Category: Trinity 2

God's Grace is Undeserved, Universal, But Not Absolute

6/23/2023

Romans 5:6-15
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[e] because all sinned-- 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 

Trinity 2/Pentecost 3
Romans 5:6-15
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church, Ottumwa and Faith Lutheran Church, Mount Pleasant
June 17 and 18, 2023

At the beginning of Romans chapter 5, St. Paul writes, “Through [our Lord Jesus Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand…” So, by faith we obtain access to God’s grace. But what is God’s grace? Many define God’s grace as God’s help. We are weak, so God helps us with his grace to make us strong. And there are examples in Scripture of grace being used in that way. However, when it comes to us being justified, reconciled to God, and saved, grace is not mere help. Grace is much more than help. Grace is God’s undeserved love for us. Grace is everything. Grace is God raising the dead, changing the sinner’s heart, converting His enemy!
“For while we were still weak at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is God’s grace in action. While we are ungodly, Christ dies for us. While we are sinners and want nothing to do with God, God sends His Son to pay for our sins. While we are His enemies, He makes restitution for our sins, so that we may be reconciled to Him. This isn’t we do our part and God does His. This isn’t God seeing that there is some good in us, so He gives us a nudge in the right direction. No, we were God’s enemies, and God sent His Son to die for us. We were in debt to God and merited eternal damnation, and God paid our debt. He didn’t owe us anything, but He gave us everything. That is God’s grace.
This definition of grace tears down the proud and exalts the lowly. If you think you deserve to go to heaven, this definition of grace will cast you down to hell. If you think that you don’t deserve to go to hell or that God should let you into heaven because of your own goodness, this definition of grace will humble you. Yet, if you recognize that your sins put you at enmity with God, that you have followed the ruler of this world by your sins, and that you deserve to go to hell, then this definition of grace raises you from the depths of woe, and sets you in the heavenly places. God did not send His Son to die for you, because you deserve to go to heaven. He didn’t make peace with you, because you were willing to make peace with Him. God made peace with you when you hated Him. If you are the worst sinner on this planet earth, God sent His Son to die for you.
This brings us to our next point about God’s grace. First, we learned that God’s grace is undeserved. Second, we learn that God’s grace is universal. This means that God’s grace is for everyone. This is significant, because everyone needs God’s grace. If God does not rescue you entirely from your sins, then you cannot be saved. And there is no human being, except Jesus Christ alone, who does not need to be rescued by God.
St. Paul teaches this point by showing that Adam is a type of Christ. A type is a figure, which foreshadows a figure to come. Paul calls Adam a type, meaning Christ is the Antitype. There are plenty of examples of types and antitypes in Scripture. St. Peter tells us that Baptism is an antitype of Noah’s flood, making the flood a type of Baptism (1 Peter 3:21). Just as the flood washed away all wickedness, yet Noah’s family was saved through the ark to receive a new life, so Baptism washes away all sin and grants you new life. Moses is said to be a type of Christ, because like Christ, he led God’s people Israel, baptized them, taught them God’s Word, and even fed them miraculously. David too is a type of Christ, as he slays Goliath, a figure of Satan, and leads the people of Israel as their king. And there are many other types of Christ in Scripture. All these types of Christ of course were flawed. They were sinners, who ultimately failed to grant God’s people the salvation they needed. Yet, none of them failed as catastrophically as Adam! So, why is Adam included as a type of Christ?
It is exactly because of the magnitude of his failure that Adam is a type of Christ. Paul points out that Adam is very dissimilar from Christ in the result of his action. Adam’s disobedience led to sin, death, and condemnation for all mankind, while Jesus’ obedience led to righteousness and life for all mankind. And here is why Adam is a type of Christ, because as Adam’s action affected the entire human race universally, so does Christ’s action affect the entire human race universally.
Through Adam all are made sinners, and so, all die. Through Adam, all become disobedient and merit condemnation. Adam is the father of us all. And through Adam, every one of us has inherited original sin. Original sin is the inborn desire to sin. We sin, because we are sinners. We are born without original righteousness, without fear, love, and trust in God. That is our inheritance as Adam’s children. Only Christ, the Virgin-born, was born free of original sin.
