Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
  • Home
    • Missions
    • Swaddling Clothes
  • What We Believe
    • Christian Education: Sunday School and Catechism Program
    • Baptism
    • Confession and Absolution
    • Holy Communion
  • Worship
  • Our Pastor
    • Sermons
    • Sermons 2015-2016
  • Trinity Trumpet Newsletter
  • Trinity Trumpet Calendar

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

Trinity 17 God Exalts the Humble by Grace through Faith

9/24/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Luke 14:1-11 
September 23, 2018 
 
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” These words are repeated in one form or another several times throughout the holy Scriptures, including from our Lord’s mouth a number of times. The mother of our Lord, the Virgin Mary herself spoke such words in her Magnificat, when she rejoiced for the child in her womb, saying, “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.” And in her song, Mary expresses nothing more than what is consistently repeated in Scripture. Psalm 113 articulates it well, “He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.” (vss. 7-8) 
And what Jesus is teaching with this statement is nothing short of the hope that all we Christians cling to: we are saved by grace apart from our works. He who exalts himself will be humbled. Who will humble him? God will. God casts down the mighty from their thrones and humbles the proud. He who humbles himself will be exalted. Again, who will exalt him? God will. God exalts the humble, that is, those who claim the lowest place at the banquet. God exalts those, who claim nothing from their works, but rely purely on God’s grace.  
Exalting yourself before God is a foolish thing to do. While you might be able to convince others that you are great or even convince yourself that you are righteous, God cannot be fooled. He searches the innermost heart of man. He who searches the mind of God and knows his inner thoughts certainly can search you and find any blemish there is to find. And we all know there is plenty for the Lord to find wrong with each of us.  
So, it is foolish to exalt yourself, yet that does not mean that people don’t try. In fact, it’s quite difficult not to exalt yourself. Humbling yourself is much more challenging. Because, to humble yourself you must rely solely on God to elevate you to a proper place. Fear creeps in, “What if God doesn’t exalt me? Will I be stuck at this miserably low spot?” And that is why people try to exalt themselves. They trust in themselves that they can get a better spot at God’s banquet. And they don’t trust God to give them an adequate spot.  
So, you see, to humble yourself takes faith. To humble yourself, you must trust that God will lift you up. Those, who refuse to humble themselves lack faith that God will exalt them. Those who do humble themselves trust in God, that he will give them a greater position in his Kingdom than anyone could dream for himself.  
St. Paul teaches us how to have such faith. He writes in Philippians chapter 3, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (3:8-9) St. Paul, who certainly could claim much higher works than any of us, does not count any of them toward his credit or boast to sit at a higher seat. Rather, he trusts that God raises the needy out of the dung heap and, having washed them all clean, sets them before princes.  
Now, how can St. Paul do this? How can he so readily let go of his good works and take such a lowly spot for himself? Because he has faith that God has instore for him a much greater position than he could ever gain from all his works. Again, St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”  
That God exalts the humble means that God saves sinners by grace apart from their works. But to humble yourself to receive such grace takes faith in God’s promise to exalt you. Therefore, grace and faith cannot be divorced. To be saved through faith means that you are saved by grace.  
Now, how lowly must you humble yourself, so that you can be exalted by God? Jesus says in Matthew 18, “Whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Yet, truly, we must humble ourselves even lower, yes, even to death. Unless your sinful old Adam die, so that you can be raised again to new life by the Holy Spirit, you cannot be saved.  
