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God Is Faithful

8/11/2020

Esteban March - The Golden Calf, between 1610 and 1668, Public Domain

Trinity 9
1 Corinthians 10: (1-5) 6-13
August 9, 2020

10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

God is the same forever. He does not change. And although people do change, we all remain members of the same human race. And we share a common condition. We are sinners, who have fallen short of the glory of God. St. Paul says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” So, although each of us suffers from our own particular temptations and sins, nothing that afflicts us is unique. Nothing’s new under the sun. What tempts us; the sins into which we fall; they’ve tempted and caused to fall Christians before us.
And this is why it is so important to read and become familiar with the Holy Scriptures. Last week I urged you all to learn your Small Catechism. Luther’s Small Catechism teaches the basics of the Bible by simply explaining the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed, the Lord’s Prayers, as well as the biblical doctrine on Baptism, Confession and Absolution, and the Sacrament of the Altar. These six chief parts summarize everything you need to know to be a Christian. Yet, that does not mean that you don’t need to read your Bible. The Bible describes how our God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever deals with his people, who are very much in the same spiritual situation as we are now. St. Paul says these things were written for our instruction or admonition. So, it behooves us to read what was written and learn about ourselves.
St. Paul reminds us that our fathers in the faith, the people of Israel, were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, that they all ate the same spiritual meat and drank the same spiritual drink, that they drank from the spiritual rock, which followed them, which was the same Christ we worship today! They worshipped the same God. They followed the same Christ. Notice even the similarity to the Sacraments we have today. They were baptized into the cloud, which was the very presence of God and into the sea, just as we are baptized not only into water, but in the name of God. They ate and drank spiritual meat and drink from Christ, just as we eat and drink the body and blood of the same Christ for spiritual sustenance. Yet, what does St. Paul say? “Nevertheless, with most of them God was displeased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”
What does this teach us? It teaches us that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper do not save us if we do not have faith! They were all baptized! Yet, they were not all saved! But doesn’t baptism save? Indeed, it does! But only through faith. If you reject Christ, Baptism is of no benefit to you. Doesn’t the Lord’s Supper work forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation? Indeed, it does! Yet, only those who believe the promise of Christ eat and drink worthily!
St. Paul used the example of the children of Israel in the wilderness to warn the Christians in Corinth not to despise their Baptism and not to abuse the Lord’s Supper. And from what we can read from 1 Corinthians, this is exactly what the Christians in Corinth were doing; living as if their bodies were not the temple of the Holy Spirit, who began his dwelling in them at their Baptism, and treating the Lord’s Supper like a common dinner party, even participating in pagan sacrifices in direct contradiction to the Communion into which they participated in the Sacrament.
And this lesson is as important for us to learn today as it was for the Christians in Corinth. Are we not prone to treat Baptism like a superstitious magic spell, which imparts salvation even if we don’t continue in the faith? “Get the child done.” is actually uttered by Christians in reference to bringing a child to the saving waters of Baptism! Yet, Baptism is not a once and done event. Baptism is placing a new-born Christian in to the safety of the Christain Church to be nurtured and to grow in faith. And the Lord’s Supper is God’s food for the faithful, not for those who continue in sin without repentance, or for those who do not believe in Christ.
We must not be idolaters as some of them were. Here St. Paul references Exodus chapter 32, where the children of Israel, impatient with Moses’ delay on top of Mount Sinai, worshipped a golden calf, crediting it for their deliverance from Egypt! God punished them for their idol worship. The Corinthians likewise were tempted with idolatry. They lived in a culture that worshipped many false gods and Christians would often be pressured by social norms to participate in sacrifices to idols. And this lesson is relevant to us today. It may be uncommon to be invited to eat meat sacrificed to idols, but idolatry is to fear, love or trust in anything above God. And that is a temptation that persists among us today. We trust in money more than God. We love our pleasures, more than God. We fear rejection from our family and friends more than rejection from God. Take heed of this idolatry. Your fathers were baptized into Moses and idolatry destroyed them. Do not let your idolatry throw away your Baptism.
