Category: Trinity 11

Justified before God

8/15/2021

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

Trinity 11
Luke 18:9-14
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
August 15, 2021

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. What does it mean to be righteous? To be righteous means that you are in a right relationship with God. To be righteous is the same thing as to be just. That is why Jesus said that the tax collector went down to his house justified, much to the surprise of his audience, who thought the Pharisee was righteous. Jesus was declaring that the tax collector went down to his house declared righteous by God.

When we speak of being righteous or justified, we are speaking of how we will be judged by God on the Last Day. Scripture declares, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) Christ Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. Everyone will stand before God and give an account of what he has done, both good and bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10) And God will judge. Those who are judged righteous, that is, those whom God justifies will enter into eternal life. Those who are judged unrighteous will be damned to eternal perdition. To be justified is the opposite of to be damned. This means that the doctrine of justification is the most important teaching in the entire Christian religion. I certainly can’t think of more pressing one! How do I know whether I am justified before God? How do I know whether God will welcome me into heaven or damn me to hell? This is what we are discussing when we discuss justification.

It is God who justifies. Jesus spoke this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. But you cannot trust in yourself that you are righteous. You are not the one who declares yourself righteous. It is God who justifies. Declaring yourself righteous goes hand in hand with despising others. How does the Pharisee justify himself? He compares his works with others. He despises the tax collector to prove that he is righteous. But that is no way to prove yourself righteous. If a friend is helping me build something and I ask him to cut me a board 46 inches long and he cuts me a board 38 inches long, he won’t make the board the right length by comparing it to all the scrap pieces and talking about how much further from 46 inches they are. If you fall short of being righteous, it doesn’t matter how much farther you think others have fallen short.

What Jesus teaches us in this parable is that a man is not justified before God by his own strength, merit, or works, but rather, a man is justified before God by grace, that is, as a gift from God. This is what St. Paul says in Romans chapter 3, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” God justifies freely by grace, not on account of our works. The Pharisee listed off his works, he fasted twice a week, he gave ten percent of all that he earned to the Lord. But it was the tax collector, who listed no works at all who was found righteous by God. This is because God justifies by grace as a gift. It does not have to do with our works. It is in spite of our sins! It depends on God’s grace, that is, on his undeserved love for us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

This is why St. Paul, who himself was a Pharisee (and a very zealous one at that), declared all his works to be rubbish, so that he could be found in Christ not having a righteousness of his own, but one that comes through faith (Philippians 3:8-9). So, whether you are a tax collector or a Pharisee, an adulterer, thief, or liar, or every-Sunday-Christian, you are justified by grace alone. This is why Jesus concludes this parable with the statement, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The one who humbles himself does not claim his own righteousness, but accepts Christ’s righteousness as a gift. Yet, the one who exalts himself refuses the gift, because he thinks he can earn his own righteousness.

God justifies sinners. The tax collector said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” And God justified him. He declared the sinner righteous. In fact, God only justifies sinners. He will not declare righteous those who have declared themselves righteous and free from sin. He only justifies those, who have admitted their own sin and unworthiness. This is why it is important to preach the law. The law tells you how to live rightly before God. This is why people think that if they try to live according to God’s law, then they will be righteous. But what does Scripture say? “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) And this reveals the main reason people need to hear the preaching of the law. People need to know that they are sinners, so that they know that they cannot justify themselves, but can only be justified by God.

The law told the tax collector he was a sinner. The law called him a cheat and a thief. The tax collector didn’t argue with the law. He confessed that what the law said was right. He was a sinner. So, he did not seek to justify himself by means of the law, but he went to God to be justified by grace as a gift. The Pharisee did not understand the chief purpose of the law. He thought the law gave him simple directions to justify himself, so he simply did more than the directions required, he fasted twice in a week, he tithed all that he took in. But he failed to realize that the law doesn’t rule just outward actions, but the very heart. The law commands you to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. But the Pharisee didn’t love. He hated. He was a sinner, but he did not acknowledge himself as a sinner. He exalted himself instead. And so, he went home condemned.

God justifies for Christ’s sake. God doesn’t simply say that sin isn’t a big deal. No, God agrees with the law. The law is good. The law reveals God’s eternal will. When God justifies sinners, he doesn’t call good evil and evil good. No, he always and only justifies sinners for the sake of Jesus’ suffering and death for sin. When the tax collector beat his breast and pleaded to God for mercy, he used a special word for mercy. The word he used meant be propitiated, that is, be appeased by this sacrifice; let your wrath be taken away from me on account of this sacrifice. The tax collector is in the temple after all during the sacrifice. Of course, a lamb on the altar is not what actually appeases God’s wrath against sinners, but rather, the Lamb whom that lamb proclaims, Christ Jesus. St. Paul writes in Romans 3 that all are justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

It is Jesus’ blood that makes propitiation for our sins. Jesus’ innocent suffering and death is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Jesus is the only human being who ever lived without sin. He did not deserve to be damned. Yet, he endured damnation on the cross for sins he did not commit. As a man he lived under the law and fulfilled all the law’s demands. And as a man he suffered the punishment of all mankind for all our sins. And Jesus is God. You cannot separate the man Jesus dying on the cross for all sins from the God Jesus. This means his death is a more than sufficient price to pay the debt of all people. When the tax collector said, “Be propitiated to me a sinner,” he was confessing that Christ took all his sins away.

