The Eighth Sunday after Trinity - August 14, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Eighth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 14, 2011)

Readings:   
        Psalm 26
        Jeremiah 23:16-23
        Acts 20:27-38
        Matthew 7:15-23

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 7th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses:

Matthew 7:15-16 (NIV)

15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will recognize them by their fruits.”

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

The worst thing a person can do is cause someone else to do is doubt the Word of the Lord and the Sacraments. They are the foundation of saving faith. More than that, the Lord’s Word and His sacramental Gifts are the Gospel. They are not just things that tell us about God’s mercy and love.  That is how we are forgiven, rescued from death, protected from the devil and evil, and brought safely through this life to the life of the world to come. No, for without preaching and sacraments, there is no knowledge of salvation or comfort from God or hope in Christ.

That is what the Christian Church has consistently taught for 20 centuries. That is what every Christian must believe in order to be safe and secure in the holy ark of the Church. The proclamation of the Lord’s mercy, in baptism by God’s Word combined with the water, and the consumption of the Lord’s own body flesh and blood, these are the only means of salvation and the only things faith has to hang onto. Anyone who calls them into question, who causes someone to doubt these words and gifts of God, who says they are not valid and certain or beneficial or that they don’t matter, or who causes even the littlest child who believes in Jesus to question his faith – it would be better for them if a millstone were hung around his neck and they were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Anyone who does these things – anyone who causes the faithful to question their faith in the Lord and His promises tied to preaching and the Sacraments – that person is a false prophet. False prophets are not easily identified fanatics, they are not all raving lunatics. Neither are they people who urge you to worship Satan. A false prophet is anyone who says to you, “peace, peace” where there is not peace; anyone who lures and entices you to believe in yourself; anyone who says, “Here is your help, your better way to Christ”; and anyone who undermines your trust and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are all false prophets that our Lord both warns us about in today’s Gospel, and He urges us to avoid to avoid them.

Jesus says, “Beware of them, for they come to you all pretty and nice, speaking soothingly, and with kind words, promising help from God and giving you what seems so comforting. But they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They seek only their own gain and comfort. They speak only the fantasies of their mind. They tell lies – either purposefully or not. Or, at least, they skirt the Truth, and that the only truth is Jesus Christ Himself. Their desire is not to comfort you, but to control you. They offer a false hope since it is not based on God’s Word so they end up destroying your soul.”

And, of course, this begs the question, “What is truth?” Truth is our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not just that He tells the Truth. Our Lord Jesus is Truth in the flesh. Everything apart from Him is a lie or a dream. Any substantial and essential Truth both traces back to Him and relies on Jesus Christ.

False prophets not only work against Christ. They also urge you to believe truths that don’t matter; truths that will not help you. What good is it to know that two plus three equals five if that truth cannot begin or sustain your life? What good is it to figure out all kinds of truisms and axioms and philosophies, if they do not bring you back from the dead?

The Truth is Christ Jesus Who truly does fight for you against every evil, Who truly does deliver you from your past, Who truly does help you in every life-threatening need, and Who truly can and does bring you through death to life – now, in the waters of Holy Baptism, and later in the grave. He is Truth, and whoever causes you to look anywhere else, to anything else, for comfort and hope and peace – that person perverts the truth and replaces it with a preaching of what is false and empty. “Beware of them,” our Lord says.

But don’t simply watch out. For there is also no good in going on a witch hunt for false prophets. Cling to the Truth instead. Take Jesus at His Word. Believe Him when He says, “My promise is true. My blood truly does forgive you. My flesh is your life. My Word truly is your strength, your comfort, your hope, and your salvation. Everything else will fade away, and all other truths will fail you in death. But God’s Word is sure, His promises never fail, and He always come through for you – if not now, then certainly in the end when it matters most.”

What is our prayer? Is it that we get the wisdom, the magic eyes, the brilliance to pick out the truth from the lies? Is it to isolate ourselves from others in fear that they may be false? Is it to become fanatics who cling to conniving, mesmerizing preachers? Is it that we get the ability to understand all sorts of signs and wonders? No. All of that is also false.

Our prayer is that the Lord God would continue to grant us His Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit Who brings to your remembrance everything Christ Jesus said, the Spirit Who leads you into all Truth. It is only by the Holy Spirit, Who comes by the preaching and by the Sacraments, do you believe the Lord’s holy Word. Without the Lord you can do no good thing. We desire to live according to His Word and will. So we pray Thy kingdom come with the confidence that God’s kingdom comes by His Spirit whenever we hear His holy Word and receive His blessed Sacraments as He gives them to us by His ordained ministers. We rely on these truthful Sacraments and that truthful Gospel knowing that in them we both receive Christ and live in Him.  Not by false prophets telling you how to grow a church or grow your faith.  But by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, who gives you your faith freely ad brings you to eternal life.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
+SDG+

The Seventh Sunday after Trinity - August 7, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Seventh Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 7, 2011)

Readings:        Gen. 2:7–17

                        Psalm 33:1–11

                        Rom. 6:19–23

                       Mark 8:1-9

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 8th chapter of St. Mark, especially the following verse:

Mark 8:1-8

1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away." 4And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" 5And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." 6And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Jesus said to them, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have remained with me now three days and do not have anything to eat." This great crowd that followed Jesus seemed to be a very foolish crowd.  They did not properly plan out their days journey.  They did not pack the right amount of food for their travels.  There were no fast foods or chain restaurants to count on. This crow had not thought about considerations for food.  What was important to them was Jesus Christ, and Him alone.  They wanted to remain with Jesus.  Oh that we would be so single-minded.  But, when we are challenged to follow our Lord even in our hardships, are we able to turn away for fear of hunger or want?

