Category: Easter Sunday

Our Faith Is Not in Vain

4/9/2023

Diogo de Congreiras, Ressureicao, 1540-45. Public Domain.

Easter Sunday
1 Corinthians 15:17
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 9, 2023

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!

Faith still has a favorable view in the public opinion. Relatively few people will look down upon you if you say that your faith is important or that you live by faith. However, we need to make a distinction between the faith by which you believe and the faith in which you believe. When people talk about their faith they usually mean the former, the faith by which you believe, that is, how you believe. Yet, it is when you talk about the latter, the faith in which you believe, that is, what you believe that will cause you trouble. Most people are happy for you that you trust in something and by that act of trusting, your life is better. Yet, if you believe what they find offensive, then they are no longer pleased with your faith.
And so, almost unconsciously, when people talk about their faith, they rarely talk about what they believe and rather focus on how they believe. There is no controversy in that. And so, it has become popular to be spiritual and not religious. Following a creed is a faux pas, but following your own heart is the most honorable thing you can do. And that’s really what most people mean by, “I have faith” today. They mean that they follow their own heart.
Yet Holy Scripture says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) And our Lord Jesus says that out of the heart come evil thoughts (Matthew 15:19). So, according to Scripture, your heart is the last thing you should follow. And it doesn’t matter how strong your faith is if what you believe in is false.
And this is the first thing that separates the Christian faith from every other faith in the world. St. Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” St. Paul hinges the entire Christian faith on the historical event of Jesus rising from the dead! If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then you shouldn’t believe in Christ! Christ’s preaching does you no good! You shouldn’t follow Him! Yet, since Christ Jesus is risen from the dead, you should most certainly believe in Him and nothing else.
The Law of Moses gave a standard for determining whether something is true, which has stood up against the ages as the most reliable standard for truth. “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.” (Deuteronomy 19:15) Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses should you believe that something is true.
Yet, there were not two or three, but four evangelists who recorded the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They were eyewitnesses of these events and wrote down the testimony of many other eye witnesses of the events, and they did this all within the first century, a mere decades after Jesus rose. And in 1 Corinthians 15, St. Paul gives a detailed account of the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection: Cephas (that is Peter), then the Twelve (that is the eleven who remained of the Twelve), then to over five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom were still alive when Paul wrote this account, then to James the brother of Jesus, then to all the Apostles, which must include Barnabas, then finally the risen Christ appeared to St. Paul. And Paul does not even list the women, who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection, namely Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Plus, the accounts of these men were inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself.
In addition to the biblical records of Jesus’ resurrection, we also have the writings of Jewish historian, Josephus, who lived between 37 AD and 100 AD, who although not a Christian, wrote of Jesus’ crucifixion by Pontius Pilate and how His disciples did not abandon Him after His death, but confessed His resurrection on the third day. Also, there is the early second century Roman historian, Tacitus, who recorded Christ’s crucifixion by Pontius Pilate. Jesus’ crucifixion is a matter of historical record. Yet, no one has been able to disprove Jesus’ resurrection.
The resurrection of Christ is an historically verifiable event. It meets the greatest standard of truth. The high priests could have easily proven that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead by producing his dead body. So could the Roman authorities. Yet, they didn’t. Instead the apostles along with hundreds of other eye witnesses suffered the loss of their goods, freedom, friends, money, and many of them their lives, confessing Jesus’ death and resurrection to the end.
Now, if you lived around the year 30 AD when Jesus rose from the dead and you had a great, strong faith following your heart, and it worked for you, whether you were a Pharisee following the 613 commandments of the Torah, or a Sadducee observing the temple rituals, or a Roman pagan worshipping the cult of the gods, and then you found out that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, would you continue to follow the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees or of the Romans, who put Him to death? No! The fact that Christ is risen from the dead means that your faith must change, that is, what you believe in must change.
And so, it goes for us today. Faith does you no good if it is not in what is true! Even if it makes your heart happy, even if it is where you think you belong, if it is false, you shouldn’t follow it. Jesus’ resurrection changes everything. Jesus rose from the dead! You should forsake everything and follow Him!
Yet, it is not simply that Jesus rose from the dead that you must believe. The chief priests knew that Jesus rose from the dead, but they paid the guards of the tomb money to be quiet. The guards of Jesus’ tomb knew that Jesus rose from the dead, but they accepted money to keep quiet about it. And many people throughout the centuries and still today believe that Jesus rose from the dead, yet they do not trust in Jesus’ resurrection for their salvation, but continue to trust in their own works instead.
What does Jesus’ resurrection mean? It means that your sins are forgiven! Jesus died for the sins of the whole world! Friday night we heard from Isaiah 53, “Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (vss. 4-6)
The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. The wages of sin is death. Jesus, the Godman died. And His death was too much for the grave. He paid too much for the sins, so that when He died, the graves burst open and some of the saints came to life! It is impossible for our sins to be greater than Christ’s death, because Jesus is God.
And that is what Jesus’ resurrection proves. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 4 that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” He was raised for our justification, because He paid for our trespasses. The historical fact that Christ Jesus died and rose proves that your sins have been paid for and that God is reconciled to you. This leads us to the second thing that separates the Christian faith from every other faith in the world. According to the Christian faith, you are saved by grace, as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ alone apart from your works.
God reconciled Himself to the world by putting the sin of the whole world on Jesus and having Him die for it. God put the whole world’s debt on Jesus and made Him pay for it. God made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that you, who are a sinner, may be the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5). God has done it all. There is nothing left for you to do to earn your salvation. Christ has won it for you. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:57) Christ gives us the victory as a gift. We receive this gift through faith.
That is what you should believe based on the historical facts. That is the faith in which you must trust in order to be saved. Yet, now we must ask how should you believe? Before you knew Christ and the power of His resurrection, you followed your own heart. How you followed it diligently and loyally. But now, you can no longer follow your deceitful heart. You know the truth. Christ is risen. So, how should you follow Him? How should you believe in Him?
We should follow Christ wholly. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is the only way to heaven. Only Jesus has paid for your sins and defeated death and hell for you. Jesus declares, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25) There is no certainty of salvation apart from Jesus.
This means that you should not follow your own heart, while claiming that you are following Jesus, as if Jesus lives in your heart apart from the words, He spoke to you. Jesus said, “If you abide in My words, you are My disciples indeed, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31) and again, “If anyone would come after Me, let Him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24). And after Jesus rose from the dead, before He ascended into heaven, He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold I am with you always to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
We are saved by grace apart from our works, but that does not mean we can continue in sin. St. Paul writes, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) As followers of Christ, we must daily cleanse out the old leaven in us by repenting of our sins and trusting in Christ for forgiveness. Remembering our Baptism, we must die with Christ everyday and rise to live before Him in righteousness each day. If we continue in sin without repenting, then we are rejecting the sacrifice Christ made for us (Hebrews 10:26).
Christ’s resurrection changes everything. It means that our sins are forgiven before God in heaven. It means that we are saved through faith apart from our works. It means that we should believe in Christ Jesus wholly, abiding in His Word and teaching, repenting of our sins, and finding comfort in His promise of forgiveness and salvation in His Gospel and Sacraments. Christ’s resurrection means that our faith in Him is not in vain and we are no longer in our sins.
Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!

