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God’s Mercy Flows out of Christians

7/15/2019

Luke 6:36-42
July 14, 2019

In this lesson Jesus tells us what God is like and what we his disciples should be like. God is merciful. What does it mean that God is merciful? It means that he does not judge or condemn us, but instead condemned his Son Jesus in our place. It means that he forgives us our sins for the sake of Jesus’ suffering and death. It means that he gives both to those who hate him and those who love him in extraordinary abundance, so that they have enough to share with anyone in need. God pours until our cup runs over and assures us that it will never be empty. That is what it means that God is merciful. He is compassionate and he deals with us according to his compassion instead of according to our sins as the Psalmist says, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:8-12)
And so, when Jesus tells us to judge not, condemn not, forgive, and give, he is telling us to be like our heavenly Father. But this lesson is greatly misunderstood. Many if not most people think that you must do acts of mercy in order to receive God’s mercy. They think if you try really hard to become like God, God will be pleased with you and show you mercy. They think that you must do the works of the law to earn God’s grace and be accepted by him. Yet, this is impossible. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Jesus says immediately after our lesson, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Luke 6:43) If you’re a bad tree, you cannot become a good tree by trying really hard to bear good fruit. You must be a good tree before you can bear good fruit.
Not only is it impossible for us to do enough works of mercy to become children of God, that is not what Jesus teaches us. Jesus says, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” If Jesus meant that we must prove ourselves merciful before our Father in heaven will be merciful to us, then that would mean that we wouldn’t need to show mercy to our neighbor until he first proved himself worthy of our mercy, since Jesus tells us to be merciful as our Father is merciful. But Jesus doesn’t teach us to be merciful to our neighbor only after he deserves it, but to be merciful even to those, who do not deserve it. That is because God is merciful to you, even before you deserve it.
This sermon is for Christians. Be merciful, even as your Father in heaven is merciful to you. Jesus says, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) If you have evil in your heart, you can only speak evil. Yet, if you have good in your heart, you will produce good. Well, who puts the good in your heart? God does, when he shows mercy to you. God pours out the good measure, presses it down and shakes it together and then keeps pouring until it overflows. God gives you such a great measure of his grace and mercy, so that you can share it with others without worrying about lacking anything.
In 1 Kings 17 the Lord worked a miracle through his prophet Elijah. He caused a jar of flour and a jar of oil, which belonged to a starving widow and her son, to never run empty. No matter how much bread the woman made from the flour and oil, the jars were always full. And so, it is with those who receive God’s mercy. When God forgives your sins, he fills you with his grace so that it pours out of you. God’s mercy changes you to be merciful.
In Ephesians chapter 2 St. Paul writes that when we were dead in our trespasses God made us alive again in Christ Jesus, for by grace we have been saved. And later on, he says, “for we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that we might walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) St. Paul teaches us that when we have faith in God’s mercy, we don’t just carry around dull knowledge like what some egghead learned from a textbook. He teaches us that we carry Jesus himself in our hearts, as St. Paul elsewhere also says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) And Jesus is always busy doing good works.
Jesus also says in his sermon, “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” This is known as the Golden Rule. And would that it were inscribed in gold over the entrance of every school, public building, place of work, and home in the country. Yet, Jesus means much more with these words than to do good to those who do good to you. He means that we should love those who are mean to us. Again, Jesus says in his sermon, “But I say to you, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.” (Luke 6:27-29)
This of course is what Jesus did. He blessed those who cursed him and prayed for those who nailed him to the cross. He did not revile those who struck him on the cheek, but suffered willingly. And as he died on the cross, those who nailed him there divided his garments and cast lots for his tunic. And in doing all this he proved himself to be the Son of God. And so, it is no surprise that Jesus would say, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” (Luke 6:35)