We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. Here St. Paul references the episode at the Baal of Peor as recorded in Numbers 25. The unfaithful prophet Baalam enticed the Israelites to embrace cult prostitutes from Moab. In his anger God killed thousands of them in a single day, until pious Phinehas in his zeal killed the most brazen offender and put an end to the plague. The Corinthian Christians needed to be reminded of God’s wrath against sexual immorality. They had been rescued from the perversions of the pagan Greeks when they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit in Baptism (1 Corinthians 6:11). Yet, the Satanic world in which they lived continued to pull these infant Christians to tolerate the worst forms of fornication.
And we currently live in a culture that likely surpasses the ancient Greeks in perversity. And we’d be naïve to believe that the church is passing through unscathed. Are your views on marriage formed by how the world behaves or by how God teaches us in his word? Do you promote with your words and actions fornication and adultery? See God’s wrath against this sin. Those who participated in the same Christ fell away because of fornication.
Some of Israel tested Christ and grumbled against God, and God destroyed them with snakes and with the angel of death. This is the sin of covetousness: not being content with what God has given you and desiring what he has not given you. Covetousness is rooted in unbelief, because when you covet you are not trusting in God’s promise to provide for you. Israel tested Christ in this way. We too are guilty of this testing of God, grumbling and complaining for what we don’t have. Our generation has it easier than any other generation in the history of the world. We have more food than we should eat. We have more stuff than we need. Yet, we still grumble.
Christians often think that keeping the faith is simply holding on to the basic doctrine of the Christian faith, and as long as you believe that there is one God and that Jesus died on the cross, then you won’t lose your faith. But Satan often doesn’t attack the chief doctrine of our faith head on. Rather, he tempts us into other sins. If he constantly attacked our faith in one God and in Jesus as our Savior, we would put up guards against him. Rather, Satan attacks from the side. He entices us away from the faith by first drawing us into other sins. He won’t tell you to deny God upfront, but rather to also love other gods like money and power and worldly acceptance. He won’t deny that Jesus is Lord, but he’ll still entice you into sexual immorality or simply to think that it really isn’t a big deal. Christians can be guilty of being the worst complainers and malcontents imaginable. They think they honor God, while not realizing that their complaints and grumbling about money, against their neighbor, against their boss, and so forth are really complaints against God, who provides for them and bids them to love their neighbor.
This is why St. Paul warns, “Anyone who thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall.” Don’t take for granted your faith in Christ, but rather beware of temptations that destroy faith. Too often Christians think that they can remain Christians by their own strength, merit, and works. They become proud that they will always be Christians no matter what. But as Scripture shows us and as our own experience tells us, Christians can fall away.
But how can you prevent yourself from falling? Who has the strength to resist temptation? And can anyone have certainty of salvation? To answer this, you must look away from yourself and to Christ Jesus. He is the way of escape from temptation. And he is your refuge when your own sins assail you. The reason so many of Israel fell in the wilderness is because they forgot Christ. Their Baptism into the sea and their eating of spiritual food did them no good, because they did not look to Christ their Savior, their God.
Can you have certainty of salvation? Yes, indeed! In Christ alone! Only in Christ Jesus do you find certainty of your salvation. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and follow me. I give them eternal life and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” This is a sure promise. Does Jesus lie? Certainly not! If you think you stand, take heed that you stand on Christ Jesus, or you will certainly fall! It is Jesus, his forgiveness and salvation, which will strengthen you in temptation’s hour. And it is Jesus who will restore you again when you come to him with a penitent heart.
God does not change. He always remains the same. And his promise of salvation in Christ cannot be voided or altered. The mercy he has shown to the saints in the Bible instructs us of this great truth. God forgave David, who committed adultery and murder. He forgave Peter, who denied Christ three times. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the worst sinners. We are cut out of the same cloth as all sinners. And we are saved by the same Jesus.
When we look at Scripture, we see how God punishes those who reject Christ by falling away into sin. Yet, also throughout Scripture we see a God who does not deal with us according to our sins, but according to his own mercy (Psalm 103:10). St. Paul writes to the Romans, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) The goal of the entire Scriptures, even when it shows the wrath of God, is to draw us toward the one who is our hope.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
No merit of mine own I claim,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the Solid Rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand. Amen.