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He Is Risen

4/19/2022

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Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb, Fra Angelico, 1440 - 1442. Public Domain

Easter Sunday
Mark 16:6
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 17, 2022

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

So what? No, I’m not being flippant. For every what, there needs to be a so what, or better yet, for us Lutherans, a “What does this mean?”. The what is precisely what the angel said, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen.” That is the what. Well, what does this mean? It means that our sins are forgiven, that we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ apart from our works, that we are at peace with God, as St. Paul says in Romans 4 and 5, “Jesus Christ was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus died for our trespasses. He was raised for our justification, meaning, that his resurrection proves that the sacrifice Jesus offered for our sins has been accepted by God. Jesus’ resurrection means that God is at peace with us, as Jesus’ first words to his disciples on the night of that first Easter prove, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19)

So, on this Easter morning and every day you must believe that your sins are forgiven, that God declares you righteous in his sight, and that you are at peace with God for the sake of Christ’s death and resurrection. You must believe this for two reasons. First, because Jesus did indeed die for the sins of the whole world, as the prophets, John the Baptist, the Apostles, and Christ Jesus himself declared, and he rose from the dead on the third day, proving that what he proclaimed is true, that he is indeed the Son of God, that all our sins have once and for all been washed away in his blood. Second, we must believe that our sins are forgiven and that we are justified before God on account of Jesus’ death and resurrection, because Jesus himself has promised us this, and Jesus is not a liar (John 3:15-16; 6:57; Mark 16:16; Titus 1:2).

So, now we have the so what, or rather, the meaning of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Now, we need the therefore. What must necessarily happen on account of the resurrection of Christ? Jesus himself gives us the therefore: therefore, repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning with Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47) Repentance and forgiveness of sins must be proclaimed in Jesus’ name. Because Jesus has done all the work, (he labored on the cross, and he rose from the dead) there is nothing for us to do in order to be saved except to believe the promise. And whoever believes the promise is saved. But how can they believe in him of whom they have never heard? (Romans 10:14) So, in order for people to be saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection, this Gospel must be preached to them. This is why Jesus prayed to the Father the night he was betrayed, “I do not ask for these only (that is, not for his Apostles only), but also for those who will believe in me through their words.” (John 17:20) Faith comes by hearing the words of Christ. (Romans 10:17) Without hearing these words, no one can come to saving faith.