Yet, Jesus was born a human. Although He did not inherit Adam’s original sin as we did, He does share in our human flesh and blood. As Adam is the father of us all, so Christ Jesus is the brother of us all. He is the Second Adam.
Adam’s effect on the human race is total. Every human being born of natural conception is conceived and born in sin. Every human is born an enemy of God. Every human is born with the innate desire to sin against God. And so, every child of Adam has merited eternal condemnation. Jesus’ effect on the human race is total. The sins of every human being have been washed away in Jesus’ blood. Every human being has been reconciled to God. Every human being has been declared righteous by God.
St. Paul cannot get any clearer. He writes in verse 18, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” To be justified means to be declared righteous. To be justified means that you are in a right relationship with God. Justification is the same as reconciliation. Reconciliation is the act of making an enemy into a friend. God reconciled the world to Himself by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, so that we may be forgiven. Whom did He reconcile to God? Everyone. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
This is the message of the Gospel. God has reconciled the world to Himself. He has forgiven the sins of the whole world. He has made atonement for every sin. As Adam plunged the entire human race into sin, death, and condemnation, so God has justified every human being through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So, we have learned that God’s grace is undeserved. Christ died for us while we were God’s enemies. We have learned that God’s grace is universal. There is no one for whom Jesus did not die and reconcile to God the Father. Yet, God’s grace is not absolute. What this means is, not everyone is saved. Although Christ has won reconciliation between God and man for all people, has washed away their sins in His blood, and indeed has justified every man, woman, and child, yet not everyone is ultimately saved. Because this justification and reconciliation must be received through faith.
The first words of this chapter of Romans are, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace.” Faith is believing and trusting that God is reconciled to you for the sake of Jesus Christ. If you do not have this faith, you cannot receive this reconciliation. If faith does not receive it, then you lose it.
People often equate justification and salvation, and for good reason. If you are justified, then you will be saved. Yet, you will be saved is in the future. Yes, even St. Paul will speak of salvation as in the completed past tense, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” (Ephesians 2:8) Paul speaks as if salvation is a completed task. And in a way we should think so. You should not doubt your salvation. If you have faith in Christ Jesus, you should have confidence that you will inherit salvation. St. Paul writes, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.” He writes, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.” Yet again, that is in the future, isn’t it? When you are saved, you no longer sin. When you are saved, you no longer suffer and die! When you are saved, you live in paradise, no longer in danger of the devil and his attacks!
And so, while we should be absolutely confident in our salvation through Jesus Christ, we should remember that we have not yet obtained that salvation. We still must travel through this valley of the shadow of death. And so, we must continue to live by faith in Christ, repenting of our sins and trusting that God is reconciled with us now, that we are justified before God now, so that through trial and hardship, we may finally obtain our promised salvation. St. Paul again writes in this chapter, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
And so, the Holy Spirit must continue to pour God’s love into our hearts, so that we may maintain this saving faith and so obtain the salvation promised to us by grace. Yet, how does the Holy Spirit accomplish that? Through the proclamation of the Gospel. In our Gospel lesson, Jesus sends out His disciples to proclaim the Gospel. If people don’t hear the Gospel, they cannot be brought to faith. If they are not brought to faith, then they lose God’s reconciliation and justification, and with that their salvation. Yet, this faith is not just given to us once and done. We need to maintain this faith by continuing to hear and learn God’s Word. Our old sinful Adam will not let us hang onto this faith without a fight. Satan will oppose it until we obtain our salvation. This world wants you to lose this faith. So, Christ has designed for you to hear the Gospel often, to sustain you on the way.
Recently, all three “Jeopardy!” contestants were stumped by the following statement. “Our Father, Which art in heaven, this be Thy name.” None of them even ventured a guess. They had plenty of knowledge between those ears, but not the knowledge needed most. We need to hear the message that God is reconciled to us through Christ Jesus. And we need to continue to hear this message, until we finally receive our long-promised salvation. May God keep us faithful to His promise until we receive this salvation. Amen.