Our pride tries to save our old Adam. We want to say there is still something good in us that we can show to God, so that we don’t have to trust solely on his grace. But God says, “No, you can’t save the old Adam. He must be drowned. He must be crucified with Christ and be destroyed.” And this is why we return each week with the same confession, “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities...” The old Adam continues to rise again. This is why St. Paul writes in Romans 7, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh.” And again, he writes in Colossians 3: 
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (3-11) 
So, we learn that we must die every day and take the lowest spot with full confidence that God will raise us up again through faith in Christ.  
You can have such confidence that God will exalt you, because Christ Jesus humbled himself, even to the point of death on the cross. He had the right to claim equality with God, yet he took the position of sinners for your sake. And God has highly exalted Jesus, who plunged himself into the mire of your sins and into the pit of hell, as he suffered the consequence of your sins on the cross. Jesus did this confident that God would raise him from the dead and place him above all things. So, when you humble yourself by repenting of your sins and claiming nothing in yourself to earn your salvation before God, you join yourself to Jesus’ death. You trust that if you have died with Christ through faith and through Baptism, that God will surely raise you from the dead, just as he raised Christ Jesus.  
Humbling yourself is scary if you don’t know if you will be lifted up. But when you look to Christ, who has been exalted by God, even after being smeared with all your sins, then you have confidence that you too will be raised. Christ is your assurance that God will tell you to move up higher. Your Baptism is a token that you can remember even now, your own personal rainbow in the sky, which assures you of God’s promise. When Jesus tells you to humble yourself, he is not telling you to grovel before the hangman in a last-ditch effort to spare your life. He is telling you to take off your dirty robes and trust that God will give you a princely robe. Trust not in yourself, but in God, who has promised you every good thing through the merits of Jesus Christ alone.  
Through humility, you learn that God deals with you by grace, not according to your own works. This grants you great peace with God now and for eternity. Yet, humility also creates peace and unity here in the church on earth. When each person considers the other more significant than himself, peace is sustained. St. Paul writes in our Epistle lesson, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  
Humility, bearing with one another’s burdens helps maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. How easy it is to think of others and their need to repent when you hear the law preached. Yet, God wants you to examine yourself and think of your own need for repentance. Do not seek out the sins in others, but seek out the sin in your own heart, so that you can repent and be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you consider that your place in God’s kingdom is a pure gift given to you by grace, not on account of your own goodness, you cannot boast to be a better Christian than the other soiled lambs, who come to be cleansed in Jesus’ flock.  
Humility leads us to forgive the fault in others, to strive for unity in Christ and not force our own ways upon others. When we trust in God’s grace alone on account of Jesus’ merit, we have no need to tear others down so to make ourselves look better. God will lift each of us higher than we could ever imagine for ourselves. And so, it should be a joy to lift others up now, knowing that we lose nothing from it.  
When you rely on God’s grace you are able to focus on loving your neighbor. The Pharisees were offended that Jesus broke the Sabbath to heal someone, because they did not know that the law is subordinate to love. They used the law only to advance themselves, so that they could establish for themselves a higher seat at God’s table. But the law was given, that we might love our neighbor. Jesus fulfilled the law of the Sabbath by loving his sick neighbor. But this can only be understood if you yourself have received God’s love. This can only be done through faith when you humble yourself to receive God’s love.  
He who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. These are terrifying words to those who trust in themselves. But for us, who fear the consequence of our sins and trust in Jesus, these are the most comforting words we can hear. These words are a promise from God that he will exalt us, who trust in Jesus and not in ourselves. May we always believe this promise until God lifts us up to dine with him on the Last Day. Amen.  ​
0 Comments

