment from the law hangs over us, we can never truly love God from the heart, even if we perform outwardly good deeds. Our works will always be stained with sin and hate and fear, and we will remain in doubt of God’s love for us.
The Gospel is different from the law. The Gospel does not demand works of love on our part, but rather reveals to us the love God does for us. St. John writes, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8-10) And again we heard in our Epistle lesson, “We love because he first loved us.”
This is why we love God. He, out of love for us, sent his Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sin in our place and to rise to give us new life. Jesus out of love for the Father and for us left the comfort of his throne and suffered for sins he never committed. And it is through faith in Jesus that God plants true love into our hearts. The threats of the law are as effective in creating love as a farmer is commanding a thorn bush to bear apples. But it is God, who plants love into our hearts through the message of Jesus Christ. God takes the fear out of our hearts by revealing to us his love for us. We are justified before God when we believe God’s promise to forgive us for Christ’s sake, just as Abraham was justified before God when he believed God’s promise.
And so, it is not our works of love that cause God to accept us, but rather God’s work of love, which makes us accepted through faith. Yet, Scripture still says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this command we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21) The same apostle writes, “whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10) and, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15)
Scripture makes clear that Christians must love. The apostle teaches us to consider those in the family of God as our own brothers and sisters. It is popular for people to talk about their own personal relationship with God. God is their close friend. “I may not be religious or go to church, but I have a close relationship with God.” Well, that’s not the way it works. You cannot have a close relationship with God while you hate your fellow Christians. 1 John 5:1 states, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”
True saving faith produces love. Faith is not simply knowledge about God. Faith is trusting in the love God has revealed to you in Jesus Christ. And the love God has revealed to you is the same love he has revealed to the whole world. We have no business to hate those for whom Jesus shed his blood. And especially for those who share the faith in Christ, we must have a tender heart, knowing that the same love that has been made manifest to us has been made manifest to them. It is our duty to forgive one another. God had to cover many more of your faults in order to love you than you could possibly need to cover to love your neighbor.
The rich man was an unbeliever. I know this, because he hated his brother, Lazarus. Jesus doesn’t tell us that the rich man was a thief, or an adulterer, or a drunkard, or any of the popularly condemned sins. The rich man seemed outwardly pious. Yet, he was a murderer. He had so little love for Lazarus, that he let him starve outside his gate. St. John again writes, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17) And indeed the love of God did not abide in the rich man.
Again, this is not to say that you obtain the love of God by loving your brother. No, the rich man did not have the love of God in him, because he did not have faith in the love of God. If he actually felt sorrow for his sins and believe that he had a gracious God who forgave his sins and on top of that provided him with all he needed for his body, he would have loved Lazarus and looked out for his brother. But he gave no thought to God or his love. He thought only of himself.
Christians love. Yet, this word has been so greatly abused, that in the name of love Christians do the very opposite of what God commands. Love is thought to either be the pursuit of sexual desires no matter how against nature they are or how clearly the word of God condemns them, or love is thought to be the acceptance of any behavior. You are loving if you celebrate everyone’s free choice to behave how they want. Yet, that is not what love is. “Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:6) And St. John writes, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” It is loving to confront sin and speak the truth in order to lead others to repentance and to experience the true love of God. In addition to looking out for the physical needs of our brothers and sisters, we should also look out for their spiritual needs.
Scripture makes clear that the Christian Church is a family. As Christians we ought to love one another. This is emphasized in the Divine Service where we receive the love God has for us through faithfully hearing and believing his word and receiving his Sacrament. We confess our common faith. We pray, “Our Father” together as one family and we pray for each other. We hear the common Gospel, which is intended for all. We share in the same body and blood of Christ. It is impossible to benefit from this meal while hating another who receives this meal in faith.
Yes, Christians still sin against each other. And in the Christian congregation there will be conflict. It is common for Christians to be angry at other Christians. Yet, Christian love teaches us how to address these problems. We are to confront those who sin against us with the desire to reconcile through the blood of Christ and forgive those who do us wrong.
This lesson teaches us Christians how we should behave. The law is not useless to us Christians, just because we are saved apart from our works. The law teaches us to do what the love of God in us makes us want to do. And when we see that we have failed to love our neighbor as we ought, we are driven to repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness, which he willingly does for Jesus’ sake as often as we repent. And being forgiven we continue then to love. This is the Christian life on earth. We will never be perfect, but our salvation does not depend on us being perfect, it depends on Jesus. We are saved by the perfect love of Jesus. And as long as we cling to Jesus’ love, hearing and believing his word, we will do works of love for our neighbor. God will make sure that his love works in us. And we believe that the day will come when his love will be perfected in us for all eternity. Amen.