Jesus makes a similar statement about becoming sons of the Most High in Matthew’s Gospel. He says, “Blessed are those who are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) And again, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45) And so, again, it seems that if you want to become children of your Father in heaven, you must show such love to your enemies. Yet, St. Paul writes in Galatians 3, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
Does St. Paul contradict Jesus? By no means. Rather, it is only through faith in Jesus Christ that you can receive God’s mercy and then pour God’s mercy out on even your enemies. Jesus says in John chapter 15, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (vss. 4-5)
When you have faith that God blessed you while you were his enemy by sending Jesus to die for you to forgive you and give you new life, then you are able to love those who hate you and patiently bear their hatred, even as Christ was patient with you. When you do unto others as you would have them do unto you, you prove that you abide in Christ and he in you; you prove yourself to be a son of God through faith in Christ.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40) We are Jesus’ disciples. We learn from him what we should be like, or rather, what he is making us to be like. We do not reach perfection in this life, yet we remain forgiven. We desire to do as he teaches us. And we can only do as he teaches when we have faith that he has done so to us.
Those who judge and condemn feel like they are being judged and condemned. Those who refuse to forgive don’t believe that they are forgiven, or perhaps that they need to be forgiven. Those who refuse to give generously deny that all they have is given to them by God. This is changed only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, you can teach these things, but they will always fail.
When Jesus teaches us to not judge or condemn, he obviously does not mean that we should not judge or condemn anything. We should judge between what is true and false. Scripture says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” (Isaiah 5:20) And Jesus says, “Judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24) Christians are to distinguish between right and wrong, true teaching and false teaching. This is good and right. It defends us from false prophets, of whom Jesus warns us. And it keeps us from sin and leads us to repentance when we do sin.
So, what does Jesus mean when he says do not judge? He means do not pass judgment on others when you have no right to do so. Scripture forbids anyone to be condemned except by two or three witnesses. So, if you think your neighbor is doing something wrong, then confront him. If you have no evidence, then be quiet. And put the best construction on everything, always assuming the best out of every situation. It would be better to be wronged than to falsely accuse your brother. Your desire should be to cover up your neighbor’s faults, not expose them.
So often we live as if we had no faults of our own, and we judge others with the severest judgment. This is wrong and we should repent. With the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Do you want God to judge you with such severe judgment? How does he judge you? Does he not cast your sins into the depths of the sea? So, seek to do that for your neighbor. Yes, we should condemn sin for sin. It is shameful the way the current world and many false teachers have twisted these words of Jesus to mean that we should accept every sin that can be imagined. But Jesus’ words do mean that you should give your neighbor the benefit of the doubt and where it is not your business to leave it alone.
Christ does teach us how to deal with sin. He says, “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Notice that Jesus does not say, “Leave the speck in your brother’s eye.” But first he tells you to take care of the log in your own eye. Repent of your own sins first. And believe in the mercy God has shown to you, that he foregoes judgement against you for Christ’s sake and forgives your sins. Then, with the light of Christ you will see clearly to show the same mercy to your brother, to restore him in a spirit of gentleness, so that he too may know God’s mercy from the heart.
Yes, Jesus’ disciples should behave in a certain way. They should behave like their teacher. Jesus teaches us to show mercy even to those who show no mercy to us. He does this by filling us with God’s mercy that can only be received through faith. When you believe that you have a merciful Father, then will you be empowered to be merciful. Amen.