Trinity 17: God Exalts the Humble

10/9/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Luke 14:1-11

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." It is certainly good advice to be humble. It does no one any good to boast. Rather, let your actions speak for themselves. If you are invited to a wedding and you sit in the best man's seat you will with red face have to walk through the hall of wedding guests to your own seat when the true best man arrives. And if a young lad boasts to a pretty lady that he can dunk a 
basketball, he'll lose every chance of dating her when he fails to swipe the net.  

But humility isn't just good advice, it is a Christian virtue, indeed, it is the God given second nature given to a Christian through faith in Christ. St. Paul urges you in our epistle lesson to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love..." Why is humility a manner worthy of your calling? Because you have been called to follow Christ Jesus. No one has humbled himself so greatly as our dear Jesus did. St. Paul writes to the Philippians in chapter two:  
 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:3-11) 

We Christians want to imitate Jesus. He is our Brother, our Master, our Friend, and our Savior. If such humility is not beneath him, then none of us can claim to be too good to humble ourselves to serve our neighbor in any way we can.  

Our Lord's humility is the source of our salvation. Had not Jesus humbled himself to the point of death then we all would be damned for eternity. Jesus, who is the eternal Son of God lowered himself lower than any sinner, even those in the depths of hell. He suffered the greatest wrath any being has ever suffered. And he did this to save us from the punishment of our sins. And now our Lord is exalted above every name, he is to be worshipped by all for all time. And our Lord did not ascend to heaven alone. He leads a train of captives now freed from sin. He exalts us with him, having freed us from the depths of hell. All glory be to Jesus forever! 

Yet, we do not humble ourselves only to imitate Christ and behave as Christians, although we certainly do that. But being humble is how you become a Christian. You must be humble to receive salvation by grace. Many have this mistaken view that you become a Christian by being a good person. If you're honest, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and read your Bible then you become a Christian. They think that if God is impressed enough by your good works then he'll call you one of his Christians. But this is not the way you become a Christian. St. Paul writes, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in God's sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Rom. 3:20) In fact, St. Paul, whose good works would put all of ours to shame, said this about his good works, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." (Philippians 3:8-9) 

This is why our hymn of the month is so fantastic! No other hymn articulates the Christian faith so concisely! Just listen:  
Salvation unto us has come 
By God's free grace and favor; 
Good works cannot avert our doom, 
They help and save us never.  
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, 
Who did for all the world atone; 
He is our one Redeemer. (Paul Speratus, LSB 555) 

This hymn articulates the biblical truth that our salvation is a free gift from God and it does not depend on our works at all. "Good works cannot avert our doom." What does that mean? It means that there is nothing you can do, no matter how fabulous you think it might be, that can prevent your damnation. When you come before God asking to enter heaven, God doesn't want you to offer him anything. He wants you to come to him completely empty handed, humble, and lowly, so that he can give you eternal life purely as his gift to you. If you do not come empty handed, then you will put your trust in something other than Christ Jesus, and that is idolatry. God wants you to trust in Jesus Christ alone, and not in your own works.  

God commands that you come before him empty and humble, not because he gets some strange satisfaction in humiliating those to whom he gives gifts. Rather, God intends to rescue you from your sinful condition. God isn't trying to get you to accept a fake reality. God wants you to grasp on to the true reality of your situation. You are a lost and condemned sinner, who can offer nothing to God to earn your salvation. Our hymn puts it perfectly, "From sin our flesh could not abstain, Sin held its sway unceasing; The task was useless and in vain, Our guilt was e'er increasing. None can remove sin's poisoned dart Or purify our guileful heart— So deep is our corruption." (Ibid, Stz. 4) God wants you to realize the gravity of this situation, so that he can save you by grace and rescue you from your sinful condition.  

On Monday in the wake of Sunday night's horrific mass murder, many of us were glued to the news waiting new information. After the murderer was identified I saw a headline that stated, "The Face of Evil." But when I looked at the first pictures released of the evil man, who wreaked such havoc in Las Vegas, I saw an ordinary man, whom you wouldn't be surprised to see in the grocery store or even in one of these pews. "The Face of Evil" looks just like you and me.  

Of course, you can't actually see evil. Evil is on the inside. But the fact remains, evil is within every one of you and me. Jesus says, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander," (Matthew 15:19). These are what defile a person and they are all within us. The evil that grew and festered within last Sunday's murderer is the same evil that originates within our hearts. It is only by God's grace that we are kept from committing such heinous crimes. This is why these things keep happening. Atrocities like the Nazi's genocide of Europe's Jews to the murder and displacement of millions of Christians in the Middle East will continue to happen, because the evil which causes it is deeply rooted in the human heart.  

