Category: Trinity 1

What's at Stake

6/20/2022

Meister des Codex Aureus Epternacensis, Parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar Lazarus, circa 1035-1040. Public Domain.

Trinity 1
Luke 16:19-31
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 19, 2022

What is at stake? When discussing matters of religion, what is at stake? Jesus tells us. The rich man died and found himself in fiery anguish. The poor man died and angels carried him to the bosom of Abraham.   There is no middle ground. When you die, you either go to heaven or hell. Jesus teaches you clearly that you should fear eternal punishment if you do not repent.

The rich man went to hell. Lazarus went to heaven. There is no other option when you die. And heaven and hell are forever. Jesus says in Matthew 25, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” There is a great chasm between heaven and hell. No one can pass from one to the other. So, the only time we have to prevent spending an eternity in hell is now. Once you die, it is too late. The stakes are high. We should not fool around with matters of religion. Rather, we should pursue the truth. We must know how we go to heaven and not to hell.

Why did the rich man go to hell? Why did poor Lazarus go to heaven? It’s not that the rich all go to hell and the poor all go to heaven. Abraham was rich, and we see that he went to heaven. And poor people can certainly go to hell. We find our answer by the fact that poor Lazarus is carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom. Abraham’s bosom is an image of heaven, because God gave the Gospel promise to Abraham and he believed it. God told Abraham, “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 22:18) The promise which will bless all nations is in Abraham’s offspring, that means, it comes from Abraham’s body. This means that Jesus Christ would be born a descendent of Abraham, and that all who believe in him will be eternally blessed. How do we know that those who believe in him will be blessed? Because Abraham himself believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

Not only did the promise concern Abraham’s body, because God promised that the Savior would come from Abraham’s body, but the promise concerned Abraham’s faith, because Abraham believed the promise. This shows that the true children of Abraham are those who believe the promise. St. Paul explains this in Galatians chapter 3, “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (vss. 6-9)

Yet, how do we know that the rich man did not have faith in the promise of Abraham? And how do we know that Lazarus did? Abraham tells us. He told the rich man that he received good things in his lifetime, but Lazarus received bad things. What this means is that the rich man stored up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and which are lost to you when you die, but Lazarus stored up his treasures in heaven and remained poor in spirit on earth. It’s not just that the rich man was rich, but that the rich man worshipped his riches. He served mammon rather than God. And it was not just that Lazarus was poor. He was poor in spirit. He desired only to be clothed and fed, otherwise, he was content. His treasure was in heaven, from which he eagerly waited for his Savior.

The rich man lacked love. St. John tells us, “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) The rich man had the world’s goods. His brother was in need right at the gate of his very house. Yet, his heart remained closed to poor Lazarus. So, we must conclude that the love of God did not abide in the rich man.

St. John again teaches us, “We love because [God] first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) Of course, God loves the whole world (John 3:16). So, what this means is, those who receive God’s love through faith will love, but those who do not know God’s love will not love. Jesus says this very thing in Luke chapter 7, when he speaks of the sinful woman who washed his feet, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:46) He then turns to the woman and says, “Your faith has saved you.” The woman had faith in the forgiveness of sins, so she loved much. But a person who does not believe in the forgiveness of sins, who does not accept God’s love through Christ Jesus, will not love much.

It is important that you get this in the right order. Some people think that you go to heaven and are saved, because of how you love. Many even think that faith in Jesus is not important, as long as you love. But Scripture makes clear that you cannot love unless you first have faith in God’s love. And it is not possible to please God unless you have faith (Hebrews 11:6). This is very offensive. People don’t want to hear that they can’t love. Love is so personal. “Are you saying that if I’m not a Christian that I don’t love my wife or my children or my dog?” Yet, when people say things like this, they ignore the fact that we are by nature sinful. As Jesus says, “Out of the mouth come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (Matthew 15:19) So, even if unbelievers do show outward acts of love, which they do, their love is tainted with sinful desires. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one loves purely. And without faith, the love we show is not pleasing to God.