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Rogate Sunday (Easter 6) Praying to the Father in Jesus’ Name

6/25/2019

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John 16:23-30
May 26, 2019

Jesus invites us to pray directly to the Father. This is quite remarkable. The people of Israel in the wilderness were too afraid to pray directly to God, so they told Moses to pray for them. But Jesus tells us to pray directly to the Father and whatever we ask the Father in his name he will give us.
So, it is important for us to know what it means to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name. To pray in Jesus’ name does not simply mean to conclude your prayer by saying, “in Jesus’ name.” The Lord’s Prayer doesn’t even mention Jesus by name, yet, when it is prayed in faith, it is a prayer in Jesus’ name. And there you have it. To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray in faith. It means to pray according to the promises Jesus has spoken, believing that God the Father will indeed hear and answer your prayer for the sake of Jesus Christ. So, it is possible to pray the greatest prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, without praying it in Jesus’ name, if you pray it without faith, not believing that God will answer you for Jesus’ sake. And it is possible to pray in Jesus’ name without saying any coherent words at all, but groaning in the Spirit or simply saying, “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Praying in Jesus’ name does not have to do with your worthiness. You should not feel unworthy to pray to your heavenly Father. You are worthy to pray to God on account of Jesus’ and his merit. God will not reject you, even as he cannot reject his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” This means that your heavenly Father answers you on account of your faith in Christ. When you believe that God truly will fulfill your joy for Christ’s sake, then you know that God will certainly answer your prayers.
The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer Jesus taught us where we address God the Father as Our Father. These are precious words that Jesus invites us to say. Martin Luther explains it in our Small Catechism, “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” These are such simple and comforting words. When a guilty conscience prevents you from praying, because you feel unworthy, read these words from your Small Catechism and pray to your heavenly Father with confidence.
Yet, our personal relationship with God is not the only thing that the introduction, “Our Father, who art in heaven” teaches us. In our hymn of the day Luther writes, “Our Father, who from heav’n above Bids all of us to live in love As members of one family And pray to you in unity...” That little word our says a lot. We don’t pray my Father, not even when we’re alone, but our Father. Whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are praying with the entire Christian Church. We are God’s children. He is our Father. God wants his children to love one another. And so, we should love one another and pray for one another. When you pray the Lord’s Prayer cast out all bitterness toward your fellow Christians and remember that you are praying to their Father just as much as you are praying to yours.
Hallowed be Thy name. Your catechism explains it, “God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Words profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!”
We pray in Jesus’ name, meaning we pray in faith. And faith comes from hearing the word of God. So, the first thing we pray for, the very most important thing we can pray for, is that we will hear the word of God taught in its truth and purity. This is how God’s name is kept holy among us. It is our first and greatest need. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Oh, if we would believe this! And God answers this prayer when we gather to hear and learn God’s holy Word and then, looking into the Law of Liberty, which sets us free on account of Christ, we then live according to this word.
“Thy kingdom come.” This second petition relates to the first. First, we pray that God would send us his pure word. Second, we pray that we would believe it. Your catechism explains, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” God’s kingdom does not come with a great army, but with the power of the Holy Spirit in the word. God rules over us not with brute force, but by creating faith in our hearts, so that we willingly fear, love, and trust in him. And so, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come” what we mean most immediately is that God would increase our faith, so that we would believe his holy word and live as his subjects in his kingdom. In this way, we are then prepared to continue to pray in Jesus’ name. It is like the man, who met Jesus coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, who cried, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) And that is what we are saying when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We pray that his righteous reign would rule in our hearts, so that when his kingdom comes in power, we will enter it with joy.