The content of Jesus’ message is repentance and forgiveness of sins. Now, repentance properly speaking consists of two parts: 1. sorrow over sins, and 2. faith in the forgiveness of sins. This is why the Gospel is not properly preached when the bare message that Jesus died on the cross for sinners is preached without any context. Sinners must know that they are sinners before they can believe that Jesus saves sinners. A sick person must know that he is sick before he will take any medicine. So, those who preach the Gospel must always first preach the Law. They must make sinners aware that they have offended God, that they deserve to go to hell for their sins, that they are by nature no good. You must know that you have offended God, that you deserve to go to hell, that you are by nature no good.

This sounds mean and impolite, but it is as impolite as a doctor telling his patient he has cancer. It is only when a sinner feels remorse for what he has done wrong and fears God’s punishment that he will then take hold of the Gospel that God forgives all sins for the sake of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. Then the Gospel is the most wonderful message in the world. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Your sins are left nailed to the cross. Everything has been accomplished. This salvation is a free gift received through faith alone.

The ‘so what’ of the resurrection is that salvation is a free gift. The ‘therefore’ of the resurrection is that this Gospel should be preached, so that sinners may repent of their sins and receive this forgiveness and salvation through faith alone apart from works. Yet, fruits of faith are bound to follow this faith, that is, the person who repents and believes in this Gospel will do good works, as St. Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) This is why John the Baptist preaches, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” (Luke 3:8), and why Jesus says, “Every tree that does not bear good fruits will be cut down and throne into the fire.” (Matthew 7:19)

Yet, these good works are called fruit, meaning, they are not produced on account of compulsion, not forced, but done willingly because of a new heart born of the Spirit. This is why Martin Luther writes (and this is quoted in the Formula of Concord article on Good Works):

Faith, however, is a divine work in us that changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[:12-13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. … Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. [LW 35:370:370-71]” (SD IV:11-12)

To have faith in Christ’s resurrection means to die to sin and to live to Christ. When you trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, your new self desires to do what is right. This is why St. Paul answers the question, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”, by saying, “By no means! How are we who died to sin still to live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:1-3) He then explains, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:8-11)

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! You must not say that if you do not believe it! You must not say that and go on living as if Christ is still dead. You must not go on living in sin, hating your brother and refusing to be reconciled, living sexually immoral lives, being greedy and covetous, speaking ill of others, going weeks and months without hearing the Word of God preached, of which Christ said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciple.” If you believe that Christ Jesus is risen from the dead and that he has put away your sins, then you must also die to your sins and live to Christ. Of course, if you believe that Christ Jesus is risen from the dead after having died for your sins, then you want to put away your sins and do what is right. You want to die to sin forever and live to Christ forever. That is the desire of the new man. That is the fruit of faith.

Yet, the old sinful Adam still hangs around. He fights against the Spirit within you. Have you checked your fruit and seen that it doesn’t look too good? In this life, Christians produce good fruit in great weakness. They’re always imperfect. So, although true faith does produce good fruit and Christians should be busy doing good works, when we examine our fruit, we always see that we are still sinners. When we compare our fruit to God’s Law, we see that we still deserve to go to hell. This is why we must never forsake the ‘therefore’ and the ‘so what.’ We need the proclamation of the Gospel today. We must hear the call to repentance and the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake today. As long as we live in this life, burdened with our sin, with our old Adam drawing us to rebel against God, we need to be brought to repentance. We need to hear that Jesus died for our sins and rose, so that we are forgiven, so that we may be justified in God’s sight and have peace with him.

Whatever keeps you from hearing this Gospel is from the devil. Our Lord Jesus bore the sins of the whole world. This was not a small task. He suffered hell on the cross in order to pay for our sins. And he rose again, having vanquished sin, death, and hell for us. And what does he say after he wins this victory? He says that repentance and forgiveness of sins must be proclaimed to all. That is the only way people can be saved through faith in what Jesus has done. That is the only way that sinners can be brought to repentance. That is the only way you can be saved. Jesus is not done preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins. He’s not done preaching for your sake, because he desires your salvation. And so, for the sake of your salvation, you must not be done listening. You’re still a sinner. Satan is still trying to destroy your soul. You need to hear what your risen Lord has to say to you in order for you to be saved. And what Jesus has to say is the most comforting message.