Yet, if you have faith in Christ, you must bear good fruits of love. It is not optional to love. “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.” (1 John 4:20) If you have faith in God, you love God. And if you love God, you love your neighbor, because God loves your neighbor. When you love your neighbor, you confess God’s love for his creation.

The word love has been greatly perverted, so it is important to remember that love is God’s Word. God is love (1 John 4:16). And God demonstrates love in this way, by giving his Son to die for us so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). So, the love we then show should mirror the love God shows to us. Our love should be selfless and for our neighbor’s good. This is why we should seek to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and visit the sick. We should seek to preach the Gospel to those who have not heard it, so that they may escape their sins.

There is a catchphrase, which says, “Love is love,” which is meant to defend all forms of sexual immorality. But there is a big difference between love and sexual infatuation and lust. Love is not lust. Love does not seek to do harm to a neighbor or rejoice in wrongdoing (Romans 13:10; 1 Corinthians 13:6). So, defending or promoting sexual immorality in any of its forms is not loving in the least bit. Sexual immorality focuses a person in on himself and his own lusts. It does not seek out the good in the neighbor. And sexual immorality is not only damaging to the body, but it is destructive to the soul. Scripture warns, “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) And so it is loving to call fornication, homosexuality, adultery, pornography, narcissism, drunkenness, and all other sins which are now celebrated, sins. We should warn people of the dangers of sin, call them to repent and to believe in the Gospel. Those who are currently celebrating pride in sexual perversions need to be called to repentance and they need to know that Jesus died for their sins, so that they too may be saved.

Three times the rich man from hell called Abraham his father. He no doubt was a Jew, who could trace his lineage back to Abraham. But in fact, Abraham was not his father. If Abraham were the rich man’s father, then the rich man would have done what Abraham did. Abraham listened to the word of God and believed the Lord. Abraham offered food and shelter to strangers and helped those in distress. St. Paul says in Romans chapter 9, “Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’” This means that we are children of Abraham when we believe in the promise of Jesus Christ, the descendant of Isaac. And children of Abraham prove that they are his children by how they love one another.

Most of us are probably not physical descendants of Abraham, but we who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior are certainly children of Abraham through faith. Abraham is our father. And this also serves as a good message for fathers on Father’s Day. Any man can become a father. What makes a good father? Well, it must be spending time with your children, sharing your interests with them and taking an interest in theirs; it must be to teach them how to catch and throw a ball, take them fishing, and tell some good “Dad jokes.” And that’s all fine and all, but that is not what makes a man a good father. There is one thing that is indispensable to being a good father, and that is teaching your children the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Abraham told the rich man that his brothers needed to listen to Moses and the Prophets, that is, to Holy Scripture in order for them to be converted. The rich man disagreed. He thought a dead man rising could scare them into faith. But that’s not how it works. Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). The only way for these brothers of the rich man to become children of Abraham, was for them to listen to the promise of Jesus Christ. We aren’t scared into faith, but we are converted by the promise that Christ has paid for all our sins and that whoever believes in him will be saved. This is also why fathers should teach their children the Gospel at home and bring them to church to hear Moses, the Prophets, and the Apostles, who all proclaim Jesus.

Our communities would be much better off if fathers would be married to the mothers of their children, and if fathers would work hard, yet still spend quality time with their kids. But the stakes are much higher than living in a nice community and having good memories here on earth. The stakes are eternal damnation and eternal salvation. This is why every father should acknowledge his duty to be a spiritual father to his children. Scripture says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) The most important thing for a Christian father to pass on to his children is the saving faith, that all who repent of their sins and trust in Christ Jesus for forgiveness, will be saved. That is the most loving thing a father can do for his children. And if he believes in the Lord Jesus, he will strive to do it.

God grant all Christian fathers the strength to carry out this sacred task and grace to their children to keep the faith. Amen.