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is perhaps the most difficult petition to pray, and yet, it can be the most comforting to pray. It is the most difficult petition to pray, because God’s will is not always our will. We don’t pray, “My will be done,” but “Thy will be done.” We often think that we know what we need. We think, if only my back pain will go away, then I’ll be happy. If only I have enough money to pay my bills, I’ll be happy. If only such and such person were out of my life, then I would be happy. If only this or that. And so, that’s what we pray for. But, as we have learned from God’s Word and from experience, it doesn’t work that way. Sometimes God permits a thorn to stay in our side to keep us from becoming conceited, to teach us patience, to strengthen our faith.
God lets us suffer. And that is why praying, “Thy will be done.” can be so difficult. God may let you suffer for a while. And we think of our dear Lord Jesus, who prayed in the garden, “Father, not my will, but Thine be done.” Even as he knew that it was the will of his Father that he go to the cross and bear the guilt of all sinners. Yes, praying that God’s will be done can be scary, especially when we’re not sure what God’s will is.
And this again is why it is good for us to review our Small Catechism. It says, “God’s will is done when he breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is His good and gracious will” Yes, sometimes God’s will for a certain situation is hidden from us. Yet, God’s good and gracious will is revealed to us in Scripture. God’s will is to protect you from every evil and to keep you in the saving faith until you reach eternal life. That is God’s revealed will. And that tells you that God’s will is always good and gracious.
And this is why, “Thy will be done” is the most comforting thing you can pray. Because we do not always know what to pray for as we ought. But when we pray, “Thy will be done” leaving all things to God’s direction, then the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. God’s will is always better than our own will. And so, we Christians can take great joy in praying, “Thy will be done.”
“Give us this day our daily bread.” See how God has not forgotten about you. We spend so much time worrying about our daily bread: what we will eat and wear, where we will live, how we will get this that or the other thing. Yet, God shows you that he knows all that you need and gladly provides them for you. Notice also, that God does not teach us to pray to be rich and secure. People think they are secure when they have a lot of money, when they don’t need to worry about bills. Then they stop praying to God, because they no longer need him. No, God teaches us to pray for our daily bread. Each and every day, God wants us to rely on him for all good things and to receive them with thanksgiving.
“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Your catechism explains, “We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that he would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.”
These again are comforting words when you feel unworthy to pray. But consider this, God himself taught us a prayer in which we pray for forgiveness each and every day. God knows that you will sin. He knows our frame, that we are weak. And he teaches us to ask for forgiveness every time we fall. And he promises to forgive us! We do not pray according to our own worthiness, but we pray in Jesus’ name. Jesus took our sins away. He gives us access to the Father. So, we ask for forgiveness everyday with the sure promise that God will indeed forgive us.
And notice again, that we do not say, “forgive me my trespasses,” but “forgive us our trespasses.” When we pray this petition, we pray that God would forgive our fellow Christians and even those, who sin against us. And when we forgive others, we do so in order to confess our faith that God forgives us our trespasses.
“And lead us not into temptation.” Yes, it is possible to resist temptation. God would not teach you to pray for it if it were not possible. For every temptation, God gives a way of escape. So, when you are tempted, pray, go to Scripture, and pray God to lead you out of temptation.
“And deliver us from evil. We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.” We experience many evils in this life and we are unaware of many more that happen around us. Yet, the greatest evil is to die an unchristian death. To die without faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest evil, because there is no salvation after that. And so, at the close of the Lord’s Prayer, we always pray that God would keep us in the true faith and to grant us a Christian death.
“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” Why do Christians say, “Amen” at the end of prayers? Amen means truly. When Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” He actually said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, …" Your catechism explains it, “This means that I should be certain that these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by him; for he himself has commanded us to pray in this way and has promised to hear us. Amen, amen means ‘yes, yes, it shall be so.’”
And so, when you say, “Amen,” you are saying that you believe that what you have prayed for, you will receive. Amen is a statement of faith. It means that you are praying in Jesus’ name, because you believe that God will give to you as Jesus has promised. When you say “amen” in this way, you are saying that Jesus is not a liar, but always tells the truth. Amen.