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Beware of False Prophets

8/4/2020

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"Beware of False Prophets," Gerung or Gerou, Matthias (c.1500-68/70), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria, Public Domain

Trinity 8
Matthew 7:15-23
August 2, 2020

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.”

A few weeks ago, we learned from Jesus that we should not judge. Obviously, Jesus did not mean that absolutely, but rather that we should not judge where God does not give us the right to judge. We should assume the best of others instead of rushing to rash judgments. And we should be quick to forgive those who sin against us, as our heavenly Father forgives us. That is what Jesus means when he says, “Judge not.” By following this teaching, we follow our Shepherd Jesus, who removes God’s judgment and condemnation from us.
Yet, today Jesus teaches us to judge. To beware of false prophets requires judgment. You must judge whether the one who claims to teach you God’s word is a true teacher from God, or a false teacher. This is not in any way a contradiction to what Jesus previously taught. Both these lessons, not to judge and to beware of false prophets come from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which teaches us to follow Jesus alone as our true teacher.
Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets. A prophet is someone who speaks God’s Word. A false prophet is someone who claims to speak God’s Word, but actually lies. Jeremiah records God’s displeasure at the false prophets who prophesy lies in his name saying, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” (Jeremiah 23:16-17) Likewise, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount teaches us to beware of teachers, who claim to speak for God, but really speak lies.
Jesus tells us that false prophets will come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. This means that the false teachers, who will speak lies to us will not look like false teachers from the outside. They will look like good guys. They’ll look like your pastor. You can’t just assume that because it says Christian on the church sign that you can trust what the preacher says. Rather, Jesus says, “You will know them by their fruits.” You must listen to what the preacher teaches in order to tell whether it is from God or not. If what he teaches is contrary to God’s word, you must mark and avoid that preacher, no matter how good he otherwise seems to be.
One struggle our church body has is that people assume that all Lutheran churches are the same. If it says Lutheran on the church sign, then it must be a good place to go to church. But Satan is much too clever to let that pass. Much heartbreak has been caused by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Many Lutherans in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) have family and friends who attend churches in the ELCA. That makes sense. We are different branches from the same historical church-family tree. We’re cousins, if you will. And it causes much heartbreak when family members cannot commune when they visit each other, when they both identify as Lutheran.
Likewise, when young people from LCMS congregations grow up, they find it tempting to go to an ELCA congregation when they move away, because after all, it is Lutheran. But you must be careful. While the ELCA has Lutheran in its name, it does not follow the teachings of the Lutheran Church, but rather teachings contrary to Christ Jesus. The ELCA teaches that the Bible contains errors and that not everything in the Bible is true. This is why they have women pastors even though the Bible clearly teaches that only men can be pastors in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 among other places. When they read, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man,” or “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches.” they take these words as St. Paul’s alone and not as God’s. But it is important to remember that although the Bible was written by men and I will often say in my sermons, “St. Paul says this or the Prophet Jeremiah says that,” the words these men write are not their own, but God’s. For Scripture also says, “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) and “All Scripture is God-breathed.” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Yet, people will defend this error and say it is only a small one, as if ignoring what God says is ever a small matter. But this is not how God’s Word works. God spoke through Jeremiah, “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Fire is used to purify silver and gold by separating the precious metal from the dross. Likewise, a hammer separates valuable ore from worthless rocks. God does not teach error, but rather exposes it.
So, as you would expect, a church body that says that the Bible contains errors will find more and more at fault with God’s written word. In 2009 the ELCA approved the ordination of openly practicing homosexuals. So, a sin, which Scripture calls an abomination and threatens that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Leviticus 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10), the ELCA permits to be practiced openly by their pastors, whom Scripture says must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife (1 Timothy 3:2). And last year, their convention passed a statement, which stated that we cannot know God’s judgment concerning another religion, when Jesus clearly says in Scripture that he is the way, the truth, and the life; No one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). And the ELCA is not alone. Many other mainline “Christian” Churches accept doctrines and practices that are clearly against the Bible, telling sinners that they do not need to repent of their sins, denying the Biblical distinction between men and women, and claiming that people can be saved without believing in Jesus. This is exactly what Scripture warns against when it says, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
Of course, I’m well aware that many of you have friends and relatives in the ELCA and I am not saying that they are not Christians. What I am saying is that they should be aware of the false teaching within their church body and should look for a church that preaches the true word of God.
Now more than ever, you must be careful which church you attend and which pastor you listen to. And your caution should not just be focused outside of our church body, as if you’re safe as long as you go to an LCMS congregation. No, you should judge every LCMS preacher you hear. You should judge me and what I preach to you.
Yet, how are you to rightly judge what I or any other preacher preaches to you? Well, you need to know the truth. But how can you know the truth, if you do not pay attention to God’s Word? Getting people to judge sermons is not a difficult thing to do. Most hearers already judge sermons. They determine whether they like them or not; whether they believe them or not. But based on what standard? If you do not learn the Holy Scriptures, then you will judge based on your own feelings and wisdom or based on the messages you get out in the world. How much TV do you watch? How many movies? How much time do you spend on the internet? All these media influence what you think and believe. But do you have devotions every day? Do you read a little bit of Scripture and say prayers with your family? Can you still recite your Catechism from memory? Do you know the Ten Commandments? Can you recite the Apostles’ Creed? Do you remember what the Bible teaches about Baptism, Confession, and the Lord’s Supper?
To be able to judge what your pastor preaches seems like a daunting task. Who is qualified to do it? This is why it is important to learn your Small Catechism. It teaches the basics of the Christian faith from the Bible: The Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, what the Bible says about Baptism, the Office of the Keys, and the Lord’s Supper. Use your Small Catechism as a devotional book. If you are familiar with what it teaches, you will be able to recognize whether your pastor is preaching the truth or not.
You do not need to know every false teaching to recognize it as a false teaching. You need to recognize the one true teaching. When I pick weeds in my garden, I don’t try to identify what type of weed it is. I simply pull it out if it isn’t the plant I planted. Likewise, if you recognize the true teaching, as you have been taught in your Catechism, you will recognize when something is off.
Jesus says, “Neither be called instructor, for you have one instructor, the Christ.” Jesus is your only true teacher. Every pastor you have in life has the job to teach only what Jesus teaches. And Jesus is the best teacher. He teaches us the way to the Father is through faith in him. He teaches us that he died to take away our sins and that he lives to defend us from all evil. He teaches us that God the Father loves us and that he who sent his own Son to die for us will certainly give us every good thing. Jesus teaches us that in Baptism our sins are washed away and that we receive a new birth by the Holy Spirit. He teaches us that when the pastor forgives our sins in his stead, he himself is forgiving us in heaven before God the Father and all his angels. Jesus teaches us that the bread and wine he feeds us is his very own body and blood, which he sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus teaches us that whoever believes in him will live forever.
Jesus is the best teacher, because his teaching is true and because only his teaching gives eternal life. For this reason, we should not take it as a burden to learn our Catechism and to read a little bit of Scripture each day. Rather, we should fervently desire to learn from our teacher at every opportunity. Don’t just go to church every once in a while. Go to church every Sunday. Listen to the Scripture lessons. Hear how the Sermon applies God’s word to you. Go to Bible study; listen, ask questions, grow in your faith. You cannot beware of false teachers if you do not follow the one true teacher. And when you have a church and a pastor that is faithful to Christ our true teacher, thank the Lord and take every opportunity to learn from Jesus.
Jesus tells us that false prophets are inwardly ravenous wolves. This is because behind every false teacher is Satan. He hates you and the truth. He wants to take you away from Jesus forever. But Jesus is our true Shepherd. We know his voice and follow him alone. And he gives us eternal life. Amen.