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Storing Treasure in Heaven

6/6/2021

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

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

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

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Faith Working through Love

6/14/2020

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Trinity 1
Luke 16:19-31

Our Gospel lesson today is famous for its portrayal of heaven and hell. The poor man Lazarus was carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham where he was comforted. The rich man died and suffered torment in the flame of Hades. And since we are all going to die and will all go either to heaven or hell, it is good to examine this story to see how one gets to heaven. But many get it wrong. Some think that since the rich man went to hell and the poor man went to heaven, then it must be a great sin to be rich and a wonderful virtue to be poor. Yet, there are many examples of extremely wealthy saints in the Bible including Abraham himself! And poor people can certainly go to hell! Rather, when Scripture criticizes the rich and blesses the poor, it means to condemn the worship of earthly goods and to commend the poor in spirit, who store up their treasures in heaven. This is why Abraham said to the rich man that he had his good things in his lifetime, but Lazarus had bad things. The rich man chose his earthly wealth as his true treasure in which his heart trusted. Lazarus rather kept his treasure in heaven through faith.
Another error concluded from this text is that the rich man went to hell, because he failed to love while Lazarus went to heaven, because he did love. In other words, Lazarus’ works were better than the rich man’s works. Yet, this is not what Jesus’ story says. Jesus doesn’t list any good works of Lazarus. Lazarus was just poor and hungry. So, how do you get to heaven according to this Gospel lesson? Abraham tells the rich man, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.”
Moses and the Prophets refer to the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. In other words, the way to heaven is revealed in the Bible. Well, what does the Bible say? St. Paul cites Genesis 15, written by Moses, when he says, “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Galatians 3:5-9)
So, if the rich man’s brothers would listen to the writings of Moses, what would they learn? They would learn that it is those of faith who are blessed to be with Abraham in the next life. Your works cannot save you! Rather, you are saved through faith in the promise of God; that promise is salvation through Jesus.
Scripture says that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness in Genesis chapter 15, where Abraham laments to God that Eliezer of Damascus will be his heir, because he has no son. God insists, “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And God provided Abraham a son, Isaac. Yet, this too has led to a false teaching. Jews thought that they were blessed, because they were the physical descendants of Abraham and Isaac. Jesus hints at this when he says that Lazarus lied outside the gate of the rich man’s house. Lazarus is a variant of the name Eliezer, which means, “God is my Help.” God said Eliezer, the Gentile from Damascus, would not be Abraham’s heir. So, Lazarus too, this Gentile stands outside the household of Abraham longing for the food that falls from his table, just like that Canaanite woman, who once said to Jesus, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Yet, Jesus then showed compassion to that Canaanite woman. This rich man, however, let Lazarus starve. Likewise, those who think God is the God of the Jews only would deny salvation and fellowship with God to non-Jews.
Yet, is that what God says? Certainly not. You are not an heir of God’s Kingdom, because you are a physical descendent of Abraham. If you remember, Abraham had multiple sons. But only Isaac was his heir. Why? Because Isaac was the son of promise. St. Paul explains this, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the freewoman was born through promise. … Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.” (Galatians 4:21-23, 28) St. Paul teaches us that we are children of Abraham through faith in the promise, just as Jesus shows that Lazarus the Gentile who sat outside the rich man’s gate was nevertheless a true son of Abraham.
Scripture links the flesh and the works of the flesh together and the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit together. You are not justified before God by your natural birth. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew or Gentile, black or white. God shows no partiality. Likewise, you are not justified before God by your works according to the flesh. This is why St. Paul writes, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) Not your flesh of natural birth nor the works your flesh do can save you.