When we talk about being justified before God by grace, we cannot speak of it apart from what Jesus Christ has done for us. Only through Jesus’ obedience and passion for our sins are we justified before God. This is why St. Paul said in our Epistle lesson, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ Jesus 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.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) This is of first importance, because without Jesus dying for us, we are still in our sins. But since Christ has died for us and has risen for us, we have peace with God.

To be justified means to be forgiven. If you are a sinner, then you are not righteous. God declares sinners righteous by forgiving them. St. Paul makes this clear in Romans chapter 4, “David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’” (vss. 6-8) How does God count a person righteous apart from works? By forgiving his lawless deeds; by covering his sins in Jesus’ blood and not counting them anymore.

God justifies a sinner through faith alone. Scripture says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28) and “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Romans 4:5) It is through faith, so that it can be by grace. Grace means that it is a gift. Faith receives the gift. Faith means to believe and trust that God forgives you for Christ’s sake. The tax collector expressed his faith by asking God to be propitiated to him. He had faith in Christ. Faith is not a good work we do. Rather, faith is trusting in the promise that God forgives sinners by grace for Christ’s sake.

You cannot have saving faith while you are not sorry for your sins. Saving faith means that you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner, who deserves to go to hell; that you are sorry for those sins and want to do better, and that you trust that God will forgive you for Christ’s sake alone. Faith does not believe that God is indifferent toward sin or pleased with sin. Rather, faith confesses what God says is true. And God says that he has placed all our sins on Jesus. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. All people are justified by his death and resurrection. Faith alone receives this justification.

Faith itself is a gift from God given by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. It is the words of Christ that create faith in our hearts. This is why Christians go to church. The righteous shall live by faith. Faith comes from hearing. If we don’t hear the promises of God, our faith will die. If our faith dies, we lose our justification. If we lose our justification, we cannot stand before God.

If you are justified then you are regenerated, that is, you are born again. A sinner cannot by his own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts through the Gospel. He does this by giving us a new birth, so that we trust in God’s promise. To be regenerated means that you will not only believe God’s promise, but also love God and desire to do what he desires, of course, in great weakness, because of your sinful flesh. So, Christians do good works, but it is not their good works that justify them. The regenerate Christian is justified through faith alone. The righteousness that justifies the Christian is not his own righteousness, but Christ’s righteousness given to him as a gift. This gives you confidence in your justification, because it always depends on Jesus and not on you.

Finally, to be justified means that you are God’s own child. Justification is courtroom language. God is the judge declaring you guilty or innocent, a sinner or righteous. But to be justified doesn’t simply mean God declares you not guilty and sends you on your way. It means that you are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. It means that you are God’s beloved child. He loves you. And he has chosen you to live with him in peace forever. Amen.

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Trust in the Lord

8/24/2020

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The Pharisee and the Publican, James Tissot, 1886-94, brooklynmuseum.org, No Known Copy Right Restriction