0 Comments

The Urgency of the Banquet

6/29/2022

0 Comments

Brunswick Monogramist, circa 1525. Pubic Domain.

Gospel: Luke 14:12-24
12 [Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’

Trinity 2
Luke 14:12-24
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 26, 2022

Tortured for Christ is an autobiographical book written by Richard Wurmbrand, a Christian pastor who spent fourteen years being tortured in a Communist prison. Wurmbrand was born a Jew in Romania in 1909 and in his youth, he was a staunch atheist. As a young man he was converted to Christianity and became a Lutheran pastor. He described in the book that when he first became a Christian, he was filled with joy, yet he was brought to tears at the thought of so many people, who did not know Christ Jesus as their Savior. Wurmbrand devoted his life to preaching the Gospel and thereby invited people to the Lord’s heavenly Banquet. When the Communists took over Romania, Wurmbrand continued to preach the Gospel to his own peril and the peril of his family. And what is even more remarkable, many people believed the Gospel and became Christians, even though accepting the invitation to this Banquet came with great suffering. Being a practicing Christian behind the atheist Iron Curtain was dangerous. You could lose your job, your property, your family, your freedom, and your life. Yet, people would lose all these in order to accept the invitation to Christ’s Banquet. Even Communist soldiers and prison guards, who formerly arrested and even tortured Christians would be converted and find themselves imprisoned next to the Christians they once harmed.

This is remarkable, yet it makes sense. Jesus says immediately after this parable, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. … any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 24:26-27, 33) The Gospel of Jesus Christ is worth losing everything for. If a person is wise, he’d be willing to lose everything in order to accept the invitation to the Lord’s Banquet. Yet, that is not how Jesus’ parable goes.