Rather, you are saved through the Spirit when you have faith in the promise of Christ. God credits your faith as righteousness, because Jesus Christ himself is your righteousness. He fulfilled the laws demands for you. He suffered the punishment of hell for you. Abraham believed that God’s promise was true, so God declared Abraham righteous. And God declares you righteous when you believe that God is reconciled to you for Christ’s sake. This can only be accomplished by the Spirit, who works through the Word of God.
That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. When you are born again through the Spirit and have faith in God’s promise, you then produce fruits of the Spirit. The primary fruit of the Spirit is love. When you possess the love of God through faith, then you produce love. Spiritual fruits are produced when you are spiritual. It is evident that the rich man was not spiritual and had no faith, because he showed no love. He let Lazarus starve and suffer when he could have helped him. Had he had faith in God’s love for him, he would have shown love to Lazarus.
The rich man had no faith in God’s promise, because he refused to listen to the Word of God in Holy Scripture. He even tried to correct Abraham when Abraham told him that his brothers should listen to Moses and the Prophets. “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He doesn’t get it. First, Abraham is not his father. Abraham is the father of those of faith. And this man is rejecting the very source of faith, Holy Scripture. Second, if they do not listen to God from Holy Scripture, neither will they believe if someone should rise from the dead. This very thing happened! Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and the Jews who refused to believe in Him plotted to kill Lazarus. And when Jesus himself rose from the dead, the Chief Priests paid the soldiers to lie and say his body was stolen. Unless God’s Word converts you, you will never believe.
Holy Scripture teaches both Law and Gospel. Those who refuse to learn from Scripture not only lose the Gospel that saves, but they also lose the benefits of the Law. This is certainly common today. The Ten Commandments are removed from public squares and most children are not taught them. In fact, even many churches stop teaching portions of God’s Law that are now deemed too offensive, especially those portions of Scripture that teach sexual morality and respect for authority. And faithful churches are often maligned for holding to teachings of Scripture that are now politically incorrect. Yet, faithful teaching of the Law is good. The Law teaches you to love your neighbor. If we would love one another as Scripture teaches, our lives and the lives of others would be better. Also, while the Law condemns you for your sin, the Gospel reveals that Jesus has made atonement for all your sins and offers you free forgiveness. So, there is no benefit in removing the Law.
And those who do remove the Law do not liberate anyone. Because while they take away God’s good commandments, they replace them with commands of their own. And these commands are not good or loving. They make you apologize for things that are not sins. And what they require you to do, does not help your neighbor. And even worse, they offer no forgiveness for transgressions against their man-made laws. Rather, you must make atonement for your transgressions against social progress, which seeks to destroy the Church, family, and state. And you’ll find that your atonement is never enough for these earthly judges until you deny the God who made you and your Lord who redeemed you.
And of course, ignoring God’s Law does not free you from God’s Law. As St. Paul says, “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.” (Romans 2:12) The wages of sin is death, whether you acknowledge your sin or not.
So, there is no advantage in ignoring God’s Word in Holy Scripture. For while Scripture does reveal your sin to you, which is unpleasant, just as it is unpleasant to hear from your doctor that you have a deadly disease, Scripture also reveals the way of salvation, how your sins are forgiven for Christ sake and you become a child of Abraham and indeed of God himself through faith in Jesus. And it is only after being liberated by the Gospel of Christ that you can then produce good fruits of love. Only a faith that clings to Christ, who was perfected in love on the cross, can imitate this love and grow in it.
Dear friends in Christ, casting out the Holy Scriptures, because we think they’re too harsh or old fashioned does not help us in any way. We can live in our own imaginary land where we and the world around us think that we are wonderful and righteous. That’s what the rich man did. He was adored by the world around him, because he followed their rules of self-love and worship of wealth. But living without God’s Word places you in hell on earth. To be away from God’s Word is to be away from God’s promise of love and mercy shown to us by Christ’s death on the cross. But to abide in God’s Word is heaven. God’s Word reveals to us God’s love; that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone. The Holy Scriptures reveal to us that God is our help, so that even if we have nothing on this earth, we have a certain treasure in heaven. Amen.