In the midst of their hunger, Christ looked upon that crowd as He looks upon us.  He saw their need that they suffered for His sake, and Jesus was moved to compassion.  His compassion is stronger and better than anyone else's.  Christ had a deep affection, a pity for the people, a tender mercy toward their need.  He acted upon that compassion by giving them food in the wilderness, and by a miracle of multiplying loaves and fishes.

But, were the disciples compassionate?  Well, the text does not make the content of their hearts clear.  They seemed confused, and did not understand how Christ could satisfy the needs of all those people.  But their lack of understanding did not mean that they did not also feel compassion.  Maybe they did.

Whatever pity the disciples felt for the crowds, it could not compare with the pure and perfect love of the Savior.  Without Christ’s love and His power, their compassion, no matter how sincere, would be unable to do anything. Yet Jesus Christ makes the disciples participants in His merciful deed.  He gives them the loaves and the fishes to hand out.  They become the distributors of His miracle.  They become the hands and feet for His compassion.

Surely there was no one among the crowd who refused to eat the bread because they thought that the disciples were not compassionate enough.  And if such people existed, they might even be correct.  The disciples surely did not have as much compassion as they should.  Yet the gift of Christ was real and miraculous nonetheless, and exactly what the crowd needed.  To refuse the gift of Christ because of what they supposed was in the disciples' heart would be the greatest of all foolishness.

No one has enough mercy in their soul, or in their hearts toward another.  At our best moments, we feel for others and their needs, and sympathize with their pain.  But there is always impurity in us.  We are never loving enough.  However glorious our emotions and works of charity may seem to us, they are always spoiled and rotten because of our sinful nature.

May we never go around judging each other's hearts as to how much love is there.  We cannot even see each other's hearts.  Our motives are hidden from one another.  Any attempt to judge another person's emotions is automatically breaking of the Eighth Commandment. Let us focus instead on the heart of Jesus Christ.  His heart is perfect.  His compassion never ends and is never spoiled.  He always sees our needs and supplies exactly what helps us. 

What may still disturb us is that He gives His perfect gifts through other people.  In our Gospel text, He did not pass out the miraculous bread and fish, but assigned the disciples to do it.  In the same way, Christ gives us vocations in which we are to work and serve.  All of our vocations really amount to us carrying the gifts of Christ to others.  We become the hands of His compassion.

And maybe the most obvious vocation may be that of preacher.  In a preacher’s vocation, we are to give you the gifts of Jesus Christ, which are perfect and wonderful.  And we do so by proclaiming His Word.  Christ Himself does not appear before you to speak.  Instead, He uses a man to do it.

So, should you inquire into my heart to see whether I have enough tender mercy?  Save yourself the trouble.  Take my word for it.  I do not have enough.  My love falls short, since my heart is spoiled by sin.  I am a man like any other.  I am a sinner, right down to my heart. But that does not matter in my vocation.  Although I should strive to love, my love is irrelevant to the gifts that you receive.  I am merely the man who carries the gifts to you from someone else. The food comes from Jesus Christ.

The Word I preach is the compassion of Christ.  He is the miraculous Bread of Life that you are fed.  He gives strength to all who are weak and fainthearted upon this wilderness of life.See how great His tender mercy is!  He sees your greatest hunger, which is the hunger for righteousness.  In yourselves, you are empty and need to fill yourselves with holiness.  But who could get enough holiness to satisfy all these people?  You cannot find holiness for yourselves.  You cannot buy it or produce it by your hard work.  You cannot trade anything for it.  So you might have starved, completely empty of righteousness.

Yet Christ has miraculously produced the feast of righteousness that you need.  He has given you His Word that declares you righteous.  This precious Word gives all you need, because the Word gives you Christ Himself.  Jesus completely fills you, because the holiness of Christ overflows with infinite grace. Remember, “My cup runneth over...?”  Of course this bread is something produced by death.  The wheat must be plucked and crushed and ground and baked.  So your Savior was betrayed and scourged and crucified, and finally burned with a baptism of fire upon the Cross.  The wrath of God for sinful man fell upon Christ, until He died in bitter agony.

Because of Jesus suffering and death, He is the perfect Bread of Life for you.  He is the perfect One who gives you life.  Jesus stops the death of sin that would have destroyed you.  You would have been lost in a worse wilderness than any on earth, hotter and more desolate than any desert, the very furnace of hell.  But He Jesus Christ your precious Savior, who suffered that furnace in your place so that you never will endure that suffering.  You are saved.

Yet Christ is more than a Savior who died once for you, and now He is dead and gone.  No, Jesus is the Living Bread.  He is risen from the dead, and can never die again.  So you also, who eat the Living Bread by faith, are also immortal.  You are alive forever with Jesus Christ.  Although your body may sleep in the ground for a time, it will also rise, never to die again.  This is compassion, for you by Jesus Christ. This is the Word and promise of Christ the Lord for you.  Let no one doubt it, for it is binding to all eternity. “Ad they all ate and were satisfied” forever and ever.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
+SDG+

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity - July 31, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Sixth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 31, 2011)

Readings:   
        Psalm 19
        Exodus 20:1-7
        Romans 6:1-11
        Matthew 5:17-26

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 5th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verse:

Matthew 5:17-26 (NIV)

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

To understand this passage, you must know what was wrong with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  What is righteousness?  It is being free from guilt, and sin, it is not something you earn, but are given by the work of Jesus Christ.  So the problem here was not that the Pharisees were obviously evil.  If you saw their behavior, you would think that they were good men.  These were the respected people, the ones looked up to as prominent members of the community, known as moral examples.  They were very careful and zealous to follow painstaking rules of behavior.