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God provides the food of eternal life for the entire world.

7/30/2020

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Trinity 7
Mark 8:1-9

July 26, 2020

Our Lord Jesus fed 4,000 people with just seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. St. Matthew tells us that the 4,000 didn’t even include the women and children. This miracle shows us that Jesus is God, who opens his hands and satisfies the desires of every living thing. This shows us that God will provide for our bodies. As the birds of the air need not worry, neither do we. Our heavenly Father knows what we need and he will provide for us. This also teaches us that we should seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, because God will add all the rest of our needs to us. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. God cares for our bodies so generously, so that we will not worry but will look to him for our spiritual and eternal needs.
Yet, didn’t we learn this very lesson not too long ago? Indeed, we heard nearly an identical story just four months ago when Jesus fed the 5,000 with just five barley loaves and two small fish and they had twelve baskets left over. Is this an accidental repetition? Perhaps Jesus fed a large crowd of people; some said it was 5,000 and others said it was 4,000, so we are really just reviewing the exact same story? No. In fact, Jesus fed a crowd of 5,000 men and a short time later he fed another crowd of 4,000 men. Both St. Matthew and St. Mark report both of these miracles in their Gospel accounts and Jesus reminds his disciples of both of these feedings later on in this same chapter of Mark.
Yet, why do Matthew and Mark record both of these miraculous feasts? St. John only records the feeding of the 5,000. Aren’t these two miracles similar enough, that they could have recorded just one or the other. Certainly, Jesus performed many other miracles that are not listed in the Gospels (John 21:25). And why did the ancients deem it necessary to record both of these feedings in the lectionary, so that we hear them both every year?
Well, certainly the main emphasis of both of these stories is worth repeating. God will provide for your physical needs and he wants you to seek from him even more your eternal spiritual needs. Yet, as similar as these two stories are, they are not identical.
The feeding of the 5,000 was primarily a feeding of Jews. Jesus fed them with five loaves of bread. The five loaves of bread symbolized the five books of Moses, which make up the Torah. There were twelve baskets of fragments left over, which symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel. Even the Greek word for basket was distinct from the word for basket used with the 4,000. These baskets referred to containers used in Jewish ceremonies. This feeding of the 5,000 Israelites demonstrated that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy from Deuteronomy 18, which stated that God would raise up a prophet like Moses from among the Jews. As God fed the people of Israel bread from heaven in the wilderness through Moses, so now Jesus, who is greater than Moses feeds God’s people.
The feeding of the 4,000 is different. Jesus uses seven loaves of bread and seven baskets of bread are left over. The number seven can symbolize completeness. It could also represent the seven Gentile nations around Israel. The place where this feeding takes place is populated with many Gentiles, as shown right before this miracle when Jesus meets the Canaanite woman as he left the region of Tyre and Sidon. So, while the feeding of the 5,000 shows that Jesus is the Messiah promised to the Jewish people, the feeding of the 4,000 shows that Jesus did not come only for the Jews, but for people of all nations.
This of course is wonderful news for us and all people around the world. You do not have to follow your genealogical line to discover whether God’s mercy is meant for you. We marvel that God fed the nation of Israel in the wilderness for forty year without them putting a plow to the ground or planting any seed. Yet, we should also mark that God continued to provide food for all nations around the world, clothing and sheltering them as well. When God cares for the body of people, he shows that he cares for them. It is a sign that he desires also to save their souls. You won’t trust in a god for your eternal salvation if he is unable to provide for you temporal needs. So, God provides for the needs of all people everywhere, to show his desire to save both their bodies and souls forever.
Of course, this lesson is consistent with all of Scripture. God told Abraham, the father of the people of Israel, that in his seed all nations of the earth would be blest. And St. Paul repeatedly declares that God shows no partiality and makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile, but rather all are children of Abraham and of God himself through faith in Jesus. And by feeding this great crowd of Gentiles, Jesus shows that he comes to feed the bread of life to all peoples everywhere. The number four represents the four winds, which go across the whole earth. The number 1,000 represents completeness. By feeding 4,000 Gentiles, Jesus shows that God has compassion on all people and desires to satisfy their every need.