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God’s Compassion Works Repentance in Our Hearts

7/7/2019

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Return of the Prodigal Son,1620–69 Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Metmuseum.org, Public Domain

Luke 15
Pastor James Preus
July 7, 2019

There are about seven and a half billion people on the planet. And around two billion of them profess to be Christians. Do you think God has time to pay attention to all their individual needs? Do you think he has time to listen to all their prayers? Do you think it is possible for God, who must govern the entire universe to be concerned with what you are suffering right now? Do you think he cares whether you are part of his fold or not? Do you think he even knows your name?
God is thought to be so far beyond human matters, that it is hard to fathom how he could possibly be concerned with one of us. We confess him to be all powerful, but we often associate that with his ability to create the universe and do miracles, or to a more terrifying extent, we think of his wrath and his ability to recount every sin we’ve committed. Yet, Jesus teaches us in our Gospel lesson today that God does indeed care about every single human being and especially those within his fold. He is able to pay attention to all their needs, to listen to all their prayers. He is concerned about what you are suffering. He knows you by name. He knows when you go astray from his fold, and even more, he seeks you out!
Jesus teaches us that our God is compassionate. The father, who saw his son returning poor and starving felt compassion on him. God feels compassion on us. The Greek word for feel compassion comes from the Greek word for guts. The father’s guts were wrenched when he saw his son in such a sorry state. God, according to his divine nature, does not have any guts. He is a Spirit. Yet, he did not need to become man in order for him to have compassion on us. Rather, God became man, because his guts were wrenched for us. God felt compassion on us sinners, so he sent his Son to take on our human flesh, to come and eat with us, to seek and save the lost.
Jesus is God. If you want to know what God is like, then look at Jesus. Look at what he does. He receives sinners and eats with them. God is compassionate toward those who have no one to blame but themselves for their own plight. See how Jesus touches those who are unclean, heals those who are suffering, feeds the hungry, comforts the sad, raises the dead. Jesus is not afraid to get dirty. He bears on his own body our sins and pays their debt. He feels the torment of hell upon the cross, yet cries for those who nailed him there, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That is what God is like. His compassion drives him to earth, to the cross, into the grave, to seek and to save the lost.
If you want to know what God is like, listen to Jesus’ teaching. He teaches us that God seeks out those who have strayed and gotten lost. Like a shepherd, who leaves his ninety-nine sheep in the open field and seeks after the one lost one, so God seeks out you when you’re in trouble. God is able to give you the utmost attention, like a woman cleaning her house searching for a lost coin, yet without neglecting the billions of others under his care.
And when the shepherd returns with the found sheep on his shoulders and when the woman finds the coin she had lost, they cry out to their friends and neighbors to celebrate. And so, Jesus says, it is in heaven over one sinner who repents. God’s work of compassion is to bring sinners to repentance.
This may seem odd because, we normally think of repentance as our work, not God’s. We are the ones who must turn from our sinful ways. But here, Jesus teaches us that it is God, who works repentance in us. We can only truly repent when God leads us to repentance. True repentance is not only being sorry for your sin. True repentance is to have sorrow over your sin and to have faith that God forgives your sins for Christ’s sake. It is not enough to feel sorry for your sins. Judas felt sorry for his sin of betraying Jesus, yet he did not have faith that Christ would forgive him. God isn’t satisfied that we be sorry for our sins. Even unbelievers can recognize how harmful their sins are. No, God is only satisfied when your repentance brings you back to him. God is not satisfied until he is carrying you in his arms back to his fold. When you have faith that God accepts you for Christ’s sake, that is when the heavens burst forth in rejoicing.
Two things are necessary for true repentance: 1. sorrow over sin, and 2. faith in Christ.