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The Holy Spirit Imparts Christ’s Righteousness through His Word

5/20/2019

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Cantate/ Confirmation Sunday (Easter 5) 2019
John 16:5-15
May 19, 2019

Today Jesus teaches us about the Holy Spirit, which is appropriate, because today Lina and Jadyn will be confirmed. And in their confirmation vows they will promise, by the grace of God, to continue steadfast in this faith as long as they live. And we know that we cannot come to faith or remain in the true faith without the work of the Holy Spirit, as we learned in our Small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctifies and keeps me in the true faith.” So, when Lina and Jadyn say, “by the grace of God,” in their vows, what they mean is, “by the work of the Holy Spirit.” It is the Holy Spirit, who will accomplish this for them.
So, how does the Holy Spirit work? There are three things Jesus teaches us about the work of the Holy Spirit: 1. The Holy Spirit does not work apart from the work of Christ; 2. The Holy Spirit accomplishes his work through his Word; 3. The Word of the Holy Spirit is true and trustworthy.
The Holy Spirit does not work apart from the work of Christ. Jesus says, “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” All three convictions carried out by the Holy Spirit are connected to the work of Christ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin, because they do not believe in Jesus. Now, when we think of sin, we typically don’t think of unbelief. We think of stealing, murdering, fornication, slandering, and so forth. But all sins are rooted in unbelief. Why does the thief steal? Because he doesn’t believe that God will provide for him as he promised. Why does the murderer hate? Because he doesn’t believe that God loves the person he hates, even though God says he does. Why does the fornicator fornicate? Because he doesn’t believe that what God gives in marriage is good and better than his desires. Why does the slanderer slander? Because he doesn’t believe that God will give him a better name without him tearing down the names of others. Yes, all sin is rooted in the heart, which fails to believe in God.
And it’s not just that unbelief is the root of all sin, but unbelief has become the only sin, because Jesus Christ has taken away the sins of the world. All sins were laid on Jesus. And Jesus died for them all. That means that there no longer remains any sin to condemn you, unless you do not believe in Jesus. Jesus teaches us in John chapter 3, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” It is unbelief that remains the damnable sin. Only through unbelief can your sins remain on you. But for all who believe in Christ Jesus, their sins do not remain.
This is not to say that as long as you believe in Jesus, you can go on sinning, because Jesus has died for your sins. No, to continue in sin is to continue in unbelief. When you continue in sin without repenting, you are rejecting Christ’s forgiveness. That is not true faith. So, to have faith in the Son of God, who bears all your sins also involves repenting of your sins often.
The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness, because Jesus goes to the Father. Righteousness is the opposite of sin. Righteousness is the forgiveness of sins. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of forgiveness of her sins, because Jesus goes to the Father. Jesus goes to the Father through the cross, where he dies for our sins. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, because of unbelief. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of forgiveness of sins to be received through faith in the Son of God, who died on the cross.
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. The ruler of this world is Satan. He is judged, because Jesus knocked his teeth out by dying on the cross for all sins. Satan’s life work is leading people into sin and then accusing those same people of those sins, and Jesus in one fell swoop wipes all that work away. Now we are not judged, Satan is and all those who choose to follow in his lies and unbelief instead of trusting in Christ.
Everything Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will do in convicting the world is connected to Jesus’ work. The Holy Spirit will not present himself to you without Jesus. He will not work apart from Jesus’ work. Those who seek the Holy Spirit without seeking Christ will never find him. The message the Holy Spirit wants you to believe is that Jesus has accomplished everything for your salvation. It is finished. Jesus has done it. This means that you are not saved by your works. You are saved through faith, when you believe in the work of Jesus done for you. And how does the Holy Spirit create faith in your heart? How does the Holy Spirit transfer Jesus’ work to you, so that you may hold on to it in faith? He does this through his Word. The Holy Spirit accomplishes this work through his Word.
Jesus says, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Spirit gives you what belongs to Christ: righteousness, the love of the Father, an eternal inheritance. You receive all this through faith. And faith receives words. This is why St. Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16) and “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” And St. James tells us that the implanted word is able to save our souls.
You receive all the treasures of heaven when you believe that they are yours for Christ’s sake. And you believe that they are yours when you believe the words of Christ, which the Holy Spirit speaks to you. Just pay attention to the word choice our Lord uses: He will take what is mine and declare it to you. Through speaking the Holy Spirit gives you this treasure.
This is why, Lina and Jadyn, you are asked in your confirmation vows, “Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?” and you will answer, “I do, by the grace of God.” The Holy Spirit speaks Christ’s words when the Holy Scriptures are read, taught, and preached. The Sacraments are empowered by the words of Christ, which the Holy Spirit speaks to you. You promise in your confirmation vows to continue to hear God’s word and receive the Sacrament, meaning that you will faithfully go to church, because Jesus tells you that there the Holy Spirit will declare to you the things of Christ, which alone give eternal life.
Now, you’ll notice that it is normally the pastor, who is speaking. But that doesn’t make it any less the Holy Spirit’s words. The Holy Spirit doesn’t speak out of thin air. He uses ministers, sinful men, to speak his word. And he uses ordinary water to baptize, and regular bread and wine to feed us Christ’s true body and blood. These are called the means of grace. The Gospel preached, Baptism, the Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper all have their authority from God. And they are the means by which the Holy Spirit showers us with God’s grace here on earth. This is why you should never despise them, but trust in them as you trust in your Lord, who gave them to you.
The Word the Holy Spirit speaks to you is true and trustworthy. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth and he told his apostles that he would guide them in all truth. Jadyn and Lina in their confirmation vows will be asked, “Do you hold the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God?” and they will answer, “I do.” The prophetic and apostolic Scriptures are the Old and New Testament. The Holy Spirit inspired, that is, he caused the prophets and the apostles to write the Bible. We Lutherans believe that that Bible is the Word of God. The apostle Peter wrote, “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) Yes, men, human beings physically wrote the Bible. But the Bible is not their words. It is the Word of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
This means that you can trust what you have been taught. What you believe about your Savior Jesus is true. You can have confidence in your salvation. In the collect for today (that’s that short prayer that we pray right before the Old Testament lesson) we prayed, “O God, You make the minds of your faithful to be of one will. Grant that we may love what you have commanded and desire what you promise, that among the many changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found...”
The world is changing. It’s fickle. And it will try to toss you like a boat on the sea. As you pass through this sinful world, which doesn’t believe in Christ and which will be judged along with the devil, your faith will be tested. You need something sturdy, something sound to make it through. The Word of God is sturdy. The Word of God is sound. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth; he cannot lie. What he tells you of your Savior Jesus is certain.
Everything you know about your Savior Jesus you learned from the Holy Spirit. Everything we learned from the Small Catechism is from the Holy Spirit. The Ten Commandment, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, the Office of the Keys, the Sacrament of the Altar, and the Table of Duties; all these subjects of the Small Catechism are taught by the Holy Spirit in Holy Scripture. And they will continue to be just as applicable to your life as they were when you were taught them in Catechism class. As you continue to read and pray your Catechism, attend church to hear the Word of God and receive the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, you continue to be taught by the Holy Spirit. When we say, “Yes, by the grace of God.” we are not just shrugging our shoulders and saying, “who knows whether God will have it so.” No, we know how God’s grace works here on earth. It works through the work of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit, who loves to talk about Jesus; the Holy Spirit who gives you salvation through his Words; the Holy Spirit, who always tells the truth.
May the Holy Spirit keep each and every one of you in the true faith, that you would know Jesus Christ and his work for you and have confidence that your salvation is true. Amen.