But those rules were a part of the problem.  The scribes and Pharisees had a multitude of extra commandments to help them obey the commandments of God.  They thought that they were being extra-righteous by following extra commandments.

But the extra commandments were actually lowering the bar on their obedience.  That is, their rules of behavior made the commandments easier to obey.  Not that the commandments themselves were really easier to obey; it was only that the scribes and pharisees convinced themselves that, by obeying their rules, they were obeying the commandments.  But their rules actually softened the commandments of God.

However, God does not want His commandments easier or softer.  His commandments are perfect the way they are.  They are hard and difficult for a reason, namely, to show you how much you need Christ and His Cross.

In today's Gospel lesson, Christ gives the example of the Fifth Commandment.  The Lord said, "Thou shalt not murder."  The Pharisees and scribes thought that, as long as they did not actually murder, they had kept the Commandment perfectly.  But Christ showed that murder does not only take place in an outward action of bloodshed.  Murder happens in the heart when you are angry without just cause.  Murder happens in your mouth when you call someone an idiot or a fool.  Most sinners have used far harsher words and names than "idiot" or "fool".  Christ says that anyone who uses even these relatively mild words or has angry thoughts has broken the Commandment, and is in danger of hellfire.

The scribes and Pharisees did not understand this.  Likewise, few people today understand it.  The spirit of the scribes and Pharisees pretty much rules our land. According to Jesus Christ, to be worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven you must have a righteousness that goes beyond a shallow, superficial obedience to the commandments.  Your righteousness must go all the way to heart and lips, which are the two hardest things to control.  No Pharisee ever had that kind of righteousness.  No man at all had or ever had had that kind of righteousness, save One an that is Jesus Christ.

We too fail to keep this Commandment.  Yet Christ the Lord, the perfect Man who is God, has kept this and every commandment of God, in hand and heart and lips alike. And here is the good news for you: He has given away His righteousness as a gift.  He lets His perfect obedience count as your righteousness.  Therefore, although you deserve judgment and hellfire, instead you receive innocence and life.  For your righteousness does indeed exceed that of the Pharisee and scribes, since your righteousness is the exact holiness of Christ, the Lamb without blemish.  You are as pure and innocent as He is, in God's sight.  You are clothed in His righteousness.

Because you have this superior righteousness from Christ, you are able to risk much and suffer much for your neighbor.  Christ gives one example of this.  He says that if you are offering your gift at the altar and suddenly remember that your brother has something against you, go and first be reconciled with him. Now, if you are at the altar, perhaps receiving Holy Communion, and suddenly got up in the middle of it and left, what would people think?  They would certainly wonder what was wrong.  As people often do, they would surely talk and speculate about your sudden, strange behavior.  So, to follow this kind of directive from Christ, you must be willing to subject yourself to embarrassment and ridicule.

You see, it is not only when you are at the altar.  Christ is saying that, whatever the circumstances, you should try to reconcile with your brother, even if it means risking inconvenience and shame. You can only make such extravagant risks if you are safe in Jesus Christ.  Your reward is in Him, not in what you can gain in this life.  So it is nothing for you if you are rejected by men and treated scornfully, since your sure and certain reward is so great in heaven.  If men deride you in their eyes, what is that to you?  For the eyes of the Father look upon you with approval because of Christ.  Nothing can take that away, not any amount of shame and humiliation you could suffer.

For Christ our Lord did no less.  Because He desired reconciliation with you, He was willing to suffer the ridicule of men.  He accepted the shame of the Cross and the humiliation of being treated as a horrible sinner.  He considered all that as nothing compared to the great glory of winning sinners back.

So He received all the murder of all people.  Not only was He put to death most unjustly, since He never committed any crime.  But He also received upon Himself all the murders of men, from the slaughter of Abel to the abortions of our day.  All the murderous anger of every sinful heart struck Him upon Calvary.  The hateful words said to any person anywhere were heaped upon Him.  Yes, even your hateful feelings and words as well were placed upon your Lord on the Cross.

You have heard it said that “God helps those who help themselves.”  The same person who penned that quip is the same person who wrote this one, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”  Yes, Ben Franklin wrote those words, they are not found or even implied anywhere in the Bible.  Ben Franklin points to those helping themselves to their own right way in this life, to their own righteousness, which is exactly what Jesus Christ s teaching against in this reading fro Holy Scripture.  Jesus knew the scriptures and He knew that they say, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.”Jer. 17:5, and they say, “He who trusts in himself is a fool.”(Prov. 28:26)

Not you, nor I, nor Benjamin Franklin, but only Jesus Christ, has received all the punishment and guilt.  Jesus has paid the debt you owed, to the very last penny.  We can not pay the debt of our own sins, but Jesus was more than willing to do so in your place.

Now there is no judgment to fear.  There is no punishment yet to receive.  The Judge, the Lord God Almighty, has already ruled in your favor.  You are declared innocent now and for all time.  No one can take that judgment away. For you are NOT saved by any penny you earned, your are not saved by helping yourself, you are only saved by the unearned grace of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ came to help those who cannot help themselves.