This is why we bring our babies to be baptized. As cute as they are, we know that they are born sinners. They cannot choose to come to Christ. God must come to them. So, we bring them to Baptism, so that God may give them a new heart and wash away their sins in the blood of Christ.  

And even after we are baptized our sinful flesh still fights against our new man to keep us from doing what we want to do. And so, we confess our sins every Sunday. The words, "I, a poor, miserable sinner," are not pandering to God. We are confessing a dark truth that dwells within us. And we come to our merciful God for him to wash it out and raise us out of our darkness.  

You see now how obscene it is to present your good works to God as payment for your sins. That would be to boast in your sin and to offer God filth. But rather, aware of our sins we offer God nothing and claim nothing, but the blood of Jesus, which has washed away our sins. And with that humble faith our God lifts us up, not to a false security, but upon the certain foundation of Christ. And when your faith is founded on Christ you have certainty that God will exalt you to heaven.  

Do not seek the glory of people. Sure, you can impress them and it might feel good for a while, but it will end. Seek rather the glory of God. And you can't fool him. God glorifies those of a humble and contrite heart.  

The world despises humility. And when you are humble it is easy for others to abuse you. But do not be embarrassed by your humility or weakness. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12, "But the Lord said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (12:9-10) When I am weak, then I am strong. Wouldn't you exchange all your strength for Jesus' strength? Wouldn't you exchange all of your boasting, so that you could boast in Christ? Yes, this is what it means to be a Christian. The Christian says, "Far be it from me to boast in anything, except in our Lord Jesus Christ." (Gal. 6:14)  
​

The humble shall follow their Lord, who humbled himself on the cross and is exalted to the right hand of the Father. They too shall be exalted. Amen.  ​
0 Comments

    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All
    Advent 1
    Advent 2
    Advent 3
    Advent 4
    All Saints Day
    Ascension
    Baptism Of Our Lord
    Christmas 1
    Christmas Day
    Christmas Eve
    Circumcision And Name Of Jesus
    Confirmation
    Easter 2
    Easter 3
    Easter 4
    Easter 5
    Easter 6
    Easter Sunday
    Easter Vigil
    Epiphany
    Epiphany 2
    Epiphany 3
    Epiphany 4
    Exaudi (Sunday After Ascension)
    Good Friday
    Last Sunday
    Lent 1
    Lent 2
    Lent 3
    Lent 4
    Lent 5
    Maundy Thursday
    Name Of Jesus
    Nativity Of St. John The Baptist
    Palm Sunday
    Pentecost
    Presentation Of Our Lord
    Quinquagesima
    Reformation Day
    Robert Preus
    Second Last Sunday
    Septuagesima
    Sexagesima
    St. James Of Jerusalem
    St. Michael And All Angels
    Thanksgiving
    Transfiguration
    Trinity 1
    Trinity 10
    Trinity 11
    Trinity 12
    Trinity 13
    Trinity 14
    Trinity 15
    Trinity 16
    Trinity 17
    Trinity 18
    Trinity 2
    Trinity 20
    Trinity 21
    Trinity 22
    Trinity 24
    Trinity 25
    Trinity 26
    Trinity 27
    Trinity 3
    Trinity 4
    Trinity 5
    Trinity 6
    Trinity 7
    Trinity 8
    Trinity 9
    Trinity Sunday

    RSS Feed

© 2017  www.trinitylutheranottumwa.com
  • Home
    • Missions
    • Swaddling Clothes
  • What We Believe
    • Christian Education: Sunday School and Catechism Program
    • Baptism
    • Confession and Absolution
    • Holy Communion
  • Worship
  • Our Pastor
    • Sermons
    • Sermons 2015-2016
  • Trinity Trumpet Newsletter
  • Trinity Trumpet Calendar