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Jesus Gives Joy That Cannot Be Taken Away

5/20/2019

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Jubilate Sunday (Easter 4)
John 16:16-23
May 12, 2019

“That’s the good part of life.” I’ve heard that statement a lot the past few years. Every Thursday morning at 6:30 I have breakfast at the Country Kitchen Café for Men’s Bible Breakfast. We eat breakfast and then we study the Bible. It’s a lot of fun. And for the past few years I’ve taken one of my children with me. They’ll eat their pancake and then color on a coloring sheet with crayons while the men read and discuss the Bible. With one of my little ones on my knee as I drink my coffee, one of the older guys will inform me that that’s the good part of life. And he’s right. I love my wife and I love my children. I love that I can drink coffee while one of my kids sits on my knee. I love that when I ask a question to the guys during Bible study my daughter will pipe up with an answer before them to express her simple childlike trust in her Savior Jesus. God has certainly blessed me throughout my life. But I can honestly say that I have not enjoyed any part of my life as much as what I’m living right now. I wish it would last forever, but it won’t. The wise men at Bible breakfast have informed me that it won’t and they’re right.
My children will grow too big to sit on my knee. Although I pray to God, I will always have a good relationship with my children, our relationship will change. They’ll grow up to be teenagers and eventually move out, get married, have their own families and their own best time of their life. And although I know that is a long way from now, I’ve been informed by those older and wiser that it will happen sooner than I think.
Our Lord makes reference to women in the travail of childbirth. A mother loves her children, but no woman enjoys the labor that precedes holding her baby in her arms. Certainly, no woman wishes that she were in labor longer. And this is the way it is with us. When we are enjoying life, we want it to last forever. When we are suffering, we want the suffering to end as soon as possible. But that’s not the way life works. All good things come to an end and suffering will last as long as suffering will last.
Jesus tells his disciples that for a little while they will have sorrow, but their sorrow will turn to joy. There are two little whiles that Jesus speaks of. A little while and they will see him no longer and they will weep and lament while the world rejoices. This little while is when Jesus is taken from them. And while Jesus is being put on trial and beaten and finally crucified, his disciples are in fear of the world, which hates their teacher. And for a little while Jesus lies dead, encased in a tomb as his disciples hide behind locked doors in great sorrow and fear. Yet, this little while of sorrow ends when Jesus appears to them alive and shows them his hands and his side. He breathes on them and gives them the Holy Spirit. He speaks God’s peace to them and gives them authority to forgive sins on earth. They see their Rabbi again and their hearts are filled with joy.
Yet, this doesn’t last forever. They see Jesus’ glorious risen body; a body, which was sown perishable, but is now risen imperishable; a body which shed its mortality and put on immortality. Yet, their bodies remained mortal. Not only would each of them eventually die, but they would do what all mortals do, they would sin. And they would feel the pains of their mortal nature until they finally died. The risen body of Christ they saw on that first Sunday would leave their sight just forty days later when Jesus would ascend into heaven. Then their second little while would begin; a little while, which would last for the rest of their lives until their death would bring it to an end for them.
It is this second little while in which we live right now. For yet a little while, Christ Jesus is out of our sight. And for yet a little while, we Christians have sorrow. Christians have sorrow when they are away from Christ, as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, “we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (vs. 8) This is why Jesus says, “but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice.” We first receive the sorrow of this little while when we receive our faith in Jesus Christ and begin longing to see him, to be with him, and to be as he is. To be a Christian on this earth is to be a pilgrim, a sojourner, a stranger in a foreign land. We are not at home here. We are at home with the Lord. So, until we are with him, for this little while, we will have sorrow.
There are three things that bring us Christians sorrow. First, there is Satan, who will constantly attack your faith and attempt to take Christ out of your heart. Satan wants Christ Jesus removed from you as far as the east is from the west, as far as the heavens are from the earth. And he will not rest until he accomplishes his aim. And he will use whatever tool he has at his disposal.
Second, there is the world. Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world. The world rejoices while Jesus is taken away from his disciples. The world follows its prince obediently. As the world put Jesus on trial for blasphemy, the disciples hid from persecution. And so, it is today. The world puts Jesus on trial while Jesus’ Christians are persecuted. Now Christians have been accused of dramatizing the persecution of Christians, and it is true that none of us is risking life or limb worshiping Christ here today. Yet, while it is true that Christians are paying for their faith in Christ with their own blood in other parts of the world and have done so since the stoning of Stephen, we too experience the sorrow of Christians living in this world, which hates Christ.