In Jesus’ parable, those invited to the banquet make excuses. One just bought a field, and for some reason that compels him to miss the banquet. Another bought five yoke of oxen and can’t find another time to test them than during the banquet. Another man has married a wife, and so he claims that he cannot come. They refuse the invitation to the banquet. No one is threatening them. The man’s farm will still be there. The oxen can wait. The man could bring his wife. Yet, they say things like, “I have need” and, “I cannot come.”

And this is far more common when it comes to people being invited to Christ’s Banquet. While some will lose everything and suffer greatly in order to accept the invitation to the Banquet, most turn down the invitation like it is nothing important.

But before we go further, what is this Banquet to which God invites us? The Banquet is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The master sends his servant to tell those invited, “Come, for everything is now ready!”, that is, everything is prepared! What has been prepared? Jesus Christ for us. God sent forth his Son, who is true God from eternity, to be born of a virgin and take on our human flesh. This God-man lived under the Law for us. He obeyed what we ought to have obeyed. And he fulfilled every demand of the Law. And so, Jesus was prepared as the Sacrifice to end all sacrifices. He was without spot or blemish. No stain of sin had touched him, because he loved perfectly. And this sinless man died for our sins, suffering the anguish of hell on the cross. How could one man bear the sins of the whole world? How could his death be a sufficient price? Because this man is God. His death makes full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. And he proved that he paid for every last sin of every last sinner by rising from the dead on the third day.

That is what is prepared for us at the Banquet to which God invites us. Jesus says, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” (John 6:41) And “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:55) But a banquet is no good if you don’t come to it, sit down, and eat. So, Jesus sends out his servants to invite people to his Banquet. Those who accept this invitation do so through faith. Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) And “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:53-54)

So, God prepares a meal for us that grants us eternal life. And he invites those who cannot pay him back to come and feast. And we feast on this meal through faith, believing the promise of forgiveness and eternal salvation for the sake of Christ’s suffering and death. Right here on this earth we have a foretaste of the heavenly feast to come. We receive the forgiveness of sins here today. We learn that we are God’s children now. Christ has even prepared for us a meal, whereby we eat and drink his body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins, strengthening of faith and love, and certainty of eternal life.

The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s body and blood, the same body and blood which was nailed to the cross and poured from his wounds; the same body which was laid dead in the tomb and rose victorious Easter morning; the same body, which ascended to the right hand of God the Father with sin, death, and hell under his feet. That is what we participate in in the Lord’s Supper. We don’t bother ourselves with how this can be, how we are able to eat his body and blood without destroying it, how he can be present here and in so many places. Jesus is God and man. He can do far more than we can ask or think. We believe his promise.

And so, Christians have been gathering every week on the day on which Jesus rose from the dead to accept the invitation to this heavenly Banquet and to taste a foretaste of it. In fact, we commune with Christ himself and all who have accepted this invitation, both those in heaven and those still on earth. The foretaste of this Banquet gives us certainty that our seat is reserved in heaven. The foretaste of this Banquet, which is the proclamation of the Gospel and the blessed Sacraments, gives us the faith we need to arrive at that heavenly Banquet, where there is eternal life, joy, peace, and rest. There we will see Christ as he is and our bodies will be like his, imperishable, without sickness, pain, or death. We will live forever and we will never sin again. And Jesus our Savior and God will be our Friend and eternal Companion.

So, you can see why people would risk losing their families, being tortured and killed, in order to accept this invitation. But most will not. Most will refuse the invitation. And they’ll refuse the invitation to Christ’s banquet in order to pursue things on this earth. When invited to church, they will say things like the men in Jesus’ parable, “I must go” and see to something else. “I can’t come.” Many try to convince themselves that going to church to hear the Word of God and receiving Christ’s Sacrament is not necessary to go to Christ’s heavenly Banquet in heaven. They think that refusing to partake of the foretaste of the feast over and over again will have no ill effect on their faith, which is necessary to enter into the feast. But they behave foolishly. Have you sinned this week? Have you lusted, hated, spoken ill of another, coveted what isn’t yours? Have you loved God with your whole heart? Has Satan tried your faith? Is Jesus and the eternal life he grants you less important than your job, your wife, your money, and your leisure?

We should have a sense of urgency when it comes to going to church to hear the Gospel and commune with Christ. “I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”, says the Lord.   Those who refuse to believe in the Gospel will be forever locked out of the heavenly Banquet. That means they will be cast into hell. You cannot believe in the Gospel unless you hear it. And refusing to hear the Gospel and to commune with Christ is a sign of profoundly weak faith, which borders on death. If that isn’t a warning that you need to hear the Gospel and be strengthened in faith, I don’t know what is. When you don’t think you need to go to church, that is when you need to go the most!

Why don’t people go to church? It’s simple. They don’t think they need it. But they think they need a lot of other things. They’ll drive an hour to go to work each morning, but the drive to church each week is too much. They’ll get up early and take their kids to a sports tournament, but bringing them to hear the words of eternal life is less important. But they’re wrong. They need Jesus.