As important as they are, your fruits of faith do not save you. Only Jesus’ suffering and death for your sins and resurrection does. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead means that your salvation has been accomplished for you. Your sins have been atoned for. You are forgiven. Satan has been defeated. You’ve been rescued from hell. Christ has made heaven your home. You too will rise from the dead and live forever with Christ. That is what Jesus’ resurrection means. God grant that we believe it. Let us pray.
Thou hast died for my transgression,
All my sins on Thee were laid;
Thou hast won for me salvation,
On the cross my debt was paid.
From the grave I shall arise
And shall meet Thee in the skies.
Death itself is transitory;
I shall lift my head in glory. Amen.

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He is going before you to Galilee

4/4/2021

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Annibale Carracci, Holy Women at Christ's Tomb, 1590. Public Domain

Easter Sunday
Mark 16:6-7

Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 4, 2021

“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

On Thursday night this congregation gathered to observe the annual remembrance of the night when the Lord Jesus was betrayed into the hands of evil men, so that he could begin his passion for our sins. It was on that night when Jesus told his disciples that he would rise from the dead and go before them into Galilee (Mark 14:27-28). But the disciples weren’t paying attention to what Jesus said. They were too busy vowing emphatically that even if all others fell away, even if they must die, they would not leave Jesus. Of course, they couldn’t even wait up with him one hour to pray with him in his agony. And when danger came, they all fled.
Now these women, at the command of the angel, are to tell these same disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee. The last time they saw Jesus, they were abandoning him to death. They were breaking their word. Now, they are to see Jesus victorious over death, hell, and Satan. How do you think they feel?
Imagine a troop of soldiers marching with their commander and king off to battle. As they go, each one pledges his loyalty to this king and promises to die on the battle field rather than leave him. They wave his banner. They rattle their swords. They sing their king’s praises. Yet, when they reach the battlefield and see the green valley below them darkened by the bodies of well-armed soldiers, they freeze in their tracks. They watch as their commander and king walks forward without them. Paralyzed in fear, they stand watching until their king meets the opposing army in the center of the battlefield and they see him struck down to the ground, and every one of the king’s men flees in the opposite direction, leaving their swords and shields, even their clothes behind them.
They go and hide. One of them gets interrogated by a peasant woman, and he denies his loyalty to his king with an oath. The cowardly soldiers go and hide behind locked doors, confident that their lord is dead. Then they hear the cries of women. They declare the news that their king did indeed win the battle, what’s more, he has sent a message to meet him at their old camping grounds. Can you imagine how those cowardly soldiers would feel to go and meet him, whom they abandoned? If they can get over the shock that he isn’t dead, they would assume he would rebuke them for abandoning him; that he would tell them that they are worthless soldiers, not worthy of waving his banner; that they deserve death for deserting him on the battlefield; that their offense was as bad as treason!
That’s certainly what you would expect in such a situation. Yet, that is not how our Lord Jesus dealt with his disciples when he met with them after they abandoned him to death. Rather, he said, “Peace to you.” And to assure them that it was he and that he truly was risen from the dead and not some ghost, he ate with them and bid them to touch the wounds on his hands and feet. Yes, he rebuked them, but only for their unbelief. Instead, he focused on forgiving them and strengthening their faith, so that they could forgive others and bring others into his kingdom.
This truly is a marvelous thing. Jesus fought; his disciples fled. Jesus laid down his life; his disciples saved their own skin. Jesus won the battle, but he gives the victory to those who fled the battlefield. It is as we heard in our Epistle lesson, “‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54b-57)
And this very much describes our situation as well. Each Sunday, we begin our week by worshiping our Lord and King, confessing him as Lord. We confess our sins and remember the name he has placed on us in Baptism. We confess to not be of this world, but of his kingdom. We pledge never to leave him, that we will do better this week than we did the week before. But quickly our eyelids grow heavy when we should be keeping watch. We fall asleep when we should be praying. We abandon Christ’s teaching and flee from our responsibilities as Christians, to confess Christ and not be ashamed of him and to love others, even those whom we think hate us. And many of us fail to even come on the Lord’s Day to make such a pledge and confession, because the world has so sucked us in to those things which will pass away. And then we come again to the old camping grounds, where Jesus invites us to meet him, to our Galilee, and we’re ashamed. We’re ashamed because we didn’t stay true to that prayer we sang to put to death the sin within us. We’re ashamed, because we forgot Jesus and didn’t abide with him throughout the week or weeks since we last gathered before him. We’re ashamed, because he fought for us, but we did not fight for him.