We have sorrow, because the world hates Jesus. And we, who love Jesus, must live in this world. The world manifests its hatred for Jesus in a number of ways. The government, which bears God’s authority to carry out justice sanctions the killing of unborn children. The word love, which God uses to describe his action of sending his Son to bear our sin to save us from eternal damnation is used to describe every perversion under the sun, which God expressly forbids in Scripture. To fit in and be normal you need to routinely deny Christ. Sports activities for children are regularly scheduled on Sunday mornings, the time Christians throughout the world have reserved for worshiping Christ for nearly two thousand years. It is customary to take God’s name in vain, to cuss, speak filthily, and get drunk. It is normal to fornicate and to bring lawsuits against one’s brother. It is expected that we should compromise the teachings of Scripture for the sake of momentary peace. Conventional wisdom and morals continue to move further and further from what Christ teaches us in Scripture.
We are foreigners in this world. As Christians we think and talk differently. Yet, we live in this world and it changes us. Like the Israelites, who forgot how to speak their native Hebrew while living in exile in Babylon for seventy years, so we forget how to speak the language of our God. We talk like the world. We live like the world. We think like the world. And the world does not know Jesus.
And yet, perhaps the most troubling of these three enemies of Christ which bring sorrow to us in this foreign land is that which clings closest to us; that which St. Peter warns us against in our Epistle lesson, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” Our very own flesh, our sinful human nature, attacks us. St. Paul bemoans this in Romans chapter 7, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (vss. 18-19)
This is the sorrow of which Christ speaks to us. It is a sorrow that comes from being removed from Christ and it is a sorrow that can only be realized through faith. Jesus isn’t talking about your chronic pain, your cancer diagnosis, or your money problems. He’s talking about Christ being hidden from your eyes and everything around you, including your own sinful heart, trying to yank you further and further away from him.
Jesus compares this sorrow to a woman giving birth. She is sorrowful, because her hour of pain has come, but when the child is born she forgets her anguish for joy that a man has been born into the world. These are bold words for a man to speak. I don’t know what it’s like to go into labor. But, Jesus does. Jesus is God. He knows everything. He’s the only man ever to live to know exactly what a woman experiences. And it’s not just that Jesus knows what a woman experiences, he has himself borne the pain. On the cross he bore not only great physical pain in his crucifixion, which is where we get the word, excruciating. He bore the just punishment for all guilt. Jesus not only knows exactly how it feels for a woman to give birth, he himself has felt the guilt a woman feels when she fails to be a good mother. On the cross Jesus suffered the travail of guilt for every sin you’ve committed by failing as a mother, as a father, son, and daughter. And he bore that guilt, so that you would not have to in eternity.
Jesus is not like the husband, who holds the hand of his laboring wife yet otherwise feels completely helpless. And he doesn’t simply express empathy like a mother of seven does when she gives a compassionate smile to a young woman in the ninth month of her first pregnancy, knowing what she is about to suffer. Jesus doesn’t just tell us that we’ll have suffering for a little while, so deal with it. Jesus gives us reason to hope that at the end of this sorrow we will have joy, and he even gives us strength to endure this sorrow now.
We must remember when Jesus gives this lesson. It is on the night when he was betrayed, in the upper room where he instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood for his Christians to eat and to drink. Jesus gives his Church this Sacrament, so that his Christians might have strength to endure their pilgrimage on this earth, that they might have joy in the midst of sorrow. Jesus does not give us a cup of woe to drink. No, Jesus had to drink that himself to make atonement for our sins. Rather, Jesus gives us his body, which died on the cross and his blood, which was shed to wash away your sins. He does not give you a dead body, but a living body and living blood. In the Sacrament, Jesus gives his body and blood, which are risen from the dead. And in faith we receive joy, knowing that we too will shed our mortality and put on immortality.
It is faith, which makes you aware of the sorrow you feel because Christ is out of your sight. Yet, it is only through faith that you can receive a taste of that joy, which you will have for all eternity. Through faith you believe that Christ Jesus is in fact with us today. He has not left us as orphans or as shepherd-less sheep. Jesus gives us the fruit of his cross here in this Christ-less world. We are given the power of Jesus’ resurrection even as we live in these mortal bodies.
As a Christian you recognize what true sorrow is, yet you also recognize where true joy is found. True joy is found where Christ Jesus is. And Christ Jesus is where his word is. Here, we have joy through faith alone, but Christ promises us that we will see him again. In that day our faith will no longer be needed. Our joy will be complete, because we will see Jesus as he is, not hidden behind anything. And even more, we will be like him. Our mortal, sinful bodies will not block Christ from us, because our bodies will be renewed after the image of Christ. Satan and the world will not be able to draw us away from Jesus, because Christ will cast Satan out and make the heavens and earth anew. Then we will begin the good part of life. And it will never end. In that day our hearts will rejoice, and no one will take that joy from us. Amen.