The master told his servant to gather in the poor, crippled, blind, and lame, so that he might fill his house. People don’t think they’re poor, crippled, blind, and lame. They think they’re okay. They think they don’t need the Banquet, at least, not that badly. But the truth is, we all desperately need this Banquet. Without it, we have no life. We’re sinners. We’re poor. We’ve got nothing to offer God. We’re in debt that an eternity in hell cannot pay off. We are crippled and lame. We can’t even do what is right when we know what is right. Our actions are riddled with sin. We’re blind. We don’t even see how sinful we are. People don’t come to church and they don’t accept the invitation to the heavenly Banquet, because they don’t know how poor, crippled, blind, and lame they are.

But thanks be to God, the Good Master orders his servant to go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in. Compel. How do God’s servants compel us to come to his banquet? They do this by preaching the Law to us, which exposes our sin. Through preachers, who preach the Law from the Bible, God compels sinners by calling them sinners. St. Paul said, “I would not have known what it is to covet, if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” And so, the Law exposes you as a sinner. Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind? Do you call upon his name with prayer and thanksgiving? Do you enjoy learning his Word? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? Do you seek to help others and pray for your enemies? Are you chaste, or do obey your lusts? Have you ever cheated or damaged another person’s property? Do you always tell the truth and seek to protect the reputations of others? Are you content with what God has given you? God’s Law exposes us as idolaters, fornicators, thieves, liars, and murderers.

Yet, the preaching of the Law alone cannot compel anyone into the Banquet. Then the preacher must preach the Gospel, that Christ Jesus has died for all your sins, that though your sins were as scarlet, he has made them white as snow, that though you can never pay him back, he invites you to dine with him for eternity.

If the Law has had its affect and convinced you that you are a sinner, then the Gospel will give you joy that God forgives your sins for Christ’s sake. If the Law has done its job and shown the danger of your sin, then the Gospel will assure you that God has saved you from eternal hell. This is how God compels sinners, who don’t even know what they need, to enter into his heavenly Banquet through faith. And that is why we should never neglect the foretaste of this Banquet, but gladly hear the Gospel and receive the Sacrament whenever it is offered.

Amen.

0 Comments

God Invites Us to Sit at The Feast of Salvation

6/14/2021

0 Comments

Eugene Burnand, Einladung zum Gastmahl, 1900. Public Domain

Trinity 2
Luke 14:12-24
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 13, 2021