Consider the young man in Jesus’ story, who asks for his inheritance from his father, so that he can sell it and move away. What does it mean when he asks for his inheritance from his father? It means that he wishes that his father were dead. And indeed, that is how he lives afterward. He lives as if his father did not exist, as if his will did not matter at all. He moves to a far-off land; he forgets his family and the love they had for him. He squanders his father’s wealth doing unspeakable things, and finds himself in poverty. He’s in a strange land where no one loves him. Is it okay for him to remain in this condition? How does his father later describe this situation? He says he was dead and lost. His son must not remain dead and lost. He must recognize the error of his ways. He must have sorrow for what he has done wrong.
And this is how it is with us. We must repent of our sins. All sin is rooted in unbelief. To live in sin is to live as if God is dead, as if he does not exist. The Psalmist speaks of the wicked saying, “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 10:4) To continue in sin without repentance, without acknowledging that what you do is wrong and that you should stop, is to live as if God does not matter, as if he cannot see you. This is to be dead to God; to be lost; to be separated from him. And so, we must have sorrow over our sin. This is why the law must be preached. We should know our Ten Commandments. We should know what the will of God is. And we should repent when we do wrong. We heard last week from Proverbs chapter 9, “Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. 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; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” And so, we should not abuse or hate when the law condemns us, but recognize our sins, that they separate us from God and harm ourselves and our neighbor.
It is part of God’s work of compassion to bring such sorrow of heart. King Solomon says, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:11-12) God sends messengers to confront us with our sin. Sometimes it is a pastor. Sometimes it is a family member or friend. And sometimes God lets us suffer the consequences of our own foolishness. All this he does out of kindness, because he loves us. The Psalmist cries out to God, “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:4-5) The Lord laid down his hand and David repented and was forgiven.
Again, in Psalm 38, King David gives another example of how the Lord’s momentary punishment brings sorrow of sin and faith. “For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sins.” Yet, do these arrows of the Lord drive David away from him? No. On the contrary, they drive David closer to the Lord. David continues, “O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. … But for you, O Lord do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. … Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.” Had God not laid down suffering upon his servant David, he would have gone astray and never returned.
It is in sorrow over our sins that we recognize Jesus and his compassion for us. We meet Jesus on the cross suffering for what we know is wrong, for what we know we have done. In God’s compassion, he brings us low, so that we may see our God, who has descended to us to save us from our sinful condition. God makes us sinners in our own eyes, so that we can look to him, who receives sinners with compassion.
It was not enough that the young man recognized that he had done wrong. He needed to believe the Gospel. He needed to believe in the forgiveness of sins. The son was returning home to beg his father to make him a servant instead of a son. But his father would have none of that. His father saw him from a long way off, had compassion on him and ran to kiss him. He clothed him in the best robe. He put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. He prepared a feast with music and dancing for his son. He would not have him as a servant. He will be his son.
That is what our God does for us. He preaches the Gospel to us poor, miserable sinners. He doesn’t let us ask for small things. He doesn’t have us earn our stay. He makes us his children by grace. He forgives us for Christ’s sake. God makes our repentance complete by implanting faith in this promise into our hearts, so that we do not flee from our God, but cling to him and cry out to him for help, no matter how grievous or embarrassing our sins are.
Out of compassion God sent his Son to be made filthy by our sins, so that he might wash them away in his blood. And out of compassion God sends us his Holy Spirit, so that we mourn our sins and turn to the only one who can save. God does not forget you. He has worked very hard to make you his own. God knows your sins. He knows your shame. And he seeks you, not to destroy you, but to rescue you and make you his own. Our God is compassionate. Our God saves sinners. Our God saves you. Amen.