Trinity 11
Luke 18:9-14
August 23, 2020

When Jesus saw that some were confident in themselves that they were righteous and held others in contempt, he taught a parable to show who really is righteous before God and who is not. And to the surprise of his listeners, it was not the Pharisee, but the tax collector who went down to his house justified, that is, declared righteous by God! It was a surprise that the Pharisee did not go down to his house justified, because Pharisees were known to be good outstanding citizens. We heard it from the Pharisee himself. He didn’t cheat, steal, or commit adultery. He gave a tenth of all that he received to the LORD. He was a good pious man. Yet, God did not find him righteous.
And it is common to relate this story to our time and place to find out who is the Pharisee among us. In Martin Luther’s day it was the pope, the priests, and the monks, whom everyone thought were the most righteous men on earth and closest to God. Families would actually send one of their sons to the monastery to become a monk, so that his extra good works could be counted in their favor, so confident were people in the righteousness of these monks.
Who would be the Pharisees in our day? Perhaps the leaders of the church, the preachers and teachers, who seem good on the outside, but probably have some hidden sin? Maybe those Christians who are always at church helping out, making others look bad? Of course, there are a lot of self-righteous celebrities, who lecture people on how they can live a better life. Yet, the reason Jesus chose the Pharisee as the one who was not righteous was because he was the last person they would expect to be unrighteous. So, who is the last person you would expect to be unrighteous?
Is it you? Do you, like the Pharisee, justify yourself, so that you never admit you’ve done wrong? Do you hold others in contempt for not being as righteous as you think you are or because you perceive them to be self-righteous? You see, the point of Jesus’ parable is not for you to determine whether other people are hypocritical, self-righteous Pharisees, but rather whether you are righteous before God or not. To be declared righteous by God is a very personal thing. It doesn’t regard others. It’s between you and God. You can’t prove yourself righteous before God by tearing others down. When you hear Jesus speak of the self-righteous Pharisee, you should ask yourself whether you are the Pharisee.
The Pharisee was not righteous, because he trusted in his own righteousness instead of the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. He did not humble himself before God. He did not repent of any sin. He thought God should accept him because of how good he was. He was self-righteous. And you don’t need to be a religious big shot to be self-righteous. To be self-righteous means that you think you are righteous before God and you do not need to repent of any wrong doing. Have you refused to admit doing wrong? Have you brushed it off when a fellow Christian has confronted you with your own sin? Do you make excuses for everything, so that the blame falls on anyone else but you? That is what the Pharisee did. You must not be like the Pharisee, or you will never be righteous before God. You must be like the tax-collector.
The tax-collector was an unlikely character to be found righteous before God. Tax collectors were known to be cheats, who enriched themselves by collecting more money than was required of them. Jesus couldn’t have picked a more unlikeable character than a tax collector. Yet, again, the point of Jesus’ parable is not for you to look at how bad the tax collector is as if he’s worse than you. The point of Jesus’ parable is for you to identify yourself with the tax collector. Do you think you are more worthy than the tax collector to stand before God and look up to heaven? No, we must do as the tax collector did. Do not focus an anyone else’s sins. Rather, confess to God that you are the sinner. And pray for mercy.
It’s hard to imagine a greater contrast than the prayer of the tax collector and that of the Pharisee. The Pharisee used many words glorifying himself. The tax collector simply called himself a sinner. Yet, the most important distinction between the Pharisee and the tax collector is that the tax collector had faith and the Pharisee did not.
We know that the tax collector had faith, not only because he admitted that he was a sinner and showed himself to be sorry, but because he trusted in God to show him mercy. And the tax collector did not simply ask for mercy. The word he used means, “Be propitiated.” He prayed that God would be propitiated to him. To be propitiated means that God’s wrath is taken away. It means to be appeased, to be satisfied. God no longer demands anything from you. It is sacrificial language. God is propitiated by sacrifice. The men are in the temple where lambs and other beasts are sacrificed and their blood is poured on the altar. The tax collector knows that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Yet, he also knows that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. The sacrifices in the temple point to the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. That sacrifice is the basis by which the tax collector asks God to be propitiated to him.
St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 3, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” It is through faith in the blood of Jesus, which propitiates, that is reconciles God to us that makes us righteous in God’s sight. The Pharisee did not trust in the blood of Christ. The tax collector did. That is the great difference.
In our Old Testament lesson, we heard how Cain and Abel both offered sacrifices to the Lord, but God did not accept Cain’s offering of fruit from the ground, but God did accept Abel’s offering of the firstborn of his flock and its fat portions. Now, this is often understood that Cain didn’t offer the best crops he had and that is why God did not accept his offering. But that is not what the text says. And it would hardly make sense for Cain to be upset at God for not accepting his offering of rotten vegetables and bruised fruits. Much more likely is that Cain offered the best he had, yet God did not accept it. That’s what made Cain so mad that murder arose in his heart!
So, why didn’t God accept Cain’s offering, if Cain offered his best? Because Cain had no faith. He offered his best to God just like the Pharisee, thinking God should accept his offering, because of how good it was. Yet, St. Paul teaches us to consider all we have as rubbish, so that we can be found not having a righteousness of our own, but one that comes through faith in Christ. Abel had faith. He offered the first fruit of his flock and its fat portions, because he believed that God would send his Firstborn to shed his blood for his sins, as God promised his parents in the Garden after they sinned. This is why Hebrews 11:4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.”
God was propitiated to Abel through the blood of Christ, which makes propitiation for all sins. This is the only way to be found righteous by God. St. John writes, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” To be justified by God means to be forgiven. Only by being forgiven of your sins can you be found righteous before God. And only Jesus by his suffering and death can forgive you.
You might have noticed that the Scripture says that Jesus is the propitiation not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. Indeed, Jesus died for all people and for all sins. This is why the tax collector could be so bold as to pray that God would be propitiated to him. He knew the promise. There is no one whose sin is so great that Jesus’ blood does not wash it all away.
This also shows the great tragedy for the Pharisee. Jesus shed his blood for the Pharisee too. Jesus made atonement for his sins. God is propitiated to the Pharisee by the blood of Christ! God loves the Pharisee! Yet, the Pharisee will not receive this forgiveness. He doesn’t want God’s righteousness as a gift. He traded in God's righteousness through faith for his own righteousness, which was rubbish. This is the danger of unbelief. It throws away a gift that God has won for all people.
The Pharisee’s righteousness fell short. And it showed. He held others in contempt. This is the fruit of self-righteousness: hatred. If you trust in yourself to be righteous, your righteousness will lead to hating others. You will try to make others seem worse than you in your own mind. You will despise those whom you think are worse than you and you will malign those, whom you fear are better than you. But the fruit of the righteousness through faith in Jesus is love. Because Jesus’ righteousness is given to those who in humility repent of their sins and consider others more significant than themselves. Faith in Christ means that you recognize that all people like you are in need of Jesus’ righteousness and that Jesus indeed died to save all people. And the righteousness that you receive through faith in Christ is real righteousness. Through faith, Jesus dwells in you. God now works in you to do works of love. This is why Jesus says, “They will know that you are my disciples, by how you love one another.”
This parable might look like it is about the Pharisee and the tax collector, those who are self-righteous and those who in faith repent of their sins and ask for forgiveness. But this parable is primarily about God and his great mercy for us in Christ Jesus. God is more willing to hear than we are to pray. He is more willing to forgive than we are to ask for mercy. God’s desire is for you to be righteous in his sight through faith in his Son. God is ready to exalt those who humble themselves, even as he is ready to humble those who exalt themselves. Jesus sacrificial death, which propitiates God to us gives us the courage to ask God for the greatest things imaginable, even eternal peace with him, no matter how terribly we’ve sinned against him. May we learn from the tax collector to be confident in our God’s mercy. Do not be afraid to confess your sins and humble yourself before God. By the merits of Christ, God will raise you up. For Christ’s sake you are righteous in God’s sight. Do not trust in yourself that you are righteous. Trust in God that you are righteous for Christ’s sake. Amen.