If you do not believe that God will satisfy the wants of your body now in this temporal life, you will never believe that God will provide eternal life for you. If God cannot do a little work, he certainly cannot do a mighty work. So, with every meal you eat that fills your belly, God wants to remind you that he desires to feed your soul as well. When you put on your clothes and fall asleep under your roof, he wants you to know that he cares for you beyond what you can see or feel. Because, it is not food for your belly or clothes for your body, which are your greatest need, but the teaching of Christ, which gives you eternal life.
After Jesus fed the 5,000 Jews the Jews searched for him, because they wanted more bread. They were disappointed when Jesus wanted rather to feed them the Bread of Life from heaven, which gives eternal salvation to all who feast on him in faith. This is the curse of our mortal bodies. We focus on the temporal needs of the body and fret over them, as if our fretting ever gave us a morsel to eat, and we ignore the greater gift God seeks to give us. Likewise, shortly after Jesus fed the 4,000, he told his disciples to beware of the false teaching of the Pharisees by telling them to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. His disciples began to bicker, because they had only packed on loaf of bread and did not have enough for everyone. Jesus marveled at their lack of faith. They had just witnessed him feed a crowd of 5,000 and then a crowd of 4,000 with just a handful of bread, yet here they worried about not having enough bread. Jesus did these signs, so that they would focus on his teaching rather than worry about their next meal! So difficult it is for us to focus on what is most important and stop fretting over that which God has already taken care of.
And we need to learn this lesson today. What should you be most concerned about today? Money to pay your bills and feed your family? Your job? The economy? Our nation? What you will eat, wear, and where you will live? Has God not already shown you over and over and over again that he will provide all these things for you? What then does God want you to be concerned for? Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of false teaching. Make sure that you are learning the pure word of God. That is your most pressing need. It is always your most pressing need. The Bread of Life from heaven will be lost if you follow false teachings invented by men. That you cannot afford to lose. But the food you need for your body? Don’t worry about that. God already knows how he will provide that for you, as he has already shown you many times before. Sure, he may make you wait as the crowd waited three days before Jesus satisfied their physical hunger. They desired more the food for the soul, and for that they were rewarded.
The leaven of the Pharisees covers up Christ Jesus and his work of salvation for you. The Pharisees focused on their own outward works instead of trusting in the mercy of God promised in his Son. They despised the sacrifice Christ made for the sins of the whole world. As Jesus told his disciples to watch out for this leaven, which will poison the loaf and make it no good, so he tells us today to beware of false prophets and their teaching. Beware of anything that covers up Christ Jesus and distracts you from him.
It is common today to try not to focus on the different teachings of different groups, but rather focus on how we all love the same Jesus. Some even go so far as to say that as long as we believe in God, that it doesn’t matter what else we believe, claiming Christians, Muslims, and Jews worship the same God. But such simplifying of religion does not reveal Christ as the only Savior, but covers up him and his work. It puts a muzzle on Jesus, so that we cannot learn from him. And since not everyone can agree on what Jesus has done, they focus not on Jesus’ work, but on their own works. The mission of the church is then changed into carrying for people's bodies instead of carrying for people’s souls. Now, Christians should certainly help to provide for the needy. As God has been generous to us, so ought we to be generous to others. But the mission of the Church is to feed the souls of sinners. Only the Bread of Life, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a sacrifice for all our sins can feed the souls of the world.
To listen to Jesus and to learn from him takes faith. You must believe and trust that God will provide for your physical needs, so that you look to be fed spiritually as well. And you must trust that the words that Jesus says are true and important for you to believe and confess. In this lesson, Jesus shows that God will always provide for the needs of our body, even if we must wait for him. And he shows us that our greatest need in this life is to listen to him, to believe what he says, to trust in his promises, and to pay attention to reject any teaching that rejects or covers up Christ. If we learn to so trust in Jesus, we will find that we will be satisfied in both body and soul. Amen.

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God Grants Us Success by His Word

7/12/2020

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James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (La pêche miraculeuse), 1886-1896. brooklynmuseum.org, No Known Copyright Restrictions