And yet, whenever we gather, our Lord does not deny us. Rather, he renews his love for us, he gives us the victory we do not deserve, he joins us to himself. He forgives us our sins against him and he strengthens us to continue the course.
Yet, this shame is real. And it keeps us from going to Galilee, so to speak, to see our risen Lord. That's certainly what happened to Jesus’ disciples. If you read the Easter accounts from the four Gospels, you’ll notice that although Jesus tells them to meet him in Galilee, they don’t meet him in Galilee until the third time Jesus appears to them! Because of shame and unbelief, they ignore Jesus’ invitation to meet him in Galilee. So, it is Jesus who has to appear to them, in the closed room in Jerusalem, to encourage them and invite them once more. When they finally meet Jesus in Galilee, it is after Jesus has caused them to catch a great catch of fish. And after their meal, Jesus asks Simon Peter three times whether he loves him, so that he who denied Jesus three times may confess his love to him three times again. And Jesus commands Peter to preach the Gospel to his sheep.
And so, we learn that we should not let shame or unbelief keep us from meeting our Lord. He did not excommunicate Peter, who was mournful over his sin. He forgave him. And he forgives us. He forgives us, who fail him. He forgives us, who are attacked by the devil, wooed and manipulated by the world, and ruled by our sinful flesh. We lose the battle, and we go to meet our Victor, who gives us the victory.
Now this does not mean that we can go on sinning and abandoning Jesus and ignoring his preaching and Sacrament, because whenever we do happen to return again, he is sure to forgive us. We can’t constantly flee the battlefield and expect to receive the victory when we constantly deny him. No, Christians must repent of their sins. In fact, we must die with Christ as often as we fail him, so that we may rise with him to new life. Remember that Jesus did rebuke them for their unbelief. We must have faith in order to receive Jesus’ victory.
Before his crucifixion, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
We cannot continue to deny Jesus and then receive his kingdom from him. We cannot be ashamed of Jesus now and expect him to confess us before his Father in heaven. Rather, if we are to be Jesus’ disciples, we need to be willing to pick up our cross and follow him. This again is why it is so important that we meet our Lord for forgiveness and strength.
After Peter confessed his love for Jesus, Jesus made a solemn prophecy of Peter’s end. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” And St. John adds, “This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.” (John 21:18-19) Now, at first glance, this sounds like very sad news. Peter is going to be killed. Yet, if you have been paying attention, this is very happy news. Peter, who on Thursday night wept bitterly, because to escape death he denied his Lord three times, is now being told that he will confess his Lord to the end. On Thursday night, our Lord told Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crows twice and Peter didn’t want to believe it. Now at Galilee, Jesus tells Peter that he will die to the glory of God and Peter is glad to know that he will be with his Lord forever.
This is how we should be. We should gladly die with Jesus, because he has died for us and promises to give us eternal life. We should be willing to lose all earthly treasures and pleasures and praises to be found in Christ. We should desire the courage to follow him, even if it loses father, mother, son, daughter, house, and lands on account of him. Because Jesus is our God and Lord, who has risen from the dead to give us the victory over death and an eternal kingdom to inherit.
Our Lord is not dead in the tomb. He is risen. His body and blood are not dead, but alive. And he bids us not to seek him among the dead, but meet him where he promises to be. Go to Galilee, where he promises to be, as he told you before. Our Galilee is where the Gospel is preached and where the true body and blood of Christ Jesus are administered faithfully. That is where our Lord promises to be with us until the end of the age. There, in our Galilee, our Lord does not condemn us or reject us for abandoning him. Rather, he forgives us and strengthens us, even to die for him, that we might live forever with him.
Our Lord Jesus is with us today here in our Galilee. And he invites us to come to him frequently for forgiveness and strength. Our Lord has won the battle. He is not dead, but living. And he gives us the victory, so that we have the strength to die and rise with him. Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia. Amen.