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God justifies sinners through faith alone

9/3/2019

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Luke 18:9-14
September 1, 2019

Jesus directs this parable at those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. He tells of two men, who go to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Now, we generally think of Pharisees as bad, because they frequently clash with Jesus. But we have to remember, at this place and time in history, Pharisees were good. They were devoted to God’s word and worship. They followed the rules. They were the prime example of good Jewish citizens. You wanted your son to be a Pharisee. That would make a mother proud.
Tax collectors on the other hand were hated by everyone. And not for no reason. Not only did they collect taxes for the much-hated Roman government, but they frequently stole, collecting more than was required, making themselves rich by burdening their countrymen. Yet, to the certain surprise of those listening to this parable when Jesus first told it, Jesus declares that the tax collector went down to his house justified and the Pharisee didn’t!
To be justified means to be declared righteous by God. The Pharisee trusted that God would find him righteous because of all his good works. He thought his works were good enough to earn the approval of God. The Pharisee was works-righteous.
Now, that’s not to say that these aren’t good works to do. He says that he is not an extortioner, a liar, or an adulterer. He makes a point that he is nothing like that low-life tax collector. He fasted twice a week, showing that he was not a greedy glutton or drunkard, but disciplined his body for the sake of his religion. He tithed, meaning, he gave ten percent of all of his income to God. If you were to place him into today’s society, he would be the most loved citizen and member of the church. It would be great if we all did these things listed by the Pharisee.
Yet, Jesus tells us that all these good works were no good and failed to please God. Why is that? Because these were only outside works, while the Pharisee’s heart was far from God. Jesus teaches us that these two commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself; sum up all Scripture. Yet, the Pharisee showed that he loved neither the Lord God nor his neighbor.
He showed that he hated his neighbor. He despised the tax collector. He didn’t pray for him. He didn’t show pity to him. He didn’t consider that he was as miserable a sinner as he was. No, he hated the tax collector and all sinners who failed to set up the righteous veneer that he did.
Of course, Scripture teaches us that you cannot love God and hate your brother, because whoever loves God must also love his brother. And the Pharisee shows that he does not love God, because he does not give God the glory. Yes, he “thanks” God that he is not like other men, but this is more of a pretense than an actual prayer of thanksgiving. He then continues to say, “I, I, I.” He doesn’t actually confess that it is God who leads us out of temptation and delivers us from shameful living. He performed a bunch of outward works, but he didn’t actually love God and his neighbor.
If the Pharisee were truly righteous, he would have prayed for the soul of the tax collector, spoken with him and restored him to God in a spirit of gentleness, as St. Paul writes, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” But the Pharisee did his works without love, so God was not pleased with his works.
Scripture also says, “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Romans 13:9) So, if you do all that the Pharisee did and more, and live the perfect outward life, yet you do not love, then your works are worthless. Your motivation for all good works must be love.
Those who trust in themselves to be righteous treat others with contempt, because they are insecure. The Pharisee needed to live up to a certain standard to prove that he was righteous. Well, he obviously could not live up to God’s standard. God’s standard is that you be perfect, even as he is perfect. So, instead, the Pharisee compared himself to others. That’s easy. Just find others, who mess up more than you do and judge yourself compared to them. Yet, this is not how God will judge you. And, this leads only to hating those, whom you are commanded to love.
We love, because God first loved us. You cannot love, unless you are confident in God’s love. But you are not confident in God’s love, if you trust in yourself to be righteous. Rather, you must always find excuses for why God should love you.
Works-righteousness not only produces the opposite effect of God’s desired righteousness, which is love, but it is foolish. Scripture tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20). No one is righteous, no not one. All fail to keep the commandments perfectly. God makes no distinction between Pharisee and tax collector. They both fall short of God’s glory.
And this is why the tax collector behaves much wiser than the Pharisee and goes home justified by God. The tax collector does not try to justify himself. He does not bring God a list of his accomplishments or good works. Rather, he acknowledges that he is a sinner. In fact, while the Pharisee pointed out the sins of others, the tax collector calls himself the sinner. He does not point to the faults of anyone else. He doesn’t compare himself with others or blame others. He takes ownership of his own sin, he strikes his breast in shame, and he begs God for mercy.
And this is not just a desperate appeal by a man, who has nothing else to lose. The tax collector prays to God in faith. The word he uses for mercy here actually means, “be propitiated to me” or “make atonement for me.” It is the same word used for the Mercy Seat, which is in the Holy of Holies in the Temple, where God himself sits. From the Mercy Seat God accepts the sacrifices of Israel and makes atonement for their sins. And every sacrifice points to Christ. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 3 that God put forward Jesus Christ as a propitiation, that is, a sacrifice of atonement by his blood. When the tax collector said, “God, be propitiated to me the sinner” he was pleading to God for mercy for the sake of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, to which every sacrifice in the temple points.
“God, be merciful to me a sinner.” are words of faith. The tax collector believes God’s promise that he will make atonement for the sins of his people. Every sacrifice made in the temple is a sermon that preaches that Christ will make atonement for sins. With these words the tax collector confesses his faith in Christ. He uses almost the exact words as Psalm 79, which state, “Atone for our sins for your name’s sake.” The tax collector holds God to his promise. God cannot deny him atonement of sins any more than he can deny his own name. God must keep his word.
And God has kept his word. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ to make atonement for our sins. Jesus is the only human being, who truly is righteous of himself. He loved God perfectly with all his heart, soul, and mind. He loved his neighbors to the very end, as he died for their trespasses. Jesus paid the price that the blood of countless beasts sacrificed in the temple could never pay. Jesus paid for our sins with his own precious blood. That is what it means to make atonement. That is what it means for God to be propitiated. God is no longer angry with sinners, but pleased with them for the sake of Jesus’ suffering and death.
When the tax collector prayed to God to be merciful to him, he prayed that God would credit this sacrifice of atonement to him too. He showed that he trusted not in his own works, but only in the merits of Christ. And it is only the merits of Christ that can justify a sinner. This is why Scripture says, “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, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:4-8)
None of us can stand before God by our own works. In Psalm 130 we hear, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” God knows all your sins. Standing before God isn’t like going to a job interview where you present a resume filled with all your best achievements and hope that the boss doesn’t find out about anything embarrassing in your past. No. God already knows everything about you. You can’t hide from him. The Pharisee couldn’t. And the tax collector knew he couldn’t. Yet, God is merciful. He sent his Son to make atonement for your sins, to forgive you, to give you a righteousness that is not your own, but is a gift from Christ to you.
The tax collector is a good example to us of humility. Jesus says that the humble will be exalted. Humility and faith go together. Through faith, you receive a gift. You don’t work for it. You believe it and you receive it. For this you must be humble. You don’t try to earn it, like the Pharisee did. You don’t claim that you deserve it. Rather, you let God exalt you according to his promise and mercy in Jesus Christ. This is why repentance and faith go together. It is impossible to have saving faith in Christ while not having sorrow over your own sin. We have faith is Christ, because we know what our sins have earned us. And we desire to receive from Christ what can only be received by grace.
This lesson is a severe warning to those, who think that they do not need God’s forgiveness and that they are righteous by their own works. No one is righteous of himself, except Jesus Christ alone. Yet, this lesson is a great comfort to those who know their own sin and unworthiness. There is no sin for which Christ has not atoned. There is no sinner so terrible that God cannot forgive. We poor sinners have a gracious God, who is merciful to us for the sake of Jesus Christ. Each of us can go home justified by God today, not because any of us is better than anyone else, but because we have received Christ’s righteousness as a gift through faith. We come to God empty, and we go home full.
This righteousness that we receive through faith will also bear fruit. Not rotten hypocritical fruit, like the loveless works for the Pharisee. But true fruits of love, which come only from a heart made clean by the blood of Christ. Yet our confidence remains always in Christ’s righteousness, even as St. Paul confessed that he would be found by God not with a righteousness of his own, but one that comes through faith in Christ. That is our righteousness too. Let us pray.
I have naught, My God, to offer,
Save the blood of Thy dear Son;
Graciously accept the proffer:
Make His righteousness mine own.
His holy life gave He, was crucified for me;
His righteousness perfect He now pleads before Thee;
His own robe of righteousness, my highest good,
Shall clothe me in glory, through faith in his blood. Amen. (One Thing Needful, J. H. Schroeder, ELH 182:6).