When the servant returned to tell his master that those invited had refused the invitation to his banquet, the master got angry. Why is he so angry? I’m sure you’ve all declined invitations to dinners and weddings. And you’ve no doubt had your invitations declined. Do you get angry? Perhaps offended. But that’s life. Why does this master get so angry?
Because this master is God the Father Almighty. And he is inviting the people he loves, who have sinned against him, yet he has forgiven them, who have been unfaithful to him, yet he has been faithful to them. And the banquette he has prepared is his very own Son, Jesus Christ, whom he has sent to bear the punishment for their sins on the cross. Christ Jesus is the Lamb, who has been sacrificed for this meal. He was roasted on the cross to perfection (John 19:30), so that all our sins are fully atoned for. Now he is risen from the dead and offers himself as true food and drink to be received by all the faithful, so that they might live forever. The master, God the Father Almighty invites those who deserve to die to come and feast at a meal that gives eternal life to all who consume. He offers them the Gospel that gives eternal life to all who believe.
This is the God, who spoke through the Prophet Ezekiel, “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11) And yet, he watches as his people refuse to turn back and rather go to destruction. This is why our God is rightfully angry. He purchased their salvation. He offered it to them for free. Yet, they spurned his invitation and rejected his generosity and love.
You’ll notice that the excuses they give are not to go and do evil things. The first man says that he has bought a field and must go and see it. Well, what is wrong with that? Isn’t it good to acquire land and to make a profit from it? This is how God intends for us to provide for ourselves and for others. It’s not like the man said, “I go to sue my brother to deprive him of his land.” The next man has bought five yoke of oxen, which he means to test. Again, is this not good work? Did not the Apostle say, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) This man’s trying to make an honest living. It’s not like he says that he is going to steal his neighbor’s oxen. And the third man has just married a wife. Has not God blessed marriage above all relationships on earth, which he defends with jealousy, blesses with children with immortal souls, and likens it to Christ’s relationship with his Church? The man didn’t say he was going off to fornicate or commit adultery.
Yet, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3, “For everything there is a season.” There is a season to work and tend to your marriage, but when God calls you to hear the Gospel, everything else must be put on hold. Remember how Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37) When we prioritize other things, even good things, above hearing and learning God’s Word, we prioritize other things above God. That is idolatry. And it is important for us to remember that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And do you know what will happen when you stop working and fussing and put hearing God’s Word before everything else? You’ll find that God will take care of your farm, your oxen, your marriage, yes, indeed he’ll add everything else unto you (Matthew 6:33). Don’t worry. When he says come, come.
You’ll notice that the excuses these men give are the same type of excuses people give for missing church. They’ve figured it out in their minds. They have a good reason to miss. But they don’t. Whatever your reason for avoiding hearing the Gospel and receiving Christ’s body and blood for forgiveness and salvation, it’s not a good reason. If this offends you, remember the words of Solomon, “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser.” (Proverbs 9:8-9)
The reason it is a sin to skip church is because it is placing other things above God. And it is dangerous, because it shows a lack of faith in the Gospel. We go to church to receive forgiveness and eternal life. We come to accept the invitation of our Lord and taste a foretaste of that banquette of salvation in heaven, which also strengthens our faith for the road ahead. When we choose other things, we show that we value those things more than Christ. That is a sin. What’s worse, we teach our children to value other things more than the Gospel. There is nothing more valuable than the Gospel. If people received $10,000 for every Sunday they came to church, they certainly wouldn’t miss. If there were fines for missing church, they certainly wouldn’t miss. But here, we are offered something infinitely more valuable than all the money in the world. Through God’s Word and Sacrament, we come closer to the Lord our God, we grow in heavenly wisdom, our sins are forgiven, we receive eternity through faith, we actually commune with the very body and blood of Christ! If our faith recognized this, we would not stay away for all the money in the world.
The first man, who gave an excuse not to come said that he must go and see his field. In Greek it says that he has a compulsion to go and see this field. Well, what is compelling him to reject the banquette to go and do something he could do any other time? What compels us to reject hearing the Gospel? Is it not Satan himself? Is it not our sinful flesh, which constantly rebels against God?
This man has no real need to go and see his field instead of going to the banquette of salvation. But he feels compelled. It’s like the smoker, who says he wants to quit, but keeps on buying another pack of cigarettes. Or the drunk, who says he’ll quit drinking, but his body compels him to consume what he knows is killing him. How awful it is to be under the control of another force that drives you away from what is good! Jesus says that whoever sins is a slave of sin. And so, this man, with ears he does not hear and with eyes he does not understand, but rather he follows his master, the devil, and flees from what is good. We think we are free when we choose to do other things instead of worshiping Christ, but that is not freedom. It is slavery of the worst kind.
Those who have rejected the Master’s invitation will never taste it, but will be condemned to hell. And while the Master, God almighty, is angry at those who have rejected his invitation, he still shows his loving kindness. The Master desires to save all people. He sends out his servant into the streets and lanes of the city to gather the poor and crippled and blind and lame. He tells him to go out quickly. This is an urgent matter. And so, we should recognize it as such today. It is urgent that we hear the Gospel and that we believe it, so that we are saved. Without it we are slaves to Satan. Without it we will die and go to hell. Yet, in this banquet to which the Lord invites us, we have certainty of salvation and friendship with God.
When the servant returns and tells the master that all he has commanded has been done, the master urges him to go out and compel more people to come in, so that his house may be filled. This shows that God desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Yet, what does he mean by this word, “compel.” As the man was compelled by his master Satan to refuse the invitation to the banquet, will Christ then force people into the kingdom of heaven against their will? No, not in that way. Rather, the Lord uses the word compel to show the power of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit has the power to change our stone hearts to be hearts of flesh. He has the power to change our unwilling hearts to be willing. Through the proclamation of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit makes us willing so that we rush into the banquette with the desire to eat with and learn from our Savior.
This should give us confidence to confess our faith and invite people to church. The Lord says to compel them to come in. Well, we all know, with the exception of our children, we can’t force anyone to go to church. And you can’t force anyone to believe the Gospel. But you can confess Christ as the Savior of sinners. You can invite people to come to church. You can tell your loved ones that they should be here to hear God’s Word and to receive forgiveness and salvation. And Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit, God himself, works through these words to change hearts. Through the word alone, he can compel people to come in by changing their hearts.
Perhaps those who will not come think that they are unworthy to come to church, that they do not fit in. Perhaps you think that you are not worthy to sit at the feast of Salvation. Well, you’re right. You’re not worthy. But the Master didn’t invite the worthy. He invited the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. What does this mean? It means he invites those who cannot pay him back. God invites sinners to comes and eat at his banquette, to be his guests, and to receive forgiveness and eternal salvation. It is as Jesus said to the chief priests and elders, who refused to believe in him, “the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you” because they believed.
This Gospel lesson teaches us that God invites manifest sinners to come to his banquette. He invites those who have ignored his word, skipped church, gotten drunk; he invites fornicators, liars, thieves, murders, adulterers, homosexuals, and any other kind of sinner you can think of. He invites them to turn from their sin and receive healing from him. He invites them to consume Jesus, who was prepared as a meal for them on the cross, through faith. God invites you. Whether you are poor, blind, or lame; whether you’ve skipped more Sundays of church than you’ve gone, whether you feel utterly unworthy; he invites you to rejoice with him at the feast of salvation, to receive forgiveness and kindness, to learn from him and grow closer to him.
The invitation is for now. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now. Come and feast on the Lord in faith. Come and see that he is kind and forgiving. Come and break away from anything that would compel you to ignore this invitation. Come to church to hear the Gospel and receive Christ’s body and blood, and you will find rest for your soul. Amen.