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Christ, the First Fruits from the Dead

4/11/2020

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James Tissot, The Resurrection, 1886-94, Brooklynmuseum.org, Public Domain

Easter 2020
1 Corinthians 15:12-25
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 12, 2020

I watched a YouTube video recently where an interviewer walked the streets of Berlin, Germany asking people what they thought would happen to them after they died. You could divide the answers in roughly three groups. The young adults believed in some sort of reincarnation, where a person would live on some way, either as a different being or creature, like a tree, or simply as energy. Middle-aged adults were more likely to believe that nothing comes after death. You’re simply dead and cease to exist. And a few of the elderly actually believed in some sort of heaven and a heavenly Father, and hoped that this heavenly Father would be kind and let you live in heaven if you were good enough.
Not one of them confessed that those who trusted in Jesus would enter paradise and await the resurrection of the dead. Not a single one made any mention of a bodily resurrection at all! It was one of the most depressing things I’ve ever seen. The land of Luther and the Lutheran Reformation, where the pure Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone was proclaimed to the whole world, and not a single one of these Germans confessed the Gospel. Although, this isn’t really surprising. It has been a long time since Germany could be considered a Christian land, let alone Lutheran. Yes, Germany was the birthplace of the Lutheran Reformation, where the pure Gospel was proclaimed against the false teaching of works righteousness from the Papacy. Yet, Germany is also the birth place of higher criticism, an academic discipline which has attacked the Holy Scriptures relentlessly for the past three centuries denying that the Holy Spirit caused the Bible to be written.
Higher criticism, which began by claiming to treat the Bible like any other book, so ruthlessly attacked the Bible unlike any other book, denying that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote the Gospels, that Paul wrote his epistles, denying that anyone who wrote the New Testament knew Jesus or actually witnessed any of his miracles, and coming up with new outrageous, unsubstantiated theories to discredit the Bible after all their old theories were discredited, so that now it is quite common for “Lutheran” ministers in the state churches in Germany to deny the virgin birth of Christ, the divinity of Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus! So, even if these pedestrians in Berlin were to darken the door of a church in Germany, they would be very unlikely to hear the proclamation that Jesus rose from the dead!
St. Paul in his frustration that many of the Corinthians didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, declared, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Well, in these Germans’ case, Christ has not been proclaimed as raised from the dead. How could they believe that he is risen, if it is not preached to them or if they will not listen? And this is the same problem we have here in America, where higher criticism has spread in our churches quicker than any virus. People do not hear the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, either by refusing to go to church and listen or because their churches refuse to proclaim it. And so, they do not confess the resurrection of their own bodies. They don’t know what happens to them when they die.
We Christians are forced today to say with the Prophet Isaiah, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom as the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Jesus lived long ago. How could we possibly know what actually happened? Yet, for St. Paul, this was not the case. Listen to what he writes to the Corinthians and to us,
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
St. Paul isn’t repeating some myth that has no historical basis, like that of Hercules or the Book of Mormon. St. Paul himself saw Jesus in person after his resurrection from the dead. He spoke with the disciples, who saw, touched, and ate with Jesus after his resurrection. A majority of five hundred people who saw the risen Christ together at one time were still alive when Paul wrote this letter. And we still have the written report of four Evangelists of eye witness accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! And all the apostles suffered loss of home, family, friends, and income, and all but one suffered the loss of his life for the sake of this confession. This is why St. Paul is so frustrated that the Corinthians would deny the resurrection of the body. Why then has he been proclaiming Christ’s resurrection at such personal loss?
Still, despite all this historical evidence and despite the clear proclamation of the Holy Scriptures, most still deny the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of all flesh. Many believe that you can even still be a Christian if you deny that Jesus rose from the dead. Yet, what does St. Paul write, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
If Christ has not been raised from the dead, there is no sense in being a Christian! Sure, the Christian experiences joys in this life and by living according to God’s Word we learn to enjoy God’s blessings here on earth. But Christians are called to bear their cross! Christians must suffer on account of Christ; lose family and friends, possessions and income. We are mocked and ridiculed for our faith. And like the rest of mankind, we die! If Christ is not raised, then we also will not be raised, and our faith is stupid.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead! So, what does this mean? St. Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is the firstfruits! That is, Jesus is the source of the resurrection for all others. St. Paul says, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” In Adam all die, because Adam sinned. Sin entered our human race and caused us all to die. Death is God’s judgment against us. But Jesus’ resurrection undoes that judgment! Jesus’ resurrection gives us certainty that we will rise from the dead.
Now, everyone will rise from the dead. Both good and bad as Jesus says in John chapter 5, “For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Yet, as you hear, not all who rise will enter eternal life. Rather, those who have done evil will be judged for their sins. Here Jesus’ warns of damnation. Yet, in this same chapter Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
We will not come into judgment, because we believe in Christ! How can this be? Because Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. The bad deeds that we have done that would have earned us the resurrection into judgment and eternal hell were borne by Jesus when he was crucified. All our sins were nailed to the cross. In Jesus resurrection he proved that all our sins have been washed away in his blood. He has accomplished what he set out to do. He reconciled the world to God!
St. Paul, after declaring that righteousness was counted to Abraham by his faith apart from his work says, “But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
To be justified means to have peace with God. This peace can only be received through faith, apart from our works. The reason why it can only be received through faith, is because it is a gift. Justification, which means that God is not angry with us, but forgives us and considers us righteous, was earned by Jesus’ death on the cross. When Jesus was raised, our justification was completed. We do not earn our justification. We do not earn our forgiveness. We receive it through faith.
Since it is by believing that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead that saves us and not our works, some might think that we can continue to sin without repenting. It doesn’t matter whether you fornicate, steal, lie, cheat, gossip, view pornography, get drunk, go to church or not, hate, or covet. If you only have to believe, then you can continue doing all these things without fear! Wrong! St. Paul writes, “I die every day!” and “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.” (1 Corinthians 15:31, 34) Again, to the question, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” St. Paul answers, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
Faith in Christ’s resurrection from the dead means that we have faith in his death for our sins. We confess our faith in Christ by dying to sin every day! Meaning, we repent of our sins, place them on Christ, and rise to walk in newness of life. Again, St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 6, “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (Romans 6:9-13)
Through faith in Christ’s victory over sin and death, we put to death sin in our bodies every day and rise as servants of righteousness. This is because we believe that sin will finally die with our bodies and our bodies will be raised to live after the image of Christ, in righteousness and purity forever. As St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
There have been about 19,000 reported deaths due to the coronavirus in the United States so far. If we could have a vaccine tomorrow, approved by the FDA, proven effective, and in ample supply, people would be rushing to get vaccinated. It would be a miracle. We would all be talking about it, rejoicing. It would be the only thing we would hear on the news. Well, billions of people have died due to sin. And billions more will die on account of sin. And we do have a treatment that is 100% effective: the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who gives forgiveness of sins, justification, peace with God, and certainty of the resurrection to eternal life to all who believe in him. If Christ is proclaimed as risen from the dead, how dare anyone believe that they too will not be raised. We are not ignorant, brothers and sisters. We know what will happen when we die. We believe that we will rise from the dead and live eternally with Jesus. We believe this, because Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