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Trinity 1 Love Flows from Faith in Christ

6/25/2019

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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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Trinity 1 Sermon: We Love Because God First Loved Us

6/19/2017

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Luke 16:19-31

Last week we confessed as a congregation the Athanasian Creed for Trinity Sunday. There is a line in that creed that often causes Lutherans to be uncomfortable. "At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire." How can we Lutherans confess this? Don't we believe that we are saved by grace through faith apart from our works? Doesn't this sound like we are confessing to be saved by our works?
Well, we confess this in the Athanasian Creed, because it is in the Bible and it is true. St. John records our Lord Jesus saying, "Do not marvel at this, 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." (John 5:28-29)
So if we are going to hold to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, we cannot then in good conscience reject the afore-quoted passage from the Athanasian Creed. However, neither the Athanasian Creed nor the Scriptures teach that a person is saved by his good works. First of all, Scripture clearly teaches that a person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by his works. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 2, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (vs 8-9).
Rather, good works are the necessary fruits of saving faith. Your good works do not save you, but God makes clear that his Christians will do good works, as St. Paul wrote immediately after his statement that we are saved by grace through faith, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) And Jesus just a couple verses before he said that those who have done good will enter into the resurrection of life stated, "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." (John 5:24) So if you read Scripture in context you will see that we are not saved by our works, but those who are saved do good works!
To do good works is to love. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Those who are of God love and they have no fear of judgment, as St. John taught us in our Epistle lesson, "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world." (1 John 4:16-17)
Christians love. And the love you show as a Christian gives you confidence for the day of judgment. It shows that you are a disciple of Christ. But you do not become a disciple of Jesus or become "saved" by loving your neighbor or even by loving God! St. John writes in this same chapter, "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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:10-11)
God didn't wait for you to love him for him to show love for you. In fact, it was impossible for you to love God or your neighbor unless God first loved you and you knew that love. As St. Paul writes, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) It is Jesus' death on the cross that shows us what true love is. You do not know how to love your neighbor or your God unless you know how God loved you in sending his Son to die for you. This is sacrificial love. Love that hurts. Love that suffers. Love that is patient, kind, and forgiving.
God's love is also unconditional. God so loved the world, the whole world. This means that he loves your neighbor. And so it makes sense that St. John writes, "We love because he first loved us. 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)
And here we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man didn't love. He hated. And so he proved that he was not born of God. He hated his neighbor. And so he proved that he hated God.
But the rich man didn't see it that way. In fact, he probably would have given a great defense, "How did I hate Lazarus? I never spoke anything bad about him. I never stole from him or struck him. This is unfair to say I didn't love him. I left him alone!" Here the rich man showed his hatred not by what he did, but by what he didn't do. The rich man had plenty to eat every day. He had a nice house and nice clothing. There was nothing that he didn't have more than enough of. Yet Lazarus had nothing. There was nothing that he didn't lack. And he desired even to have the left over scraps from the rich man's table, things you wouldn't even put into Tupperware, but would throw in the trash. And what is worse, Lazarus is lying right at the rich man's gate and he did nothing to help him! Could you imagine gorging yourself, having that third slice of glazed ham, even though you were full after the first slice while you can see outside your window a sick and starving man lying in your driveway? Yes, the rich man hated Lazarus.
They both died. Lazarus was carried by angels to heaven. The rich man was buried. And while the text speaks very un-ceremonially of the rich man's death and very gloriously of Lazarus' departure to heaven, what was seen by people on earth was the exact opposite. The rich man likely had an extravagant funeral with the finest casket money could buy. There was a long line of important people giving lofty eulogies and the preacher made every attempt to preach the rich man into heaven. Lazarus meanwhile was wrapped in a cloth and dropped in a hole. Yet it was Lazarus, whose soul was escorted by angels to Abraham's bosom and the rich man who landed in hell.