Trinity 5
Luke 5:1-11
July 12, 2020

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the Church Growth Movement engulfed the Christian Church in America. The Church Growth Movement seeks to grow the church by using sociological and behavioral science, which means, they use marketing tactics, which focus on potential church members as consumers. Countless books were written and programs were employed that promised congregational growth and success in the mission field by focusing on people: what they want; what they feel like they need. Ironically, as churches around the country employed these Church Growth measures, Christians throughout the church practiced measures to restrict growth of their own families (largely in pursuit of material gain), which of course meant Christians were bringing fewer children to church. As the church sought to satisfy the desires of the people, the people sought to satisfy their own desires, whether that involved church attendance or not. And now, after well over half a century of concerted effort by the Church Growth Movement, the Christian Church in America has shrunk dramatically. Far fewer people attend a Christian service on a regular basis. Yes, some congregations experienced isolated and sporadic growth, and megachurches have become a regular site around the country. But the number of practicing Christians has dwindled in our land steadily over the past two generations. The Church Growth Movement failed.
Yet, that does not mean the Church Growth Movement died or that churches stopped trying to morph themselves to match the changing desires of the fickle masses. Churches continue to find ways to get people to attend apart from preaching the pure Gospel that all people need. People know better than God much like children know better than their parents. If we can turn evangelism into a science, we’ll worship our science instead of believe the clear words of Jesus. We will make idols of our own intelligence instead of listening and believing what Jesus says.
Simon Peter was an experienced fisherman. He made his living on Lake Gennesaret. He’d toiled all night trying to catch fish, and he got skunked. He had nothing to show for his labor. When Jesus came to preach from his boat, he was cleaning his nets for storage. He’d given up working for the day. Yet, after Jesus finished preaching God’s word to the people, Jesus tells Peter to push out into the deep and drop the nets down for a catch. Peter knows that this won’t work. It’s the wrong place and the wrong time. He even explains to Jesus that they had already labored all night when one could expect to catch fish. Yet, Peter shows remarkable faith. He says, “At your word, I will let down the nets.” And as we just heard, they caught such a large catch of fish that their nets began to break and both of their boats began to sink! And this illustrates to us how God’s Word is superior to our intellect.
The word of God is foolishness to those who think they are wise. And the greatest word of God, which is the power of salvation to all who believe, is that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. Jesus’ crucifixion earns for us eternal life! This is folly to the Greeks. This is a stumbling block to the Jews. But to those who believe (both Jews and Greeks), this is the righteousness of God! God chose what is foolish to shame the wise and what is weak to shame the strong. It is the word of the cross of Christ which saves, despite what our intellect and life experience tells us.
We are a proud people. We boast of great achievements in science and technology. We’ve split the atom. We’ve landed men on the moon! We’ve sequenced the genome of the coronavirus so to pursue treatments at a rapid pace. How can we believe in a God, who created the world in six days by the power of his word? How can we believe that God became man and that his death on the cross could make atonement for our sins? How can we believe that water poured on the head of a baby while the pastor says a few words could do anything, but get the kid’s hair wet? How can we believe that bread and wine could be the body and blood of a man who lives in heaven? These are not things that scientific people believe! These statements go against our experience and reason! Yet, Peter was an experienced man. He knew what he was doing. And he believed Jesus’ word over his own experience. And in so doing, he experienced the power of God.
As we use our reason and our experiences, we must remember that it is God who gave us our reason and our senses. We may have split the atom, but God created the atom and engineered the entire universe. We may have landed some people on the moon, but God created the moon and set it on its orbit around the earth, so that our planet could sustain life with perfectly orchestrated seasons. We may be able to dissect genomes, but God is the one who designed life in all its forms. He is our Father, who created us. His word is more trustworthy than our reason.
Sometimes God humbles us in order for us to learn to trust in him. Farmers are smart people. They need to be biologists, mechanics, economists, and accountants all in the same day. They learn these skills through experience. Yet, no matter how much experience the farmer has or how much he labors, it is God who provides the growth. And whatever your source of income is, this is an important lesson to learn. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. … It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:1-2)