And that is exactly what righteousness is.  It is being judged innocent and right in the eyes of God.  This has been done for you.  Your Advocate, Christ Jesus your dear Lord, has spoken in your favor, and no one can overthrow the words of this Great King.  He never calls you hateful or mocking words.  In love, He only calls you holy and precious and innocent.  He has spoken it, and His Word endures forever.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
+SDG+

The Fifth Sunday after Trinity - July 24, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Fifth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 24, 2011)

Readings: 
        Psalm 16
        1 Kings 18:11-21
        1 Cor 1:18-25
        Luke 5:1-11

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 5th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 5:1-11 (NIV)

1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2 he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he [Jesus] said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

There are tremendous advantages to living in this time in history.  We enjoy comforts that were unknown to the world, or even unimagined, just a few decades ago.  We do not live in the world our parents grew up in.  We have not experienced the world they knew, and we do not have the tools to live in their world.  So we sometimes struggle to understand the world that is on the horizon before us.  We live in a world of technology and electronics and all sorts of creature comforts.

But just for a moment imagine a world without cell-phones, without computers, without television, without electric, without gas.  I know, I know some of you are saying, "I can do that.  I don't have a computer, and I don't use those modern contraptions all that much anyhow."  Now imagine that your car doesn't work because the computers in it are disabled - and almost everything in a modern car is computer controlled - even the brakes and the transmission.  Imagine life without air conditioning or central heat.  Imagine having no refrigeration at all, and having to go back to ice boxes and to do without quickly perishable foods we are so accustomed to today.  I know some of you lived like that as children, but we are not children any longer, and we have grown accustomed to our luxuries.  Many of our neighbors have never seen a non-technological world, and they would panic, if they were to be confronted with such a life, and it may be coming soon.

The world that lived before those advances is the world in which the Scriptures were written and in which they were read for centuries.  That world would seem totally unnatural to us, and yet it must inform our understanding of what people were saying when they wrote in the past, because they had no way of imagining the world as we live in it today.  Even in that world, the Christian faith was not a natural thing.  In our text, Peter describes how a Christian should live and conduct himself or herself.  He describes a pattern of behavior that is simply not natural for sinful man. 

What Peter describes sounds wonderful, "let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead."  Wouldn't that be nice?  But where have we ever seen this sort of thing? Harmonious?  We get along pretty well, but if the group is much larger than our congregation, divisions and contentions seem to arise quickly, and over the most insignificant things, at times.  We can do sympathetic and brotherly things most of the time, but even at that, when someone pushes us too far or for too long, we become impatient and unsympathetic in a hurry.  Even kindhearted seems do-able, but I know that some people are more kindhearted around me, than they are with some other people.  So, these are qualities we can show now and again, and here and there, but to be consistently and always so is something we have trouble with.

The truth is, these qualities are to be the consistent qualities of the child of God.  And then we would be humble in spirit.  But, humility is just not natural for most of us.  Sin finds its strength in our desire to put ourselves first.  We want to succeed.  We want to be comfortable.  We like to be right.  Then Peter says, "not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead" and now we know that we are in trouble.  It is one thing to be nice to those who are nice to us, but when they get up in our face, we want to shut them down.  We have been taught not to take "stuff" from others.  Getting them back, returning the 'favor', and zinging them in return is more our style.  Do unto others before they do unto you.  But blessing them when they are rude and crude to us?  That is just not natural - nor is it easy to do.  It is not easy to do it once or twice, but to do it consistently?  That's totally unnatural.

We are called by the Word of God to live up to a standard that is beyond us.  It means telling yourself that the proverbs of your youth were wrong.  You do not put number one first.  That is the natural way, the way that appeals to our sinful nature.  But rather we are to put someone else first - pretty much everyone else!  This is a kind of living and set of behaviors that is totally unnatural for us.  It must find its power in Christ, not in you.  It is given to you.  Even then, it requires exercising what God gives you - humility, love, and faith.  That is probably why humility of spirit was named first.

If you had the text right in front of you, you would notice that the next verses are all in capital letters, which means that Peter is quoting or paraphrasing the Old Testament: "LET HIM WHO MEANS TO LOVE LIFE AND SEE GOOD DAYS REFRAIN HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING GUILE.  AND LET HIM TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; LET HIM SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.  FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE UPON THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL."  Peter quotes that because it is in the only Bible he has, and it shows us that these ideas, these rules for living as the children of God, are not new with the New Testament.  It is the way it has always been.  Being the faithful child of God is always counter-intuitive and contrary to our nature and not natural to our responses.  That is because sin is our nature and quite natural to us, even as believers.

And, although it is totally unnatural to us as sinners, this unnatural behavior is natural to our nature in Christ.  It is part of our nature because it is His nature.  He lived for us, and not for Himself.  He died for us, because He did not deserve death by Himself.  He paid the penalty of the wrath of God against us, and rescued and redeemed us from sin and all that we have deserved.  Peter refers to that when he writes, "for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing."  The blessing we inherit is forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation.  He is also indicating that these ways of conducting ourselves are not optional, or just suggestions.  They are the conduct of the Children of God.  They are not laws in the sense that you must do them or you will miss the mark and not get to go to heaven.  They are law - for they tell you what you are to do and how you are to be - but they are descriptive of those who actually are the children of God.  If you blow these off and do your own thing, you simply demonstrate that you are not the child of God, and you are not going to inherit that blessing.

He who means to love life and see good days - the child of God - refrains from speaking evil or guile, which means any sort of dishonesty.  He turns deliberately away from evil and does good and seeks peace.  He does it because he knows that such is the way of beloved of God, and it carries the promise that the Lord is attentive to their prayers, as well.  Those who cannot bring themselves to do these things, or who choose to do evil - in an on-going way - put themselves at odds with God and reject His mercy and His grace.