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Trinity 2: The Compelling Force of God’s Word

7/1/2019

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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.

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Trinity 1 Love Flows from Faith in Christ

6/25/2019

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1 John 4:16-21
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
June 23, 2019

On June 25th 1530 in Augsburg, Germany, a number of princes and cities presented a confession comprised of twenty-eight articles before Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, which articulated the teaching of what would later be known as the Lutheran Church. These twenty-eight articles are known as the Augsburg Confession. The fourth article is the most important, because it deals with how a sinner is accepted by God. It reads, “Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight (Romans 3 and 4).”
To be justified before God means that God finds you innocent of all sin. It means that you are saved. There are basically two teachings on how a human being is saved: 1. by doing good works, and 2. by grace through faith. The Lutherans came down decisively on that second option. Lutherans believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, apart from our works. We are accepted by God and declared righteous through faith when we believe in Jesus Christ, not on account of our own works.
This is the clear teaching of the Lutheran Church. It is also the clear teaching of the Bible. St. Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes in Romans chapter 3, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” In fact, St. Paul goes on to discuss our Old Testament lesson in the next chapter, “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-6)
So, it is clear from both the Old and the New Testament that we sinners are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by works of the law. But this does not mean that works of the law are bad or that we Christians should not do them. What are works of the law? Well, the law is summarized in God’s command to love: to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself. Scripture plainly says in Romans chapter 13, “love is the fulfilling of the law.”
And so, the law is good. It is good to love. Then why can’t the law save you? Because all the law can do is tell you what is right. But the law cannot give you the ability to do what is right. The law can’t make you love God. The law can deter you from hurting your neighbor physically or from stealing from him, but the law cannot make you love your neighbor from your heart. We are by nature sinful and incapable of loving God. Yes, even unbelievers can do outwardly good works according to the law, but no one can love God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. And that is what the law demands of you.
The law demands perfection and threatens punishment if you do not obey. Well, how can a sinner fulfill the demand to love when God’s righteous wrath hangs over him? Can I make my children love me by threatening to punish them if they don’t? Can a husband gain the affection of his wife by demanding that she love him? Of course not! And so, it is with us and God. As long as the threat of punishment from the law hangs over us, we can never truly love God from the heart, even if we perform outwardly good deeds. Our works will always be stained with sin and hate and fear, and we will remain in doubt of God’s love for us.
The Gospel is different from the law. The Gospel does not demand works of love on our part, but rather reveals to us the love God does for us. St. John writes, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8-10) And again we heard in our Epistle lesson, “We love because he first loved us.”
This is why we love God. He, out of love for us, sent his Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sin in our place and to rise to give us new life. Jesus out of love for the Father and for us left the comfort of his throne and suffered for sins he never committed. And it is through faith in Jesus that God plants true love into our hearts. The threats of the law are as effective in creating love as a farmer is commanding a thorn bush to bear apples. But it is God, who plants love into our hearts through the message of Jesus Christ. God takes the fear out of our hearts by revealing to us his love for us. We are justified before God when we believe God’s promise to forgive us for Christ’s sake, just as Abraham was justified before God when he believed God’s promise.
And so, it is not our works of love that cause God to accept us, but rather God’s work of love, which makes us accepted through faith. Yet, Scripture still says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this command we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21) The same apostle writes, “whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10) and, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15)
Scripture makes clear that Christians must love. The apostle teaches us to consider those in the family of God as our own brothers and sisters. It is popular for people to talk about their own personal relationship with God. God is their close friend. “I may not be religious or go to church, but I have a close relationship with God.” Well, that’s not the way it works. You cannot have a close relationship with God while you hate your fellow Christians. 1 John 5:1 states, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”
True saving faith produces love. Faith is not simply knowledge about God. Faith is trusting in the love God has revealed to you in Jesus Christ. And the love God has revealed to you is the same love he has revealed to the whole world. We have no business to hate those for whom Jesus shed his blood. And especially for those who share the faith in Christ, we must have a tender heart, knowing that the same love that has been made manifest to us has been made manifest to them. It is our duty to forgive one another. God had to cover many more of your faults in order to love you than you could possibly need to cover to love your neighbor.
The rich man was an unbeliever. I know this, because he hated his brother, Lazarus. Jesus doesn’t tell us that the rich man was a thief, or an adulterer, or a drunkard, or any of the popularly condemned sins. The rich man seemed outwardly pious. Yet, he was a murderer. He had so little love for Lazarus, that he let him starve outside his gate. St. John again writes, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17) And indeed the love of God did not abide in the rich man.
Again, this is not to say that you obtain the love of God by loving your brother. No, the rich man did not have the love of God in him, because he did not have faith in the love of God. If he actually felt sorrow for his sins and believe that he had a gracious God who forgave his sins and on top of that provided him with all he needed for his body, he would have loved Lazarus and looked out for his brother. But he gave no thought to God or his love. He thought only of himself.
Christians love. Yet, this word has been so greatly abused, that in the name of love Christians do the very opposite of what God commands. Love is thought to either be the pursuit of sexual desires no matter how against nature they are or how clearly the word of God condemns them, or love is thought to be the acceptance of any behavior. You are loving if you celebrate everyone’s free choice to behave how they want. Yet, that is not what love is. “Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:6) And St. John writes, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” It is loving to confront sin and speak the truth in order to lead others to repentance and to experience the true love of God. In addition to looking out for the physical needs of our brothers and sisters, we should also look out for their spiritual needs.
Scripture makes clear that the Christian Church is a family. As Christians we ought to love one another. This is emphasized in the Divine Service where we receive the love God has for us through faithfully hearing and believing his word and receiving his Sacrament. We confess our common faith. We pray, “Our Father” together as one family and we pray for each other. We hear the common Gospel, which is intended for all. We share in the same body and blood of Christ. It is impossible to benefit from this meal while hating another who receives this meal in faith.
Yes, Christians still sin against each other. And in the Christian congregation there will be conflict. It is common for Christians to be angry at other Christians. Yet, Christian love teaches us how to address these problems. We are to confront those who sin against us with the desire to reconcile through the blood of Christ and forgive those who do us wrong.
This lesson teaches us Christians how we should behave. The law is not useless to us Christians, just because we are saved apart from our works. The law teaches us to do what the love of God in us makes us want to do. And when we see that we have failed to love our neighbor as we ought, we are driven to repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness, which he willingly does for Jesus’ sake as often as we repent. And being forgiven we continue then to love. This is the Christian life on earth. We will never be perfect, but our salvation does not depend on us being perfect, it depends on Jesus. We are saved by the perfect love of Jesus. And as long as we cling to Jesus’ love, hearing and believing his word, we will do works of love for our neighbor. God will make sure that his love works in us. And we believe that the day will come when his love will be perfected in us for all eternity. Amen.