0 Comments

The Lord Will Fill His Banquet of Salvation

6/22/2020

0 Comments

Title: The Poor, The Lame And The Blind Called into The Supper. Date: 1873; Source: The story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation; Author: Unknown; Public Domain

Luke 14:12-24
Trinity 2
June 21, 2020

A man puts on a banquet and invites many, but those invited declined the invitation. They chose not to come. That was their choice, was it not? These men were free, right? No. They were not free. And when we examine their words closer, we see that indeed they were slaves of the most miserable kind. The first man said he bought a field that he needed to go and see instead. In Greek he said, “I have need.” That word for need, αναγκην means necessity or compulsion. It’s used to say that someone has a “natural need,” like hunger or thirst. And it is even used to mean “compulsion exerted by a superior.” Well, obviously the man did not have a true natural need to go see a field, although he felt like he did. He was compelled by his own flesh to go and see the field instead of accepting the invitation to the banquet. His flesh had become his master, his superior, who forced him to do what it wanted him to do. And we see the progression of control this master exerts over its subordinates as the third man claimed, “I cannot come” literally, “I am not able to come.” So strongly has the flesh exerted its control over these men that they literally cannot act against it. They are bound, enslaved. They cannot come to the banquet.
And this becomes all the more tragic when we realize who it is who invites them to this banquet and what the banquet is. God himself invites these men to the banquet. And the meal is not roast beef or chicken, but Christ Jesus himself! “Everything is now ready.” God declares. Everything was made ready when Jesus Christ, true God, took on our human nature, lived under the law in our place, died for the sins we deserved to be punished for, and rose from the dead. Christ Jesus was prepared for us not on a spit or in an oven, but on the cross where he endured God’s righteous judgment for our sins. Hotter than any oven burned the fierce wrath of God against his own Son, and Jesus made atonement for the sins of the whole world. And God rejoiced in his Son. When Jesus had done all this for us, he cried, “It is finished.” before he gave up his Spirit to God the Father and permitted his lifeless body to be laid in a tomb, confident that God would raise him up victorious on the third day.
This is the Gospel! God is reconciled to us sinners, because Christ Jesus took God’s wrath away. The invitation to the banquet is the proclamation of the Gospel. Feasting at the banquet is the feasting of faith as Jesus says in John 6, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (vs. 35) And this feast of faith is not just a casual meal; eat if you want, leave it if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. No! This meal is a matter of eternal salvation or damnation! Everyone needs this meal if they will have eternal life! Jesus again says, “Truly, truly, I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:53-56)
So, you see that this banquet is of the utmost importance. He who feasts at this banquet lives forever! He who sits down at this feast inherits the kingdom of heaven! So, you see the tragedy of these “free men” bound to the compulsion of their flesh! They reject eternal life! They feel under compulsion to ignore God’s call to freedom and to go and take care of mundane things that can wait!
This is madness! Insanity! This is like a starving man, who has not eaten in a week, who’s dying of thirst, being offered cool water to drink and a healthy meal to eat and him saying, “No thank you. I have to go buy some shoes.” What lunacy! Who can stand such a thing! Yet, they cannot help it! They’re bound to the impulses of their flesh, which only fights against the Spirit of God, as Scripture says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8)
The sinful flesh resists hearing and believing the Gospel. And this is something all Christians should be aware of. St. Paul warns Christians, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16-17) Christians must continue to battle their own sinful flesh, which wars against their new self, made alive by the Holy Spirit. And what does the sinful flesh constantly do? Resist hearing and believing the Gospel of Christ.
Just compare the similarities between the excuses made by these men declining to go to the banquet and the excuses made to skip church, where the Gospel is proclaimed and where Christians feast on Christ in faith. “I have to go look at my field. I have to go test my oxen. I’m married; I don’t have time.” None of these activities are sins in and of themselves. But to do these things instead of feasting at God’s banquet of salvation is madness that only one enslaved to his sinful flesh could rationalize. And we’re not speaking of real reasons to miss church like physical sickness or disability, but the purposeful refusal to go to church in order to do anything else. Such behavior does not come from the Spirit, but the compulsion of the sinful flesh.
Many Christians are upset about the recent Supreme Court decision on Bostock vs. Clayton County, which determined that the word “sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes sexual orientation and gender identity. And they should be upset. This ruling will be used to target Christians with expensive litigation for attempting to live according to their Christian values. This has already been happening. Jack Phillips, a baker in Colorado is being sued for the third time for refusing to make messages that conflict with his Christian faith. And he is just one of many examples. When Jesus said that the world that hated him would hate us also, he meant it. Christians, who will share with us the mansion Christ is preparing for us in heaven will suffer here on earth because of rulings like Bostock vs. Clayton County.
Yet, even if America were to completely ban Christianity and the proclamation of the Gospel, that would still be better than to live in a body that compulsively refuses to hear the Gospel. To live under the compulsion of the flesh is the worst slavery you can be under. At least under the tyranny of the state you can still seek out the Gospel and hear it in secret. If the Gospel were banned, we’d still hear it and confess it. We’d meet in basements, cemeteries, barns out in the country. Because we need the Gospel! We can’t live without it. Banning the Gospel would be like banning water. We’re going to find water. We won’t rest until we do!
We need the Gospel. We are compelled by our renewed self to hear it and consume its lifegiving medicine. But to lose the sense that the Gospel is a necessity is the worst condition you can be in. It’s like a death sentence. Because even if the saving Gospel is readily available, if you are enslaved to your flesh, you won’t drink. You’ll instead feel compelled to go play with a ball or sit on your couch and fiddle with your phone.
In an urgency to have his banquet hall filled, the master said to the servant, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in.” People get uncomfortable with the word, “compel.” In fact, this word is very much related to the word used previously by the man rejecting the invitation, when he said he had need (αναγκην) to see his field. The master says, αναγκησον, compel them to come. Does this mean God forces us to believe in him? No. However, when we consider the compulsion we suffer under our sinful flesh, the word “compel” is of great comfort.
The servant compels the people to come to the banquet not with physical force or threats, but with the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1:5) The Gospel is powerful. The Holy Spirit, who is God, works through the Gospel. This means that through the Gospel he changes hearts, causes new birth, and leads you in a new life. It is like that hymn states, “He rescues me from sin/ And breaks the chains that bind me. I leave death’s fear behind me; His peace I have within.” (LSB 713:2)
The proclamation of the Gospel not only satisfies the hungry soul, but it causes the soul to hunger! Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6) O how blessed we are to have been given such hunger and thirst. Without it, we would pass up the feast of salvation to fiddle with sticks! Psalm 42 states, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” These are words of the faithful. And such thirst God will never leave unsatisfied. When the master tells the servant to compel the people to come, he commands him to change their minds so that they recognize their greatest need and then to satisfy them thoroughly with the banquet he has prepared.
God’s earnest desire is for the banquet hall of the feast of salvation to be filled. So, he in great mercy continues to send forth his servants to proclaim the Gospel empowered by the Holy Spirit. God’s house will be filled. Jesus’ blood was not shed in vain. We are invited to come and eat. May we by God’s grace answer the call and feast with him for eternity. Amen.