Peter labored all night trying to catch fish, but he got nothing. Why? Was he a bad fisherman? No. Everyone who labors knows that your labor does not necessarily result in success. And God withholds success from us at times, so that we remember that it is not actually our labor that feeds us, but God himself. God opens his hands and satisfies the desires of every living thing. He is the one who feeds your children and provides for their needs. Jesus tells us to look at the birds of the air, who neither toil, nor spin, nor gather into barns, and yet our heavenly Father feeds them all. How much more valuable are we than some birds! Yes, God commands that we must work. We must eat our bread by the sweat of our brow. But it is God who provides for our needs. And while learning this lesson can be painful and worrisome as you try to crunch the numbers to see how you’ll make ends meet, this message is comforting to those who wait. When times were good, it was not your labor that accomplished this, but God’s most gracious hand. And God is no less gracious now. Trust in him. He will provide for you.
And this message is all the more important when we consider our spiritual needs. It is a blessing when you’ve got your act together; when you’ve resisted those temptations that bring you shame and guilt, when you’ve come to church and feel like a real Christian. You feel comfortable to be with God. That seems rational. Yet, when you’ve broken God’s commandments and ignored his word; when you’ve done what you know is wrong and feel ashamed, it seems rational to hide from God. It makes sense to try to make up some spiritual ground before you can come before God. Yet, that is not what God’s word teaches us. Rather, God bids us to flee to him when we are ashamed! When your conscience strikes you with guilt, go to Him who alone can take your guilt away! Simon Peter, when he realizes who it is who is standing in his boat cries, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” Yet, Jesus tells him not to be afraid. Jesus forgives his sins!
Jesus tells Peter, the sinful man, that from now on he will catch men alive. Jesus calls sinners to catch sinners and bring them into his Church. They do this by preaching God’s Word. Our church confesses in the Augsburg Confession Article V, “So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith, when and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake. This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ’s sake.”
Jesus called Peter, the sinner, to preach the Gospel, so that people would be gathered into his Church. And as Scripture records, Peter did not stop being a sinner. He continued to struggle with sin even as he proclaimed the Gospel to sinners. Well, how can this be that sinners can be used to save sinners? Well, it’s because it is not the sinful men who are adding these people to the Church, but God. As St. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6)
The Holy Spirit works through the word of God spoken by the ministers of the Gospel to create and sustain faith. The word of God is the net, which catches men alive. We see this in our Gospel lesson as the crowd is pressing in on Jesus in order to hear the word of God from him, so much so, that Jesus needs to get into a boat and push off into the water.
Yet, just as sometimes the fisherman casts his net all through the night and does not catch any fish, so sometimes the word of God is preached and no one comes to hear. Moses, Elijah, the apostles, even Jesus himself were rejected at times and the word of God from their mouths was ignored. Did that mean that the word of God was lacking? Does that mean that sinful men must add something to God’s word or take something away from it to make it more effective? No. Just as the farmer must wait on the Lord to cause the growth and the fisherman must trust in the Lord to bring the shoal of fish into the net, so must the preacher trust in the Gospel to create faith in the hearts of sinners.
Every congregation wants its numbers to grow. Yet, getting warm bodies into a building is not our end goal. It is bringing sinners to salvation, which can only be done through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this to be done, the Gospel must be preached. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone needs to be saved from sin and hell. All people share the same need. Only the Gospel that God forgives sinners for Christ’s sake can save. Only the Gospel can create faith.
The greatest fear I have as a Christian parent is that my children would reject the faith. I want them to trust in Jesus. I want them to be in heaven with me. Yet, there is no power in me that can make them trust in Jesus. Only the power of the Gospel, which we all have. Do you want your children to go to heaven? Teach them about Jesus! Confess that he forgives sins and saves. Bring them to church. Do we want our church to grow? The better question is, “Do we want sinners to be saved?”. Then we should confess Christ. Then the Gospel that God saves sinners by grace for the sake of Jesus’ death and resurrection must be preached here every week. We cast the net Jesus gives us. God provides the success. And he promises, just as he provides for the needs of our bodies, even more so will he fill his Church by means of the Gospel. May we be among those saved for Christ’s sake. Amen.