Peter asks the question, “And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?” Doing good is usually not a problem.  Everybody appreciates being treated well and honestly.  This should make this conduct a no-brainer.  But the truth is that it is so totally unnatural to sinful man that it does draw the ire and hatred of some, simply because they hate what is holy.  There is even a common proverb about that, "No good deed goes unpunished."  It is not Biblical, but it is true enough.  Holiness draws the fire of the servants of the Old Evil Foe.  Peter knows that and God inspires him to write about that truth too.  But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.  Peter quotes the Old Testament again, and he reminds us that it has always been so.  Faithfulness to God is never the majority opinion.  But we, like the people of old, are to trust God and not fear them.  Now hear the words of Jesus Christ, Matthew 10, "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 

That speaks to self-control, self-sacrifice and the love of others.  And of course this sort of self-control and self-possession again is totally unnatural.  But it is not unnatural for our God, for He has given us His Son Jesus Christ, who knew self-sacrifice and who knows love for others because He not only lived it He died for it too.  And this gift of God, is given to you through the Word and Sacrament.  Like every gift from God, He gives it to us to take it out and use it.  It doesn't overwhelm you and force you to behave - at least not usually, but God gives you the power to do so, and teaches you in His Word and guides you by the Spirit.  It is in your hands to do it, as the faithful, chosen, children of God in Christ Jesus.  If you try and fail, we rejoice that we have a Savior!  He forgives you and props you up again and invites you to do it right this next time.  None of us does this perfectly, but we can grow in this difficult thing too by simply practicing being the holy children of God that you have been called and created anew to be in Christ Jesus. And in Christ Jesus you are given the promise of an unnatural life and death, for in this life you die in your baptism so that you may live eternally.  Thanks be to God for that gift of His Son Jesus Christ.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
+SDG+

The Fourth Sunday after Trinity - July 17, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 17, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 138
    Genesis 50:15:21
    Romans 12:14-21
    Luke 6:36-42

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 6th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 6:36-42 (NIV)

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 39 He also told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

And to begin this sermon, on the great reversal of God, in believing that Word of God, you have received every good thing.  You have received all the benefits that Christ won for you on the cross.  You have forgiveness.  You have life.  You have salvation.  The devil is bound can no longer accuse you.  You, like Lazarus, are rich.  You, like Lazarus, will live with your Savior forever.  So far the Word of God. 

So, the beginning is reversed in the end, the blessed sinner is in heaven.  The unrepentant sinner is in Hell.  Christ who is perfect takes your sin and reverses you so that you are given eternal riches. So today the sermon is preached backwards, listen and you will hear what I mean.

But you are not like the rich man, and you are not like the Pharisees.  You have heard Moses and the Prophets, and they are sufficient for you.  You have not seen in person the miraculous signs that  abounded in the first century.  You have not personally seen Jesus cast out demons and raise the dead.  You only know of these things through the Word of God that you have heard and read and believed.  You have Moses, the Prophets, and the Apostles. You have the Living Word of God, for you which is greater than your sins and gives you eternal life.

When Abraham, in heaven, heard the rich man’s first request, the rich man shows a glimmer of compassion.  But even then, it is not compassion for Lazarus, the man he ignored for years.  The rich man had compassion for his family.  Send that beggar Lazarus to warn my brother’s about what is to happen to them.  Not much real compassion there.

We are all in the same situation as the rich man and Lazarus.  We receive every good gift in Christ only listening to the Word of God.  But in addition to this we have the evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead, and that evidence is overwhelming.  But even knowing the at our Lord’s tomb is empty is not enough if we are unwilling to listen to the Word of God.  If we do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, we are like the Pharisees, like the rich man, of whom Jesus was teaching.

The rich man was different.  Though Christ shed His blood for him, the rich man wants nothing to do with that poor itinerant preacher from Galilee.  The rich man is satisfied with what he can get for himself. But actually the rich man has nothing in this life.  Oh he has good clothes and good food, and everything that a man could possibly want, but when he dies he loses all this because he did not have the treasure beyond imagination.  And that treasure is the Good News proclaiming salvation in God’s Word.   So the rich man was really not so rich indeed.

Lazarus had listened to God’s Word.  In that hearing of the Word God the Holy Spirit created faith in his heart which held onto the Old Testament promises.  Because of this Lazarus had the riches of heaven, both in this life and the life to come, Lazarus was rich beyond measure.

True riches both in this life and the next have only one source.  They come from the cross of Christ.  It is there that God suffered for all that we deserve to suffer and has died our death.  It is there on the cross that our sins have been forgiven, death has been destroyed, and the devil has been robbed of his power.

In fact the richest man in the parable is Lazarus.  Lazarus is the second man in the parable, He sits at the doorstep of a man as rich as Bill Gates.  But appearances are deceiving.  The one who is weak is really strong, the one who appears strong, is shown to be weak.  The rich man has many servants who are actually fed better than the beggar.  The rich man has food, lodging, and actually had listened and Moses and the Prophets, but he had not heard what they said, for him.  He remained selfish, stingy, and ungrateful he had it all but he had nothing, he is poor in many ways.  He does not see any reason to be connected to the church, he thinks he has enough success on his own.

Our Gospel lesson this morning presents us with a story that as repeated itself in various ways ever since our Lord first told it.  Not all of the details are always the same, but all the basic elements are usually there in Christ’s teaching.  In this parable, there are two men, one rich in the world, one rich in the gifts of God.  You were born poor just like Lazarus.  In your baptism you were made rich.  Though the trials and travails of this world make you look poor by human standards, you are made infinitely rich by the God-man  Jesus Christ.  It is the great reversal, Christ has taken your sin, and offered His life, His death, and His resurrection, so that you are given the riches of eternal life.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
+SDG+

The Third Sunday after Trinity - July 10, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Third Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 10, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 103 verses 1 - 13
    Micah 7:18-20
    1 Peter 5:6-11
    Luke 15:1-10

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 15th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verses:

Luke 15:1-10 (NIV)

1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

A problem with parables is that our sinful flesh loves to interpret them in a law-oriented way.  Meaning we read a parable and think, "What does this parable tell me I need to do?" So the parables are used to lay guilt trips on those other people who are not doing enough.  All the while, our sinful flesh pats itself on the back for a job well done because we think we have been obedient.