Hell is real. Our text says that the rich man was in torment and in anguish in this flame. And this is consistent with other descriptions of hell in Scripture as the outer darkness where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Matthew 8:12; Mark 9:48). Hell is real. Real people go to a real hell where there is eternal punishment. And we should consider this a most serious warning.
And so it is important for us to know why the rich man went to hell and why Lazarus went to heaven. Abraham answered the rich man, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish."
Now this does not mean that all rich people go to hell and poor people go to heaven. Abraham was very rich and heaven is described as being at Abraham's side! Nor does this teach Karma or that those who have good lives will all go to hell and those who have difficult lives will be rewarded in heaven. Rather, the rich man went to hell, because he regarded his wealth in the wrong way. He worshipped it! He worshipped a false god. He loved his house and clothes and food and his own pride more that God. So he didn't listen to God's word or repent of his sins or believe in Christ. And because he did not have the love of God, neither did he have love for his neighbor, Lazarus. So he went to hell.
Why did Lazarus go to heaven? Jesus' story doesn't mention any of his good works. And it wasn't his poverty that earned him the pearly gates. At least not material poverty. Rather, Lazarus was the poor in spirit spoken of by Jesus, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Lazarus had nothing to offer God, but he hungered and thirsted for God to fill him. Lazarus was a beggar. He begged from God and God made him rich.
It wasn't simply that Lazarus had nothing, but that Lazarus didn't consider anything on this earth as true wealth. True wealth is communion with God, the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. As Jesus says, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) The rich man exchanged his soul for the world. Lazarus, however, gave up the world and gained his soul and the kingdom of heaven.
Lazarus was a man of faith. This is proven by the fact that the angels carried him to the man of faith, Abraham. Abraham believed God and God counted his faith as righteousness, as we heard in our Old Testament lesson. And so God justifies the ungodly not on account of their works, but through their faith. Therefore, St. Paul writes to the Galatians, "Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7) Lazarus had faith in God's promise of mercy. He trusted in the Christ. And so he was saved apart from his works, just as Abraham was saved apart from his works. Lazarus did not help himself, but he trusted in God's help, living up to his name, which means, "God helps."
The rich man in torment in hell begged that Abraham would send Lazarus from the dead so that his five brothers would repent and not join him in the flame. Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." But the rich man quite presumptuously disagrees with Abraham, "No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." Abraham replies, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."
"Moses and the Prophets" refers to the Holy Scriptures. Abraham is telling the rich man that if his brothers will not listen to the preaching of God's Word from the Holy Scriptures, that is the Bible, they will not be convinced even by a dead man rising.
The Holy Spirit creates saving faith through the preaching of the Scriptures, because the Scriptures show you the love of God. They tell you how God sent his Son to die for you. They tell how Jesus suffered the punishment of hell in your place for your failure to love. They tell you that Jesus rose from the dead securing your own resurrection. And the Scriptures tell you that you receive this salvation not by works, but by faith, as St. Paul writes to the Romans, "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 4:3-5)
To listen to and believe the Scriptures is to love God. Just as neglecting your neighbor means to hate your neighbor, so to neglect to hear and believe God's Word is to hate God and his word. Heaven is communion with God. In heaven we will hear God's Word and glory in it forever. And so we should enjoy hearing and glorying in God's Word now. In heaven we will love God and our neighbor forever. So we should strive to love now.
Scripture shows us the love of God. That means it is always loving to speak God's Word. The world doesn't think so. It thinks it is unloving to tell your children when they are sinning against God through sexual immorality or by neglecting God's Word. But it is always loving to say what God says. God is love. And while God's Word does condemn sin and even threaten hell to those who won't repent, God's Word also offers free forgiveness and eternal salvation to all who repent and believe in the Gospel. This is the love of God that is revealed to us. And when we believe it we too are given the power to love; a love that will be perfected in us when we are raised from the dead and given eternal life for Christ's sake; a love that we will show toward God and our neighbor forever in heaven, even as God has shown this love to us. Amen.

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

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