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Trinity 11: The Consistent Grace of God

8/13/2018

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Luke 18:9-14
August 12, 2018

Who do you think is a nicer God, the God of the Old Testament or the God of the New Testament? Which path of salvation would you prefer, that of the Old Testament or that of the New? If you find these questions ridiculous and even offensive, that’s good. The God of the Old Testament and of the New is one and the same God. And his way of salvation has been consistent from the foundation of the world. It is an ancient heresy called Marcionism, which teaches that the God of the Old Testament and of the New are two opposing gods. Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testament, who created the world was cruel, ignorant and unmerciful; the God of the New Testament and the Father of Jesus, however, is merciful and loving. Although Marcion was excommunicated from the Christian Church in 144 AD his view of the gods of the Old and New Testament is still popular in 2018.
People are often shocked when they read the Old Testament at how wrathful and strict God is portrayed and often fall into the notion that the Old Testament teaches a different religion than the New Testament or even that God has changed. But God has not and cannot change and his mercy endures forever even as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when you look closely, you see that while God is strict, he is always just and merciful. The God, who destroyed all life on earth with a world-wide flood also rescued Noah and his family of eight. The God, who wiped out wicked Sodom rescued Lot and his daughters. And the God, who drowned Pharoah and his hosts in the Red Sea also rescued the nation of Israel from slavery.
A popular notion is that the God of the Old Testament demands good works in order for a person to be saved, while the God of the New Testament only requires faith. This is a false notion. And our Old Testament and Gospel lessons show us clearly that God’s way to salvation has always been by grace through faith.
Cain and Abel both offered sacrifices to God. Abel’s offering was accepted by God, but Cain’s was rejected. Why? Did Cain offer God a bunch of rotten vegetables while Abel offered good meat? Scripture doesn’t say that. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. We don’t have any more details than that. And there isn’t really any reason to suspect that Cain offered inferior vegetables or held back the best of his crop.
Abel, however, sacrificed the first born of his flock and of their fat portions. This actually tells us a lot about Abel. In Leviticus chapters 3 and 4 God commands Israel through Moses that when offering a peace offering or a sin offering, that all the fat of the animal should be offered on the altar to the LORD. Leviticus 3:16 says, “All fat is the LORD’s.” And in Deuteronomy chapter 15 God commands Israel through Moses that all firstborn males of their flocks and herds should be sacrificed to the LORD. Yet, both of these commandments regarding the offering of fat and the firstborn were made thousands of years after Abel already sacrificed the fat of the firstborn of his flock to the LORD. This means that thousands of years before God commanded Israel through Moses how to offer proper sacrifices, Abel was already doing it. Well, how can this be?
It is apparent that Abel’s father Adam taught Cain and Abel how to offer right sacrifices. Adam was taught by God. So, is Cain’s sin that he did not offer the right sacrifice? No. King David writes in Psalm 51, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (vss. 16-17) God looks at the heart. It is not as if you can figure out the perfect formula for a proper sacrifice and as long as you perform it perfectly you will go to heaven, regardless of what’s on your heart. God desires a repentant heart that trusts in the LORD. God speaks in Psalm 50, “Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. … Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, .... and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
It is perfectly possible that Cain offered a sacrifice in keeping with how his father Adam taught him. God commanded Israel through Moses to offer the first fruits of their fields as well. Cain could very well have offered the finest and best of his crops to the LORD. So why did God reject Cain’s offering and accept Abel’s? Hebrews 11:5 answers us, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”
God accepted Abel’s offering, not because his offering was perfectly performed, but because he saw the faith by which Abel offered his gift. Abel offered the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions, not because he thought he could appease God’s wrath and please him if he gave him a good enough present. What does God need dead sheep for? He offered God this sacrifice, because he believed in the promised Messiah, the firstborn from God, who would make atonement for Abel’s sins. By offering the most precious of his flock as a sacrifice, Abel communicated his faith in the promised Messiah, who would crush the serpent’s head, while suffering the strike upon his heal.
Cain meanwhile trusted in himself. He believed that God should accept him because of his sacrifice, not for the sake of the promised Messiah. Cain was works-righteous. Works-righteousness is the world’s oldest false religion. It teaches that you can be righteous before God based on your own works. Works-righteousness does not teach you to trust in Jesus, but in yourself. While faith in Christ produces love, works-righteousness produces hate. Cain hated his brother. Abel showed his faith by offering God a sacrifice, which communicated his faith in God’s promise. Cain showed his works-righteousness by murdering his brother in hate and jealously, because his works weren’t accepted.
Our Gospel lesson gives us a parallel story. A Pharisee and a tax collector go up to the temple to pray. There is no mistaking it, the Pharisee has good works. If you were to try conclude that God didn’t accept the Pharisee, because his works weren’t quite good enough, you’d completely miss the point of the parable. The Pharisee has fine works. It is good not to be a thief or an adulterer. It is good to fast and give ten percent of what you make to the church. The Pharisee did good things. And unlike Abel, we don’t see any of the good works of the tax collector. He just beats his breast and prays for mercy. So, why does the tax collector go down to his house justified? For the same reason that God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s: faith.