The parable of the lost sheep has been abused to lay guilt trips on people by telling them that they need to go out and find more lost sheep.  And if you are not, then you do not have a heart for the lost. This is not the purpose of either of these two parables, or of the parable of the prodigal son that follows our text.  The real purpose is to show how wrong the Pharisees and Scribes were to grumble and complain that Jesus was receiving sinners and eating with them.  What Jesus said was, there is much rejoicing over every sinner who repents.

He does not say, There is much rejoicing over every believer who goes out and finds lost sheep.  It is not that bringing lost sinners to repentance is a bad thing.  That is simply not the point of the parable.  Christ gives neither instruction nor command to find lost sheep. Nor is Jesus here trying to kindle a fiery desire in people to win lost sinners.  The Pharisees were already very diligent at trying to win over converts.  Jesus described them as traveling land and sea to win just one person.  The problem is, they were not winning their converts to true repentance, but to their own self-righteous religion.

Meanwhile, the tax collectors and sinners were eagerly drawing near Jesus to hear Him.  They were not there to hear Him chat with them.  No, He was doing what He always did: He taught the Word.  The Word, both Law and Gospel, was driving their hearts to repentance.  So these tax collectors and sinners were the lost sheep and lost coin in the parables.  It was them that Jesus was receiving.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, rejected the Word, as they had just rejected the Baptism of John.  Because they thought that they needed no repentance.  They thought they had done no wrong, or had never sinned.  Of course, there is no man, woman, or child who does not need repentance, and the Pharisees should have known that from Scripture.  But they refused to listen to Christ, and they refused to repent.

But in the face of that our Lord graciously taught any Pharisees who would listen, Jesus sowed the Word generously.  He was seeking even the Pharisees and Scribes, because they were lost sheep as well. Who else are lost sheep?  Every one who needs to repent, that is, all who need to be found by the Shepherd.  Everyone needs to repent, even if they already believe.  We must keep repenting our whole life long.  As soon as we decide that we do not need repentance, we become Pharisees who reject the Word. Lost sheep include any people who do not have faith.  This can be someone who once had faith but fell away.  It can be someone who has not yet heard the Gospel.  It can be a little infant at the beginning of life, or an old man at the end of it.

Christ desires that all repent, that is, that they have sorrow for sin as well as faith in Him for salvation.  But no one can repent except by the gift of God.  Lost sheep and coins cannot find themselves, just as dead sinners cannot conjure faith from their will.  It takes the powerful Word of Christ to bring the lost to repentance. So the one who finds the lost is Jesus, every single time.  You may happen to be the one through whom He works this miracle, but Jesus is the one who receives sinners.  You and I do not have that power.  The Word on our lips has the power because it is the Word of Christ who seeks the lost.

Yet we should remember that we are lost sheep.  Our sinful nature is no less lost than it ever was.  Although Christ found you, you are still a wandering sheep.  Although He has cleansed you from every sin, yet your crooked heart still tries to stray.  We must repent.  Once we have begun repenting, we do not cease until there is no sin left to repent of, which can only happen at the Resurrection of all flesh.

So remember this: Christ Jesus seeks the lost.  He receives sinners, which is the same as seeking the lost.  For He has accepted you on the basis of His own righteousness and suffering and death. He went looking for you on a hill full of darkness and bitter death.  He searched through a thorny land, and even allowed thorns to pierce Him.  He climbed down into the dark valley of the shadow of death to carry you out into the light again.  He crushed the head of the awful wolf that was going to devour you.  He lifted you onto His shoulders, and not only you, but also the heavy weight of your sins.  He took the burden of your guilt on the cross and paid for it with His Blood.

Then He swept you clean from all your sins by washing you with water that was holy and pure.  He lit the lamp of His Word to shed His light upon you.  For He also sent His Spirit to give life to your dead soul by His spoken Word.  Jesus found you and has claimed you again as His own. This is Christ, the Great Finder of the Lost, who receives sinners and eats with them.  He is not ashamed to share His fellowship with you.  You are not too sinful for Him, since He has covered your sins with His Blood.  He is with you at every earthly meal, and also desires you to share the heavenly meal at this Altar.  No one deserves this meal.  Yet He offers it to wretched sinners.

He will also share His eternal banquet in the New Heaven and New Earth.  He will meet you there and speak to you face to face, in all His glory.  But there you will no longer be a sinner, since you will be cleansed once and for all by the Spirit of God.  There God the Father will also reveal His face to you.  For it was not only the angels who rejoiced over your repentance, but even the eternal God of the universe overflowed with joy over you, the lost sinner He has found through His Son.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
+SDG+

The Second Sunday after Trinity - July 3, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Second Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 3, 2011)

Readings:  
        Psalm 34 verses 12 - 22
        Proverbs 9:1-10
        1 John 3:13-18
        Luke 14:15-24

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 16th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 14:15-24 (NIV)

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Christ our Lord gives some samples of why people miss the banquet of the Father's grace. One man says, "I cannot come to the banquet.  I just bought some land - now I have to go inspect the land."  What kind of a person would buy some land, sight unseen, without checking it out to make sure he is not purchasing some swampland or a garbage dump?  But the land was not really the reason - this was simply a silly excuse to avoid the king's banquet. Another man says, "I just bought ten oxen.  Now I have to go see them."  Another silly excuse.  Would you buy ten cows before you even know what they look like?  They might be dried-up bags of bones with one hoof in the grave.  You might as well say, "I just bought a car.  Now I have to go test drive it."