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Good Shepherd Sunday

5/20/2019

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The Parable of the Good Shepherd,1565 After Pieter Bruegel the Elder Netherlandish metmuseum.org Public Domain

Misericordias Domini/Good Shepherd Sunday/Easter 3
Who is the Good Shepherd?
John 10:11-18
May 5, 2019

Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” But what does it mean that Jesus is the Good shepherd? Well, first, it means that Jesus is the Lord God. We heard from Ezekiel chapter 34, “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep.” (vss. 11-12) And God finishes this chapter saying, “And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.” (vs. 31) And King David writes in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Second, the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. St. Peter writes, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25)
The Good Shepherd is truly God, the same Lord for whom David sang, the same God who pledged that he would gather his human sheep together into one pasture. The Good Shepherd is truly a human being, a sinless human being without blemish, who laid down his own life for the sake of his sheep. Had God not told us this, we never would have believed it. Our vision of a good shepherd is much different than this. Yes, good shepherds feed and tend their sheep, but they also sheer and butcher them. No shepherd would die for his sheep, but this is what Jesus does.
Jesus speaks of his sheep. Who are Jesus' sheep? Well, Scripture tells us that his sheep are people, who have strayed every one to his own way. Jesus' sheep are sinners, whom he calls together into one flock. He says that he has other sheep that are not of this fold, whom he must bring also, so that there is one flock. These other sheep are those outside of Israel. Jesus' flock is not made only of Jews, but of sheep from every nation on earth. And he calls them and unites them together into one flock. This one flock is the holy Christian Church. Martin Luther writes, “Thank God, today a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.” The Church is made up of sinners. Yet, the Church is made up of saints. Jesus' sheep are sinners by nature. They deserve to die. Yet, Jesus has laid down his life for them, he has forgiven them, and led them out of their sin and into righteousness. Jesus' sheep are saints, because Christ Jesus has maid them holy with his innocent suffering and death.
How do Jesus' sheep recognize their Good Shepherd? His voice. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) The Church is the flock of Jesus' sheep. But you will not find the Church by looking for sheep. You will find the Church by listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Jesus' sheep will not listen to the voice of another shepherd. They will only listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers,” Jesus says. (John 10:5) The voice of the Good Shepherd is his pure teaching and Sacraments. You know you are hearing the voice of your Shepherd when you hear the true teaching of Scripture that teaches that the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. Do not listen to the voice of a shepherd, who does not lay down his life for his sheep, or who does not have authority to take his life up again, or who is not one with the Father, or who does not rebuke sin and forgive the sinner. But where you hear the Word of God taught purely, where the law calls sinners to repentance, and the Gospel comforts sinners with forgiveness won by Christ alone and is given as a gift to be received by faith, that is the voice of your Good Shepherd. Where Jesus washes away sins in the waters of Baptism and feeds his flock his own body and blood for forgiveness and strengthening of faith and love, there is your Good Shepherd.
Our Lutheran Confessions say in the introduction to the Formula of Concord (SD), “It is not only necessary that the pure wholesome doctrine be rightly presented for the preservation of pure doctrine and for thorough, permanent, godly unity in the Church, but it is also necessary that the opponents who teach otherwise be reproved (1 Tim 3; [2 Timothy 3:16[; Titus 1:9). Faithful shepherds, as Luther says, should do both things: (a) feed or nourish the lambs and (b) resist the wolves. Then the sheep may flee from strange voices (John 10:5-12) and may separate the precious from the worthless (Jeremiah 15:19).”
Wolves in sheep's clothing exist, so do false shepherds and hirelings. Jesus does not only call us to listen to his voice, but to watch out for the wolves and to run away from the voice of a stranger. Strangers teach contrary to Jesus. You can tell a stranger's voice when they contradict what your Good Shepherd tells you.