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Rogate Sunday (Easter 6) Praying to the Father in Jesus’ Name

6/25/2019

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John 16:23-30
May 26, 2019

Jesus invites us to pray directly to the Father. This is quite remarkable. The people of Israel in the wilderness were too afraid to pray directly to God, so they told Moses to pray for them. But Jesus tells us to pray directly to the Father and whatever we ask the Father in his name he will give us.
So, it is important for us to know what it means to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name. To pray in Jesus’ name does not simply mean to conclude your prayer by saying, “in Jesus’ name.” The Lord’s Prayer doesn’t even mention Jesus by name, yet, when it is prayed in faith, it is a prayer in Jesus’ name. And there you have it. To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray in faith. It means to pray according to the promises Jesus has spoken, believing that God the Father will indeed hear and answer your prayer for the sake of Jesus Christ. So, it is possible to pray the greatest prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, without praying it in Jesus’ name, if you pray it without faith, not believing that God will answer you for Jesus’ sake. And it is possible to pray in Jesus’ name without saying any coherent words at all, but groaning in the Spirit or simply saying, “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Praying in Jesus’ name does not have to do with your worthiness. You should not feel unworthy to pray to your heavenly Father. You are worthy to pray to God on account of Jesus’ and his merit. God will not reject you, even as he cannot reject his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” This means that your heavenly Father answers you on account of your faith in Christ. When you believe that God truly will fulfill your joy for Christ’s sake, then you know that God will certainly answer your prayers.
The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer Jesus taught us where we address God the Father as Our Father. These are precious words that Jesus invites us to say. Martin Luther explains it in our Small Catechism, “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” These are such simple and comforting words. When a guilty conscience prevents you from praying, because you feel unworthy, read these words from your Small Catechism and pray to your heavenly Father with confidence.
Yet, our personal relationship with God is not the only thing that the introduction, “Our Father, who art in heaven” teaches us. In our hymn of the day Luther writes, “Our Father, who from heav’n above Bids all of us to live in love As members of one family And pray to you in unity...” That little word our says a lot. We don’t pray my Father, not even when we’re alone, but our Father. Whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are praying with the entire Christian Church. We are God’s children. He is our Father. God wants his children to love one another. And so, we should love one another and pray for one another. When you pray the Lord’s Prayer cast out all bitterness toward your fellow Christians and remember that you are praying to their Father just as much as you are praying to yours.
Hallowed be Thy name. Your catechism explains it, “God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Words profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!”
We pray in Jesus’ name, meaning we pray in faith. And faith comes from hearing the word of God. So, the first thing we pray for, the very most important thing we can pray for, is that we will hear the word of God taught in its truth and purity. This is how God’s name is kept holy among us. It is our first and greatest need. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Oh, if we would believe this! And God answers this prayer when we gather to hear and learn God’s holy Word and then, looking into the Law of Liberty, which sets us free on account of Christ, we then live according to this word.
“Thy kingdom come.” This second petition relates to the first. First, we pray that God would send us his pure word. Second, we pray that we would believe it. Your catechism explains, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” God’s kingdom does not come with a great army, but with the power of the Holy Spirit in the word. God rules over us not with brute force, but by creating faith in our hearts, so that we willingly fear, love, and trust in him. And so, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come” what we mean most immediately is that God would increase our faith, so that we would believe his holy word and live as his subjects in his kingdom. In this way, we are then prepared to continue to pray in Jesus’ name. It is like the man, who met Jesus coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, who cried, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) And that is what we are saying when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We pray that his righteous reign would rule in our hearts, so that when his kingdom comes in power, we will enter it with joy.