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Forgive Us Our Trespasses As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

7/6/2020

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Sankt Matthaeus Kirke Copenhagen Altarpiece, Henrik Olrik, Public Domain.

Trinity 4
Luke 6:36-42
July 5, 2020

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We pray this whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer. With our lesson today, Jesus is trying to get us to understand what we pray for every day. When we pray that our Father in heaven would forgive our trespasses, we are asking that he would have mercy on us, not judge us, not condemn us, but rather forgive us. And we also promise that we will likewise show such mercy on others. This is what it means to be merciful, even as our Father in heaven is merciful.
This lesson can only be understood through the light of the Gospel. “Judge not,” Jesus says. Why? Because God did not judge you. “Condemn not.” Why? Because God did not condemn you, but rather condemned sin in the flesh of his own Son, Jesus Christ who committed no sin (Romans 8:3). “Forgive.” Why? Because God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). We love, because God first loved us. We have mercy, because God has shown mercy to us.
Yet, when you remove the light of the Gospel from these words, they become distorted into devilish teachings. Few words have been so grossly misapplied than Jesus’ words, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.” These words of Jesus have been used by unbelievers and false teachers to rebuke Christians for holding to the teachings of the Christian faith. You must not say that Jesus is the only way to heaven, because that is being judgmental toward other religions and Jesus says, do not judge. You must not say that the sexual revolution was evil and that sex belongs only between a husband and wife in marriage and that all other sexual relations are sinful. That is being judgmental and Jesus said not to judge. You must not condemn false teaching or sinful behavior of any kind, because Jesus says not to judge. And many Christians have fallen for this lie. Christians remain silent and even condone false teachings like universalism and unionism, and sinful activities like fornication, homosexuality, and abortion, because unbelievers tell them that their Lord tells them not to judge.
But when Jesus tells us not to judge, he obviously is not telling us to condone what is evil or believe what is false. In fact, there are times when Jesus tells us to judge. In John chapter 7, Jesus says, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” And when Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets, who come to us in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves, he is teaching us to judge our teachers and preachers, so that we will know whether they are true or false teachers. Christians are commanded by Jesus to judge between false teachings and the one true teaching, and to make distinctions between the fruits of the Spirit and the sinful works of the flesh.
Likewise, parents must make judgments concerning their children, otherwise they cannot discipline them or raise them in the fear and love of the Lord. And governments must make judgments in the court of law. This is why Scripture teaches that no charge should be established except by two or three witnesses and that all people should obey the governing authorities. And Scripture teaches that if anyone is caught in any transgression, those who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1), which of course is impossible, if you do not make a judgment between what is and is not a transgression. And to forego making that judgment and leaving someone to perish in his sin is neither merciful nor loving.
So, it is clear, unless Jesus is going to contradict Scripture, which is impossible, that when Jesus says, “Judge not,” he does not mean do not ever judge. Rather, Jesus is warning against unauthorized and loveless judging. Do not pass judgment when you have not been given the job to pass judgment in that situation. And when you must pass judgment, do it in love. When you see your brother or sister sinning, do not seek to destroy them, but try to save them!
Despite its great abuse that has led many astray, this lesson from Jesus still needs to be heard and learned. We all need to hear that we should not judge!
As we celebrate our nation’s independence and feelings of patriotism rise with every crack of a firework exploding in the distance, many of us are noticing how many of our national monuments and historical figures are under attack. Many are demanding the removal of statues while others are vandalizing them or tearing them down themselves; not just statues of confederate soldiers down south, but of Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as notable abolitionists and even saints. Those attempting to tear down these statues argue that the men they depict represent great evils, because of things they did or said in their lifetime. Now obviously, all these men did do bad things in their lifetime, but their effigies were not erected for the bad things, but for the monumental things they did for our nation.
And those who are condemning these men for their real or perceived flaws, would do well to remove the log out of their own eyes before they point out the speck in the eyes of these historical figures, who cannot defend themselves. For surely, future generations will have more than enough to condemn them if they ever do anything worthy of a monument. Our generation has been complacent in the face of evil just as much as previous generations, as we put up with the harm done to unborn babies and the innocence stolen from children. We Christians should see clearly enough to know that as we pray, “God, bless America” we should also remember to pray, “Lord, have mercy on America for her many sins.” For ultimately, it is not history that will judge us, but Almighty God.
Yet, it is not for the sake of statues or dead historical titans that Jesus says these words, but for your husband or wife, brother or sister, co-worker and fellow Christian. No talking heads on the television will debate whether the character assassination you committed against your sister or neighbor is justified. No one is going to write his congressman about whether you judged your wife’s tone of voice too harshly or whether you were too dismissive of your father’s words. When we deal with one another, we need to keep these words of Jesus in our mind. Remove the log out of your own eye before you point out the speck in your neighbor’s.
This means that we should repent of our own sins and recognize that we live by grace. God paid the debt you owed him for your sins, so be quick to forgive any debt that someone might owe against you. This does not mean that we condone sin. Rather, it means that with our interactions with one another, we always have the goal to forgive and be reconciled, not to destroy and condemn.
Christians should be more equipped to pass judgment than unbelievers, because we have been taught by Jesus Christ himself what is right and wrong. We should be able to identify sin, so to avoid it and to recognize good, so to pursue it. Yet, Christians should be the last ones to pass judgment and condemn, because we live in the light of the Gospel. God has forgiven us our great trespasses. When we recognize sin, we see sins for which Jesus shed his blood. When we recognize sinners, we see sinners for whom Christ died to save. When we see sin, we see our own sin and show humility and penitent hearts and thank God who has forgiven us for Christ’s sake.
Be merciful, even as your Father in heaven is merciful. These words are often interpreted to mean that you must show yourself merciful in order for God to show mercy on you. Yet, that is a distortion of Jesus’ words. If that were so, you would only be required to show mercy upon those who had likewise proven themselves to be merciful or otherwise deserving of your mercy. But the point is that God our Father in heaven shows mercy upon us when we do not deserve it. While we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. God does not forgive those who deserve it, but those who do not deserve forgiveness. And that is how merciful you should be. Forgive those, who do not deserve to forgiven.
You can only give mercy if you yourself have received mercy. It is by the renewing power of the Gospel that you are able to show the love of God, which he shows to you. Unless you are motivated by the Gospel with a renewed spirit within you, your motivation will be tainted with sin and your mercy will be sinful. Jesus says, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Unless God make you a good tree, you cannot bear good fruit. Unless God make you merciful, you cannot show mercy.
A student is not greater than his teacher, but every student, when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. We will never be more merciful than God. Those who claim a mercy greater than that revealed to us in Jesus often are revealed to have a deeply cruel mercy; a mercy that does not forgive; does not protect; does not seek after good, but judges and condemns the righteous. And we Christians will never be greater than our Lord in his mercy. But we will be like him. As he has shown mercy on us, so will we show mercy to others. Even as we do it in weakness; even as our sinful flesh fights against the renewed spirit within us; God will cultivate good fruit in us by his grace revealed in his Son.
The words, “Be merciful” are a command. Yet, they also reveal a promise. As we groan inwardly eager to be revealed as God’s son and heirs with redeemed bodies, the Spirit bears witness to us that we are children of our Father in heaven. What has been shown to us and what our renewed selves desire to be is what we will be when that final Day shall come. We shall be like him even as we see him as he is. Amen.

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

God Is Faithful

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God provides the food of eternal life for the entire world.

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Forgive Us Our Trespasses As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

Rev. James Preus

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