This past Holy Week the New York Times published an interview with the president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, Serene Jones, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and alum of Yale Divinity School. In the interview, Jones said that the Crucifixion of Jesus “is not something that God is orchestrating from upstairs. The pervasive idea of an abusive God-father who sends his own kid to the cross so God could forgive people is nuts.”, she says. Of course, Scripture told us that the world would find the idea that God sent his Son to die for our sins as foolishness. “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18) Jones, calls the atoning Sacrifice of Christ “nuts.” She thinks that Jesus' crucifixion was not part of God's plan, but rather an accident that just happened. Yet, our Good Shepherd says, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.” (John 10:17)
Jones also denies that we can have certainty that Christ Jesus rose from the dead. She says, “Those who claim to know whether or not [the resurrection] happened are kidding themselves. But that empty tomb symbolizes that the ultimate love in our lives cannot be crucified and killed.” So, for her, Easter is just a symbol without any grounding in historical fact. No one knows what really happened on that first Easter morning. Yet, St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (vs. 17) And our Good Shepherd says, “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.” (John 10: 17-18)
Scripture teaches us that because Christ has risen from the dead, we too will rise from the dead. Well, since Jones seems unconvinced that Jesus rose from the dead, what does she think will happen when we die? The interviewer asked her that very question and she answered, “I don't know! There may be something, there may be nothing. My faith is not tied to some divine promise about the afterlife.” Yet, what does our Good Shepherd teach us, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” (vss. 27-28) Jesus promises to give his sheep eternal life.
Now, I share this information from this interview with the president of Union Theological Seminary to show you that someone, who self identifies as a Christian minister and who educates future Christian ministers for a living, denies that Jesus died for your sins, or that he rose from the dead, or that you have certainty of eternal life. Yet, she calls herself a Christian minister. And there are others like her, who preach and teach in church buildings, who tell people how to be Christians, and yet, they deny what our Good Shepherd teaches us. If you know the voice of your Good Shepherd you will recognize that these voices are not his. And as a sheep of Jesus' fold, you should mark and avoid such false teachers.
Yet, such teaching is growing in popularity. People don't want to be bound to a particular teaching like the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. They want to be more free. People don't want to admit that their desires and behavior are sinful. It is much more appealing to say, “God made me this way!” and indeed many so-called Christian ministers teach people just that, what God calls a sin in Scripture couldn't possibly be a sin, because God made you that way. Logic and emotion trump the clear word of God. Progressive Christianity teaches you to find your Good Shepherd in your own heart, not in the stale, outdated pages of the Bible. Yet, your Good Shepherd tells us that out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. (Matthew 15:19)
Those who promote progressive Christianity don't like our Good Shepherd. They don't like that he calls sin, sin. They don't like that he says that he is the only way to eternal life. They don't like that he calls us to repent of our sins and believe in forgiveness won on the cross. So, they follow other voices. Yet, when the devil comes, that wolf, who devours the sheep, what will these other voices do for the sheep who follow them? When death and judgment come, what will these strangers do? They won't be anywhere in sight. They won't be able to fend off Satan. They won't be able to give comfort and courage when death draws near and judgment is at the door.
Only the Good Shepherd can rescue you from the devil. Only the Good Shepherd, who laid down his own life for you will be able to carry you through death into eternal life. Only the Good Shepherd, who took his life back from the grave will be able to make you stand on the day of judgment with no fear of condemnation.
One other thing Serene Jones said in that interview; she said that she did not worship an “all-powerful, all-controlling omnipotent, omniscient being.” She doesn't believe that God is all-knowing. Well, our Good Shepherd certainly is all knowing. Not only does he know all things, from the most distant galaxies to the functions of the genomes in each cell, he knows you. Yes, he knows everything you've done. He knows all your hopes and dreams and fears. He knows your most secret sins. But even more, he knows you by name, even as he called you by name in your Baptism. He knows you as his own. He knows your sins and he bore them for you willingly. He knows you as his own little lamb whom his Father has given to him. And he loves you. And no one will be able to snatch you out of his hand, because his Father has given you to him. You know this, because your Good Shepherd told you this. And when you hear the voice of your Good Shepherd, you believe it. Amen.

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

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Good Shepherd Sunday

Rev. James Preus

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