The Pharisee did not have faith. He did not offer to God a broken spirit or a contrite heart. He offered his works, which he thought were so good. Yet, when you look closely, you see that like Cain’s, they were not offered in love. The Pharisee trusted in himself that he was righteous and treated others with contempt. He hated the tax collector and cared nothing for his soul. His hatred was the rotten fruit that proved that he did not have faith.
The tax collector, however, reveals his faith through his words and actions. By beating his breast, he reveals that he has a broken spirit and contrite heart. He confesses to God that he is a sinner. And not just a sinner, he says, “have mercy on me, the sinner.” The tax collector doesn’t accuse anyone else of sin. He acknowledges his own sins before the Lord and bids for pardon.
And the word the tax collector uses for mercy here really connects him to Abel. He doesn’t use the regular word for mercy. Instead, he says, “Be propitiated to me, the sinner.” This phrase, “be propitiated” is sacrificial language. It refers to a sacrifice. The tax collector is saying to God, “God, let this sacrifice make propitiation or satisfaction for my sins.” They are in the temple during these prayers. The Jews went to the temple to pray during the morning and evening sacrifices. During these sacrifices the priests offered lambs without blemish on the altar, and their fat portions. In the presence of this same type of sacrifice that Abel offered thousands of years previously the tax collector with a contrite heart offers quite possibly the same prayer to God as Abel did. “Be propitiated to me, the sinner.”
Yet, how does this teach that we have the same God and the same way of salvation as the Old Testament? We don’t offer sacrifices anymore. Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the connection. Jesus, is the promised Messiah, promised to Adam and Eve in the Garden. When Abel offered sacrifices, he did so trusting in the coming Messiah, who is Christ Jesus. When the tax collector said, “Be propitiated to me the sinner” feet away from the burning fat of a sacrificed lamb upon the altar of God, he was not praying that God would be satisfied with the sacrifice of that beast, but with the sacrifice which that offering pointed to: Jesus Christ on the cross.
Every sacrifice of the Old Testament points to Christ Jesus. Adam and Abel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah and Rachel too, Moses and the faithful of Israel, they all trusted in the coming Messiah. Their sacrifices pointed to the future revealed Christ. It is Jesus and his death and resurrection, which unites the Old and the New Testament and proves that God always keeps his promises.
Cain and the Pharisee were rejected by God, because they trusted in their works. They were works-righteous, but God did not declare them righteous. Abel and the tax-collector were accepted by God and declared righteous through faith apart from their works. They humbled themselves and were exalted. And it remains the same today.
The first false religion in the world remains the greatest false religion in the world: works-righteousness. People still believe that they can earn God’s favor by being good or at least better than everybody else. Of course, to do this they have to set boundaries, so that their goodness can be obtainable. So, they love their family members or people who love them and believe they have fulfilled the law of love. They speak poorly of others behind their back, but justify themselves by saying that it is true. In many ways people declare themselves righteous before God. And in many ways we do too. We think God owes us something, because we said something nice to someone or donated to a charity or showed up to church or said a prayer. We think this way. We judge God according to our standards and are aghast that he dares to judge us according to his. This is works-righteousness. It produces only love for the self and resentment for God and your neighbor.
And works-righteousness gives no hope. You don’t know if you are good enough for God. If you break out of your dilution that you are better than everyone else, you are left with the sad realization that you are indeed a poor miserable sinner. And in the religion of works-righteousness, that is a terrifying position to be in. Yet, in the one true religion, the religion of Abel, the tax collector, and the entire Christian Church, which teaches that we are declared righteous by God through faith in Jesus Christ apart from our works, such a position is no longer terrifying. Rather, it is the only position in which you can come before God and be declared righteous. We come before our God as poor miserable sinners, we claim nothing else from ourselves, but we put our trust in Jesus Christ alone, who sacrificed himself for our sins. And God counts such faith for righteousness.
It is comforting that the God of the Old Testament is still the God we pray to today. And it is comforting that his way of salvation remains the same. Because, this means that God always keeps his promises. Brantley David Cordray was baptized today. That is a wonderful thing. Why? What benefits does such pouring of water and a few words give? “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this as the words and promises of God declare.” And which are these words and promises of God? “Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark, ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.’”
These words and promises of God are comforting, because they remain true. If God promises it, then it stands forever. This means that when Brantley sins, when he brings shame upon himself (which remains unavoidable in our sinful condition), and when the Holy Spirit, whom he has received today in his Baptism strikes his conscience with remorse over his sins, he can say to God, “Be merciful to me, the sinner, for the sake of Christ, who is the Savior of all who trust in him both from the Old and New Testament.” And he can go down to his home confident that he is justified.
May God grant us such faith to hear and believe the promises of Christ, so that we may stand in a right relationship with God today and forever. Amen.