0 Comments

Trinity 2: The Compelling Force of God’s Word

7/1/2019

0 Comments

Luke 14:12-24
Pastor James Preus
June 30, 2019

The master of the house in Jesus’ parable is God. God has prepared a great banquet and invited many. And God prepared this banquet by sending his only begotten Son into the world to take on human flesh, be born of the Virgin Mary, live under the law, obeying his parents and all human authorities instituted by God, to fulfill the law in our place, and then to suffer and die for the punishment of our sins in our place, and finally to be raised from the dead, conquering death forever and leaving all our sins, guilt, and shame nailed to the cross. Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, is the banquet prepared by God. He is our meat and drink, our bread from heaven, which gives eternal life to all who eat it.
You accept the invitation to this banquet by believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the banquet is ready now. The invitations are currently being announced by God’s servants. God even offers a foretaste of this meal in the blessed Sacrament, to strengthen us on our journey from the highways and hedges to enter into the heavenly banquet. We are invited through the preaching of the Gospel. This is God’s invitation.
Yet, as in the parable, most do not accept this invitation. Most reject the faith. Yet, when we listen to Jesus’ story, we notice something interesting about the excuses of those who rejected the invitation. They don’t say, “Please, have me excused, I need to go rob a bank.” or “Please, have me excused, I am going to go and murder someone.” or Please, have me excused, I need to carry on an affair.” No. One buys a field, another five yoke of oxen, and the third gets married. Well, is there anything wrong with buying a field or oxen, or getting married? Of course not! Farming is good. We need people to buy and work fields, so that we can eat! Oxen were a very versatile animal. You could use oxen to plow, harvest, and mill grain, build, etc. They were farm, construction, and transportation equipment. It certainly isn’t bad to pursue any of those industries. It’s good to do such work.
And marriage! God loves marriage! He instituted marriage in the garden before the fall into sin. God compares marriage to Christ’s relationship with his church. God desires for husbands to love their wives, wives to respect their husbands, and for them to teach their children the love of Jesus. If only people today would honor marriage and value it as highly as Scripture teaches, we would live in a much more pleasant and God-fearing world!
Yet, there is a command that is greater than all other commands. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.” We are to have no other gods before the Lord God. Whatever you fear, love, and trust in most is your god. The master of the house was angry when those invited gave excuses and rejected the invitation. God is wrathful when his invitation is rejected. No, God does not hate good honest work or marriage. But nothing, no matter how noble, should replace God in your heart. Immediately after Jesus spoke this parable he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) Jesus is speaking in hyperbole. He doesn’t literally want us to hate our family. He commands just the opposite. But nothing, not your parents or children, not even your husband or wife shall replace your fear, love, and trust of God. All these are gifts from God. And we are forbidden to take any of God’s gifts and turn them into idols.
The first commandment is the most commonly broken commandment, yet it is so easy to be unaware of this. God gives us the commandments to teach us how to love him and our neighbor. The third commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” teaches us to fear and love God by not despising his word and preaching, but holding it sacred, and gladly hearing and learning it. We love God by gladly hearing his word, by going to church, by accepting the invitation to his banquet. Yet, we make false gods out of all of God’s gifts, so that we find no time to gladly hear and learn God’s holy word. Work, sports, vacations, travel, family time, et cetera, none of which are bad in and of themselves, are all exalted as idols over and against God and his word. And this parable of Jesus teaches us that God is very displeased with this.
And so, the master sends out his servants to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and lame into his banquet. This isn’t very flattering to us, is it? We’re poor, crippled, blind, and lame. That’s what Jesus calls us, who accept the invitation to his banquet. Yet, this is very comforting, because this means that we are accepted into God’s banquet by grace. It is not by our merits or works or worthiness that we are brought in to sit at the feast of salvation, but rather God brings us in as a free gift, apart from any merit or worthiness in us.
Jesus uses a peculiar word, which seems almost inappropriate, when he tells how God directs his servants to bring people into his banquet. He says, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.” “Compel.” God doesn’t force us to be Christians, does he? We can’t turn people into Christians with the use of weapons or physical force! And that is true. Yet, the compelling our Lord speaks of here does not refer to physical force, but the working of the Holy Spirit on your heart. This is done through the preaching of God’s word. God speaks through the prophet Isaiah, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11) It is this word of God, which is the compelling force that draws people from all corners of the world into God’s heavenly banquet.
The word of God is rightly divided into two main subjects: the Law and the Gospel, or perhaps better understood as God’s commands and God’s promises. The law commands. The law commands us to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. The law commands us to gladly hear and learn God’s preaching and word. The law commands that we honor our parents and other authorities, that we not only refrain from hurting our neighbor in his body, but do what we can to help and support him in every physical need. The law commands that we stay faithful to our spouse in mind, word, and deed. The law commands that we be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.
And despite all its commands, the law never makes us perfect. Instead, the law shows us how very imperfect we are. The law demonstrates that we are poor, crippled, blind, and lame. The law cannot bring us into God’s heavenly banquet. Rather, the law shows us how incapable we are of entering it ourselves.
And this is why the law must be preached. Because God does not invite those, who deserve to come to his banquet. He does not invite those who are able to pay him back for his hospitality. He invites those, who can do nothing but receive his grace. And the law makes you that way. The law crushes you, so that you feel your need for God’s mercy. It is only after the law has done its work that you can receive the promises of God in faith.
The promises of God are the invitation to the banquet. God promises to accept you for the sake of Jesus Christ, who has been prepared to be your Savior and your heavenly meat and drink. This is a very important distinction to make. People often feel bad, because they skip church. They know they should go more, put God first. It’s the right thing to do. And that’s true. It is the command of God to obediently hear his word and learn it. It is God’s command that you worship him and him only. Yet, it is not the command which compels guilty consciences into the heavenly banquet. It is the Gospel, the promise of God to forgive and restore by grace.
A guilty conscience may get you to go to church to give God your “due time.” But that will not give you the full benefits of going to church and it certainly won’t usher you into his banquet. God’s invitation is accepted when after the law has proven you to be poor, crippled, blind, and lame and utterly incapable of earning your seat at the table and when you believe God’s promise to forgive you for the sake of Jesus Christ and to bring you into his banquet on the merits of Christ.
The preaching of the law brings you low. It humbles you. The preaching of the gospel lifts you up. It exalts you to sit at God’s table. This is how God compels people into his house. When you see your dire need for what God is offering in his banquet, when you see that you need Jesus and that God offers him freely with life and salvation with him, there is no force in this world greater than that. That force will bring you to church, not to fulfill some obligation to quiet a nagging conscience, but because there is nowhere else you’d rather be than feasting on Christ in faith. God compels you to come to his banquet, not with physical force, but by the Holy Spirit creating faith in your heart, faith that is confident in God’s love for Christ’s sake.
God’s promise to accept you on account of Christ assures you of God’s love for you. It is God’s love for you that leads you to trust in him and to love him from the heart. It is God’s love revealed to you that makes you willing to enter his banquet. This willingness is faith. And there is no greater compelling force than that.
The banquet is ready. Christ Jesus is our meal. God offers him to you freely. You are invited. Amen.

0 Comments

<<Previous

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

God's Grace is Undeserved, Universal, But Not Absolute

The Urgency of the Banquet

God Invites Us to Sit at The Feast of Salvation

The Lord Will Fill His Banquet of Salvation

Trinity 2: The Compelling Force of God’s Word

Rev. James Preus

Archives

Categories