We all have silly excuses to avoid church.  "I don't like the pews."  "Someone hurt my feelings."  "You stand up and sit down too much."  "There are sinners and hypocrites here."  "I'm doing fine in my life without it."  "It's the one day I get to sleep in." “It doesn’t make me eel good.”  What do they have to do with receiving the all-gracious Word of the Father?  Christ Himself has offered to serve us the wedding banquet.  Would we rather sleep through it?  Would we rather miss it over some discomfort we feel that has nothing to do with the grace of God?

But that's what our sinful flesh wants to do.  It wants to magnify and inflate some reason until it's the most important thing in the world, when in reality it is only a silly excuse.  There is only one thing that is the most important thing in the world, and it is here in this House.

But the last excuse Jesus tells us of is the most devastating because it is the most reasonable.  A man says, "I am on my honeymoon.  I cannot come to the banquet."  Now, marriage is a great and holy union created by the Almighty God.  Jesus strongly upheld marriage.  It seems that surely a honeymoon is more important than attending a banquet.

Earthly unions of family and friendship are legitimate and real and important.  But the Great Marriage Feast should be more important than everything else.Now, let me be very clear.  I'm not talking about temporary and brief absences from worship.  For example, if a family member is in the hospital and you miss worship to be with them, no one would condemn you.  But when we find ourselves kept from God's banquet over and over, or when family members draw us to another church that does not teach the pure Gospel, then there is a real problem. Jesus said, "He who loves father or mother or son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."  Here is Christ, serving us in this place.  He must never be less important than family or friends.

Yet it is so difficult when family members and friends are drawing us away.  It is so heart-wrenching when feelings of love and loyalty pull us away from the Divine Service.  The reason it is so hard is that our hearts are not set upon the things of God as they should be.  In the end, even family is only an excuse to take us away from Christ and His banquet.

Consider what is here - the banquet of the King of the universe!  The food is eternal life received in Christ.  The drink is forgiveness from all our sins in His Blood.  How silly our excuses are compared to attending the Great Banquet of all banquets!  The bright Light of lights in this place outshines every earthly reason that might draw us away.  For this place is everything.  Here is life.  Apart from the Church of God, there is only death.

Yet so many use silly excuses to stay away.  Why?  Why stay away from the greatest treasure in heaven and earth over silly excuses? But that is the whole point of Jesus in the parable.  The excuses are silly because they are not the real reason.  There is only one real reason found among us, deep in our heart of hearts: We are self-righteous Pharisees.  We don’t feel that we need this place and this Word.  We feel like we are okay by ourselves.  So we can take the Lord’s Supper or leave it.  We do not want to be bothered with the banquet because we might have to admit that we actually need something.  We think that we are just fine.

But, in the parable, the King is enraged by mankind's self-righteous rejection of His Banquet.  After all, He has given His only-begotten Son into death for us!  Why would we treat Him as less important than our silly, petty excuses?

So the King sends out His messengers to the poor, the maimed, the sick, and the blind.  He invites the homeless people who sleep in the hedges and the ditches beside the road.  These are the people who will enter His Banquet of eternal life.  They are not strong.  Instead, they are broken down and despairing.  They know that they are not righteous.  They know that they are horrible sinners. If you want to be the strong people who stand on their own two feet and need nothing, then you will be the Pharisees who reject the Banquet.  But the lowly and the weak and the sick who cannot come to Christ by their own power are the ones who enter into eternal glory.

We are the spiritually crippled, yet you are the ones who come to the Marriage Feast.  You are homeless and outcast.  Yet God has called you to be His honored guests.  Those who think themselves strong (but really are weak) - will never taste His Supper.  Those who find excuses to reject Christ will not enter His presence.

But you will, because you are the chosen of God, the lowly who are lifted up into the highest place of all. So God is the Host who acts like a crazy man by inviting the homeless and the cripples to His marriage!  Who would do that?  What kind of lunatic would actually invite strangers who live in the streets, and cripples out of the hospital wards, who have to be carried on stretchers or led by the hand because they are blind?  We do not invite such people to our weddings.

But thanks be to God that He does not act as we do.  Instead, you who are sick, who were strangers to Christ because of your sins, have become the honored guests who sit at the right hand of the King in His glory. He has accomplished all this upon the Cross.  He has made all men equal to Himself by dying on Calvary.  He has absorbed all the spiritual sickness of man.  Then He poured out to you His glory and holiness and divine life and health.  He has made you one with Him, the Son of God, to enjoy His Great Feast without end.

The Feast was completed upon Calvary with His last breath.  He said, "It is finished!" The Wedding Banquet of the Lamb has been finished and completed.  Indeed, it has already begun in every house of God where the Gospel is preached purely and the sacraments administered rightly.  The Royal Banquet is already here.

And although it was our stupid, silly excuses that put Christ upon the Cross, yet it was also the Cross that erased your excuses.  In His Word, He has given you His invitation to the Royal Banquet.  More than that, He actually carried you into the Banqueting Hall since you were too crippled by sin to accept the invitation or come to Him.  Yet He lifted you up with His Spirit and brought you in, because He desired that you, His beloved, should share all good things that He has won for you.  He has given you who were spiritually homeless an eternal home that no one can take away.