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Trinity 11: God justifies the humble apart from works for the sake of Jesus' atoning sacrifice

8/28/2017

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Luke 18:9-14

"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector." Now we've heard this parable so many times and we've heard of Jesus' run-ins with the Pharisees, so we might get the wrong idea. When we hear the word Pharisee we think "bad guy." There is nothing worse than being a Pharisee. It's practically a cuss word in Christian circles. And some go to great lengths to prove that they are not Pharisees, even deliberately sinning! But Jesus didn't choose a Pharisee, because Pharisees are known bad guys. Rather, he chose a Pharisee, because they were known to be good guys. Everyone who first heard Jesus tell this parable thought that the Pharisee was the good guy. The tax collector on the other hand was certainly the bad guy, a cheat, a Benedict Arnold, an enemy of God and his people! So, it came as a greater shock that the tax collector rather than the Pharisee went down to his house justified than that the tortoise beat the hare in a race.

Why is this such a shock? What does it mean to be justified? To be justified means to be declared righteous by God. Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. To be righteous means to be in a right relationship with God. It means that God is pleased with you and accepts you and will welcome you into heaven. The Pharisee thought that God was pleased with him and would welcome him into heaven, because his works were so good. Everyone thought that God would declare the Pharisee righteous! Just look at how well he follows God's Law! But God is not pleased with the Pharisee's works. He doesn't declare him righteous. This is a shock! And so God shows us that none of our works can make us righteous before God.

Many take this the wrong way. They assume because God wasn't pleased with the Pharisee that the works he bragged about are all rotten. But this isn't true. The Pharisee thanked God. Isn't this what we are all commanded to do; pray, praise, and give thanks? Is it not wicked to be an extortioner; to steal other people's money? God certainly is not pleased with adultery, but forbids it in all its forms. Fasting is certainly fine outward training, as we learn in our Small Catechism. And giving a tenth of all that you earn to the Lord is not only commanded by God to Israel, but it is the example of the Patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob. If every Christian trusted in God enough to give a tenth of all they made to the Lord, congregations would be less burdened and could more easily focus on missions to spread God's righteous wealth throughout the world! We should all strive to do as the Pharisee says. So, why was God not pleased?

God was not pleased, because the Pharisee trusted in himself. He thought that his works would earn him favor with God. In fact, he trusted in his works instead of God. And by so doing he proved his righteousness to be a mere façade, while he was still rotten on the inside. The Pharisee prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men," which could actually be turned into a good prayer. We should all thank God that we are not unrepentant, faithless, sinners. The only reason any one of us doesn't steal or commit adultery or behave in any unjust way is by the grace of God. Thank God that he has spared me of such wicked sins. If it were not by his grace I certainly would be the worst of the worst sinners, an unbeliever and a blasphemer (1 Cor. 15:10). But the Pharisee is not thanking God for rescuing him from sin and unbelief. He is using his prayer as a pretense, so he can brag and claim to be better than others.