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is perhaps the most difficult petition to pray, and yet, it can be the most comforting to pray. It is the most difficult petition to pray, because God’s will is not always our will. We don’t pray, “My will be done,” but “Thy will be done.” We often think that we know what we need. We think, if only my back pain will go away, then I’ll be happy. If only I have enough money to pay my bills, I’ll be happy. If only such and such person were out of my life, then I would be happy. If only this or that. And so, that’s what we pray for. But, as we have learned from God’s Word and from experience, it doesn’t work that way. Sometimes God permits a thorn to stay in our side to keep us from becoming conceited, to teach us patience, to strengthen our faith.
God lets us suffer. And that is why praying, “Thy will be done.” can be so difficult. God may let you suffer for a while. And we think of our dear Lord Jesus, who prayed in the garden, “Father, not my will, but Thine be done.” Even as he knew that it was the will of his Father that he go to the cross and bear the guilt of all sinners. Yes, praying that God’s will be done can be scary, especially when we’re not sure what God’s will is.
And this again is why it is good for us to review our Small Catechism. It says, “God’s will is done when he breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is His good and gracious will” Yes, sometimes God’s will for a certain situation is hidden from us. Yet, God’s good and gracious will is revealed to us in Scripture. God’s will is to protect you from every evil and to keep you in the saving faith until you reach eternal life. That is God’s revealed will. And that tells you that God’s will is always good and gracious.
And this is why, “Thy will be done” is the most comforting thing you can pray. Because we do not always know what to pray for as we ought. But when we pray, “Thy will be done” leaving all things to God’s direction, then the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. God’s will is always better than our own will. And so, we Christians can take great joy in praying, “Thy will be done.”
“Give us this day our daily bread.” See how God has not forgotten about you. We spend so much time worrying about our daily bread: what we will eat and wear, where we will live, how we will get this that or the other thing. Yet, God shows you that he knows all that you need and gladly provides them for you. Notice also, that God does not teach us to pray to be rich and secure. People think they are secure when they have a lot of money, when they don’t need to worry about bills. Then they stop praying to God, because they no longer need him. No, God teaches us to pray for our daily bread. Each and every day, God wants us to rely on him for all good things and to receive them with thanksgiving.
“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Your catechism explains, “We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that he would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.”
These again are comforting words when you feel unworthy to pray. But consider this, God himself taught us a prayer in which we pray for forgiveness each and every day. God knows that you will sin. He knows our frame, that we are weak. And he teaches us to ask for forgiveness every time we fall. And he promises to forgive us! We do not pray according to our own worthiness, but we pray in Jesus’ name. Jesus took our sins away. He gives us access to the Father. So, we ask for forgiveness everyday with the sure promise that God will indeed forgive us.
And notice again, that we do not say, “forgive me my trespasses,” but “forgive us our trespasses.” When we pray this petition, we pray that God would forgive our fellow Christians and even those, who sin against us. And when we forgive others, we do so in order to confess our faith that God forgives us our trespasses.
“And lead us not into temptation.” Yes, it is possible to resist temptation. God would not teach you to pray for it if it were not possible. For every temptation, God gives a way of escape. So, when you are tempted, pray, go to Scripture, and pray God to lead you out of temptation.
“And deliver us from evil. We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.” We experience many evils in this life and we are unaware of many more that happen around us. Yet, the greatest evil is to die an unchristian death. To die without faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest evil, because there is no salvation after that. And so, at the close of the Lord’s Prayer, we always pray that God would keep us in the true faith and to grant us a Christian death.
“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” Why do Christians say, “Amen” at the end of prayers? Amen means truly. When Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” He actually said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, …" Your catechism explains it, “This means that I should be certain that these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by him; for he himself has commanded us to pray in this way and has promised to hear us. Amen, amen means ‘yes, yes, it shall be so.’”
And so, when you say, “Amen,” you are saying that you believe that what you have prayed for, you will receive. Amen is a statement of faith. It means that you are praying in Jesus’ name, because you believe that God will give to you as Jesus has promised. When you say “amen” in this way, you are saying that Jesus is not a liar, but always tells the truth. Amen.

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

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Trinity 1 Love Flows from Faith in Christ

Rogate Sunday (Easter 6) Praying to the Father in Jesus’ Name

Rev. James Preus

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