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Easter Sunday 2019 Could the Head Rise and Leave His Members Dead?

4/23/2019

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Christ and Saint Peter; the Resurrection; Christ and Mary Magdalen,1360s Giovanni da Milano metmuseum.org Public Domain

Mark 16:1-18; Job 19:23-27; 1 Corinthians 15
April 21, 2019

On Monday of this Holy Week the world watched in horror and sorrow as the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France burned. People gasped as its spire, which towered 300 feet above the ground toppled over in flames. For much of the day the firefighters feared that nothing of the Cathedral would be saved. Finally, after over 12 hours of fighting the fire, the main structure of the church was saved. However, the roof was nearly completely destroyed along with much of the inside.
It was tragic to see such a gigantic and ancient building engulfed in flames. The first stones of that church were laid in the twelfth century. It took over a century for it to be built to its full glory, yet 19 years into construction its high altar was consecrated in 1182, which means that by the time Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg 500 years ago, Christians had been worshipping within the walls of Notre Dame for over 300 years. That’s older than the United States of America today!
What was most tragic about the sight of those flames ravaging one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in the world was what it symbolized. The burning of Notre Dame came after the Christian Church in Europe has shrunk dramatically in recent decades. Around the time of my birth around 80% of France identified as Christian. Now it is around 50%! Of course, that’s just those who identify as Christians to pollsters. The number who actually attend Christian worship is significantly less than that. Yes, the burning of Notre Dame was a timely and tragic image of the Christian Church in the West. The Church is burning down.
The world mourned the destruction of this building, even many self-proclaimed non-Christians grieved its loss. It was a loss of history and art. For many Notre Dame was not much more than a museum, which showcased French pride and some neat historical religious stuff. Many pledged millions of dollars to rebuild. The French president, who is publicly agnostic, said that they will rebuild the church. Why? Why do those, who do not believe in Christ want to rebuild this structure? Well, for history, art, and architecture. This is much more than a religious building, we’re told.
But the fact of the matter is, the only true purpose for a church building is for Christ’s sheep to gather to hear the words of Christ. This is not to say that we shouldn’t make our church buildings beautiful and it is by no means a sin to make beautiful churches with stunning architecture and art to show to the world that this is God’s house. But such extravagance does not make it a church. The Church is not built of stone and mortar, but of people; human beings, who hear and believe the words of Christ.
If Trinity Lutheran Church here on this hill were to go up in flames it would sadden many you, who have worshipped here, been baptized, confirmed, and married here. It would be a sight to see and would probably make the news in Des Moines, but most likely not national news and certainly not international news. Yet, what would be much more tragic than these beams lighting up and these brick walls crumbling down would be if the pure words of Jesus stopped being preached and if people stopped gathering to hear them. What would cause the angels in heaven to mourn would be for you to stop hearing the words of your Shepherd.
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.” Luther gets this definition from Jesus himself, who says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) And “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” (John 8:31)
On Easter we usually have more people gathered in church than other Sunday mornings. However, there is little reason why our Easter attendance couldn’t be our average attendance. The Church didn’t start celebrating Easter as an annual celebration until the second century, decades after Jesus rose from the dead. But that doesn’t mean that the Church didn’t celebrate the resurrection of Christ until then. Rather, the yearly Easter celebration came about from the weekly Easter celebration. Ever since the very first Easter Christians have gathered on the first day of the week to worship Jesus and celebrate his resurrection. Every seven days since Jesus first appeared to his disciples displaying his pierced hands and side as they were hiding behind closed doors, Christians have gathered to hear God’s Word, to pray, and to celebrate the Sacrament.
Why? Why have Christians gathered together on the first day of the week every week for nearly two thousand years? We do this to remember and indeed to receive the benefits of Christ’s resurrection. Before Jesus died on the cross, he made clear that he joined himself to his Church. First, he joined himself to the entire human race by becoming a man. Jesus, while remaining forever God, is truly a human being like each of us except without sin. Yet, while Jesus resisted every temptation and kept himself pure, he willingly took upon himself the sins of the whole world and was punished in our place. Jesus’ death on the cross went far beyond physical suffering. He endured God’s wrath for all sins and satisfied it. In this way, Jesus has joined himself to every human being. He has taken our flesh and he has taken our sins.