Today we eat and drink the foretaste of the Eternal Wedding Banquet.  The Body and Blood of Christ is spiritual food that belongs to the New Age to come.  We sip at sinless glory in this cup that holds His Blood.  We taste unending life and health in these wafers which are His Body.  These are the immortal food placed upon our mortal lips. The Banquet is ready.  Blessed are those who are called to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
+SDG+

The First Sunday after Trinity - June 26, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity

The First Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (June 26, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 33:12-33
    Genesis 15:1-6
    1 John 4:16-21
    Luke 16:19-31

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 1st John the 4th chapter.

1 John 4:19-21

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 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[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Jesus said, "Whoever loves God must also love his brother."  And by the word "brother," John does not only mean our literal brothers.  Our brother is anyone to whom we can show love through our vocations, especially those brethren in the faith. Towards these people, we Christians should excel at love.  We are not to be absorbed by ourselves and our own desires, but rather concerned for the well-being and needs of those around us.  We are to love selflessly and willingly.

So how are we doing?  Have we been loving?  Perhaps our first response is, "Yes, we are doing pretty good.  Maybe not perfect, but not bad." A poor response says, "I love a lot!  Look how loving I am!" Such pride does not sit well with love.  Instead, love enjoys praising the qualities of others, while covering itself up. Yet there is an impulse inside us to think of ourselves as very loving.  We elevate our love in our own eyes.  But that is to love ourselves, not our brother.

We are also tempted to think that love is merely an emotion in the heart.  When people examine themselves to see if they love, they are feeling for a feeling, to see if they get a warm emotion when they think about warm emotions. We Christians should not be satisfied with such a shallow kind of love.  We should not only try to cultivate a loving feeling towards others.  Much more than that, we should strive to be loving in thought, word, and deed. Far from being only a matter of subjective emotions, love is measurable and objective.  God gave us a guide to test our love, called the Commandments.

Some people think that the Ten Commandments are not much of a standard, and they want some bigger and better way to show love.  But the Commandments are more than enough.  If anyone masters them, then they are already in Paradise with the Lord. The summary of the Commandments is love.  Love God, and love your neighbor.  If you kept all the Commandments, then you would have perfect love, if that were possible.

So here are the things we ought to do, and those we should not be doing. We should not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them. Have we obeyed our parents, even when they are not looking, and even when we think they are wrong?  Do we gladly obey the laws of the land? We also should not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need. Do we harbor anger in our hearts against people, or use hateful words toward them?  Do we support abortion, in either direct or indirect ways? We also should lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other. Are we pure in our thoughts and desires?  Do we treat attractive people as if they were objects?  Do we view marriage as a gift of God, and treat our spouse honorably?

We also should not take our neighbor's money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income. When a financial transaction nets us more than we should receive, we pocket the extra and think we have it coming to us, even though we are upset if we are shortchanged. We also should not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

We all know that gossips are destructive.  But when we do it, we think that we are only passing on information. I could go on and on.  Let this suffice for now.  If anyone thinks they have mastered even these parts, then they are simply not paying attention.We want to say, "Sure, I sin now and then, but at least my heart is in the right place!" Brothers and sisters, to sin means to not have your heart in the right place.  Every sin is a failure to love.  Our hearts, far from being places of beauty and light and warmth as we imagine, are instead full of darkness and sin.

If we try to stand before God on the basis of our love as so many people try to do, then we will fail.  We could never do enough to satisfy the demands of love.  There is always more to do.  We can never love enough, no matter how hard we try. Yet we Christians stand before God as we will stand on the Day of Judgment, with confidence and certainty, because we do not stand upon our love, but upon the love of God.

The only absolutely pure love in the universe is God's love, for He is love.  You can rely on that love.  Trust in it, believe upon it, bet your eternal soul upon the love of God.  That love will never fail you. We can know this for certain because we see that love on the Cross.  We do not have to imagine or speculate on what God's secret attitude in His heart is towards us.  No, this is the love of God, that Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world, gave Himself into suffering and death for you.  This He did, not when you were loving and good, but when you were a loveless sinner.

That [point to Cross] is love.  Love is the Son of God bleeding His precious life-blood for sinners who did not deserve Him.  Love is Christ rejected by the Father.  Love is all that Christ did, even though no one will ever be able to pay Him back even a thousandth of what He has freely given. Love is the wounds of Christ.  Love is His crown of thorns.  Love is the nails hammered into innocent flesh.  Love is made complete in the cry of Jesus, "It is finished!" At that moment, His love for mankind was perfect and complete.  That is the love He shed upon you, to buy you back with His Blood.

Now we stand ready for the Judgment.  Indeed, we are already judged and found innocent, because we are declared innocent by the Great Judge.  All our lives are seen by God as one continuous action of love, because our lives are seen through the Cross, and through the love of Christ. Therefore, having been loved this much, shall we not be stirred in our hearts to live loving lives?  Since Christ worked mightily with His every breath to love us, shall we not strive to love Him and our neighbor?  There is no fear in our love, because we are already saved by the love of God.  We are free to love generously and recklessly.

So the Lord creates love in us.  He makes us love one another.  He guides us to make no mention of how worthy someone is of our love, since God loved us when we were His enemies.  He leads us to count no cost in our love, for we could never suffer a loss even a millionth of what Christ suffered on our behalf.  So He labors unceasingly to cleanse our love from the impurity of our sins by putting to death the old Adam in us, until that great Day when the Holy Spirit shall complete our purification by raising us in sinless bodies, and we shall love with a true and flawless heart. Amen.

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

AMEN
+SDG+