The Pharisee was not humble. He was godlike in his own eyes. He didn't repent of his sins. He didn't ask God for mercy. He actually thought that by a few outward acts he had fulfilled the entire Law and earned God's friendship. But the Pharisee was far from the mark. Every one of his good works were riddled with selfish ambition. And he showed the true condition of his heart by his hatred of his neighbor, the tax collector. You cannot love God and hate your brother. The second table of the law is summed up, "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you do not love your neighbor, all your good works are worthless.

You are not righteous before God by being better than others. And you cannot make yourself righteous by following a set of rules. If you fail at one point of the law, even in secret, even in the privacy of your heart, then you are not righteous before God.

The tax collector was a sinner, no doubt. Tax collectors had the reputation of being disloyal; they worked for the occupying Roman government. They were often greedy thieves; collecting more than they were authorized. By all accounts this tax collector was unrighteous.

But the tax collector doesn't give a defense. He doesn't list off the good things he's done. He offers nothing to God at all. Rather, he stands far off, he beats his breast, and he says, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner."

The word the tax collector uses for "mercy" is not the same word we usually hear in the New Testament. Usually mercy means simply to show pity. But the word the tax collector uses here means, "be propitiated." You can see why the translators chose the word "mercy" instead. Who knows what it means to be propitiated? But to understand this parable, it's important for us to understand what it means to be propitiated. For God to be propitiated means that God is appeased, he is no longer angry, rather he is satisfied. For God to be propitiated debt has to be paid, a wrong has to be amended, atonement must be made. This is important, because the tax collector isn't simply throwing a Hail Mary, hoping that God will have pity. He is praying that God will accept the sacrifice of atonement on his behalf and forgive him his sin for the sake of the sacrifice.

The tax collector stood far off and prayed, "God be propitiated to me, the sinner." Unlike the Pharisee, he didn't want to be seen by anybody. He didn't raise his voice or even look up to heaven, but beat his breast away from the crowd. He didn't want to be seen by anyone, but God. You might wonder, then why he went to the temple? Why didn't he just stay home and pray in his room?

It's not a coincidence that the Pharisee and the tax collector went to the temple at the same time to pray. Every morning and afternoon the priest would sacrifice a lamb to atone for the sins of the people and offer incense. These were also the times of public prayer, when the people would gather and pray after the priest offered the sacrifice of atonement, while he was burning the incense.

The tax collector went to the temple, because he believed God's promise. He believed that God would be where he promised to be. He believed that God would accept the sacrifice. Every sacrifice offered to God in the temple pointed to Christ, who would be sacrificed to atone for the sins of the whole world. This is why the tax collector went to the temple. This is why he used the word, "propitiate" instead of just mercy. He was saying to God, "I believe your promise. I believe that this sacrifice of atonement pleases you. For the sake of this sacrifice, forgive me. This sacrifice pleases you, so be pleased with me!"

And here we see the Pharisee's greatest sin. He was so proud of himself and his own righteousness, he forgot the reason they were gathering in the temple in the first place: the sacrifice of atonement. He ignored the sacrifice. He didn't think he needed it. He thought his congratulatory "prayer" was greater than the sacrifice for his sins.

The tax collector on the other hand beat his breast mourning over his sin. That's what the crowd did after Jesus died on the cross, they beat their breasts in horror for what they had done (Luke 23:48). It is as if the tax collector sees the lamb slain and he knows that this points to the Christ, who would shed his blood for him. And the tax collector becomes the only sinner in the world. He is to blame for God's anger and for the punishment of his own Son. It is as we sing in Lent, "Whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish? It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish; Yea, all the wrath, the woe, Thou dost inherit, This I do merit." (LSB 439, stz. 4).

The tax collector did not claim any good works of his own. Rather, he clung to God's promise in the sacrifice alone. This is the only way anyone can be saved. Only the atoning sacrifice of God's Son can make you righteous. No matter how good you think you are, even if your works are greater than the Pharisee's, they will not justify you before God. But likewise, no matter how terrible a sinner you are, if your sins make the tax collector look like a saint, the atoning blood of Jesus still propitiates God and justifies you. St. John writes, "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1b-2)

The tax collector humbled himself, because he had faith in God's promise. He knew that he had nothing to offer God that could make him righteous. Rather, he trusted in the free gift of forgiveness offered through the sacrifice. We have the same faith. We trust in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. He was buried and was raised on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures. Every sacrifice in the temple pointed to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. When we pray to God for mercy, we pray that God would credit Christ's death to us. We pray that as Jesus died for the sins of the whole world that our sins too would be washed away in his blood. We humble ourselves by receiving God's forgiveness and righteousness as a free gift, just as the tax collector did. And we are exalted, just as the tax collector was justified before God.

The temple is no more. Christ's sacrifice put an end to all atoning sacrifices. Yet we can still go to where God promises to be. We can go to where God feeds us the fruit of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. This morning we humble ourselves before our God and God applies to us the benefit of Jesus' death. We even eat the body slain and drink the blood poured out, which propitiates God to us. We see, hear, and taste that God is propitiated to us. And having in humble faith received God's forgiveness and benediction each one of us returns to our house justified. Amen.

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

Justified before God

Trust in the Lord

God justifies sinners through faith alone

Trinity 11: The Consistent Grace of God

Trinity 11: God justifies the humble apart from works for the sake of Jesus' atoning sacrifice

Rev. James Preus

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