What this means is that we are saved apart from our works. Our works are contaminated with sin, but Jesus has taken away our sins. This means we are saved by faith in Christ. We receive such faith by hearing Jesus’ word. Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” Again, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” And “Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
Through faith we are united to Christ in a special relationship that surpasses even our physical connection of sharing the same flesh and blood. Through faith we are joined to Jesus’ death on the cross. Our sinful old man dies with Jesus. And we rise again with Jesus. This is why we celebrate Easter week after week. Jesus teaches us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
After Jesus’ resurrection he continued to teach his disciples. He taught them how to be the Church. The Church is the Church by hearing and believing the words of Christ. Through Baptism and continued use of the means of grace Jesus’ body grows and lives. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19). The Church is the body of Christ. The Church does not exist without Jesus. And Jesus teaches us that we abide with him through his word. Jesus says, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers...” (John 14:5-6)
The Church is not just some institution that teaches good morals. Being a Christian is not just knowing a set of rules to make you a good person. Being a Christian goes beyond this life; this is what Jesus’ resurrection teaches us. If Christianity only pertained to this life, then we would have a sorry religion. St. Paul teaches us “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:19-20) Because Jesus is raised from the dead, you too who abide in Christ through faith will also rise.
This also means that the Church is durable and will last forever. We sing,
“Built on the Rock the Church shall stand
Even when steeples are falling.
Crumbling have spires in every land;
Bells still are chiming and calling,
Calling the young and old to rest,
But above all the souls distressed,
Longing for rest everlasting.” (LSB 645)
The Church is permanent. It cannot be destroyed. As long as there are Christians who hear and believe Christ’s word, which the Holy Spirit will make sure to supply, then Jesus’ Church will remain on earth even if all the great cathedrals in the world crumble down.
Jesus said while in the temple in Jerusalem, one of the great wonders of the world, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) Of course, Jesus did not mean the temple, which took 46 years to build, but his body. Yet, what is easier, to rebuild a fallen temple or to raise a dead man from the dead? Which is easier, to rebuild the Cathedral of Notre Dame or to raise from the dead those 207 killed in Sri Lanka this morning? Yet, this is what Christ’s resurrection accomplishes. We are the body of Christ. Though we be torn down and buried, Christ will raise us up.
The Church gathers to hear Jesus’ words on the day of his resurrection, because Jesus’ words give eternal life. Jesus lives. He is risen from the dead. He will never die again. And he tells us that his words give eternal life. We hear his words, so that we might join him in his resurrection.
A great hymn of comfort says,
“Jesus, my Redeemer, lives;
Likewise I to life shall waken.
He will bring me where He is;
Shall my courage then be shaken?
Shall I fear, or could the Head
Rise and leave his members dead?” (LSB 741)
The head cannot rise without its body. Jesus is our head and we are his body, if we abide in his words.
Jesus’ resurrection draws the Christian out of the temporal and into the eternal. If I am a member of Christ’s body, then I will live forever. Money, food, drink, work, friends, all the cares and pleasures of this life are temporary. But my life in Christ is eternal. Possessions and reputation do not define me, but Christ does. In him I have forgiveness and life that will last forever.
I think I would like to go to France someday. I think it would be quite neat to place my hand upon the stones of Notre Dame and think about how those stones were laid in those walls over 800 years ago. Yet, what Jesus’ resurrection teaches me is that long before those stones were placed in those walls, indeed before those stones were formed in the earth, God knew me in Christ. And long after all these stones fall and everything made by man is a forgotten memory, I will still be alive, living with Christ my risen Savior.
The Church will never die, because Jesus will never die. And as long as I am a member of Christ’s Church, that is, as long as I am a lamb who hears and believes the words of Jesus, I know that I will never die. Jesus, my head, has taken death away from me. He gives me eternal life. Brothers and sisters in Christ, as long as we abide in Jesus’ word, we have eternal life.
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

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

Our Faith Is Not in Vain

He Is Risen

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Christ, the First Fruits from the Dead

Easter Sunday 2019 Could the Head Rise and Leave His Members Dead?

Rev. James Preus

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