Invocavit Sunday, The First
Sunday in Lent, 2013
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10
AM Central Time
The Hymn #148 Lord Jesus Christ 3:61
The Confession
of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 146 Lamb of God 3:62
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 146 Lamb of God 3:62
The Human Nature of Christ
The Hymn # 153 Stricken Smitten 3:63
The Hymn # 153 Stricken Smitten 3:63
The Preface p.
24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 154 Alas and Did My Savior 3:14
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 154 Alas and Did My Savior 3:14
KJV 2 Corinthians 6:1 We
then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that
ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in
a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now
is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 3
Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things
approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in
afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6 By pureness, by knowledge, by
longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word
of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand
and on the left, 8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as
deceivers, and yet true; 9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying,
and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet alway
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing
all things.
KJV Matthew 4:1 Then was
Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an
hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and
setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the
Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels
charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest
at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is
written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh
him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the
world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I
give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him,
Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold,
angels came and ministered unto him.
First Sunday In Lent
Lord God, heavenly Father,
inasmuch as the adversary doth continually afflict us, and as a roaring lion
doth walk about, seeking to devour us: We beseech Thee for the sake of the
suffering and death of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, to help us by the grace of the
Holy Spirit, and to strengthen our hearts by Thy word, that our enemy may not
prevail over us, but that we may evermore abide in Thy grace, and be preserved
unto everlasting life; through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our
Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world
without end. Amen.
The Human Nature of Christ
KJV Matthew 4:1 Then was
Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Luther’s initial point about
this sermon is the corruption of practice in the church at his time. People
were putting on a show about their fasting, and treating it as a good work to
earn God’s favor. Thus they were rejecting the atonement of Christ and
substitution their own parade of virtue, putting on a sad face, and impressing
others. This lack of faith was more shameful than gluttony, and it is still
reflected in the secular pietism of today. People brag they will not eat meat,
but wear leather products from the same source, because “I just cannot give up
my shoes and leather accessories.”
The Spirit led Jesus into
the desert, called a “dry place” in the original text, but also properly called
a wilderness, because the desert was and remains a wild place, with many dangers from plants and
animals alike.
Christ in Matthew 9:15: “When the bridegroom shall
be taken away from them, then will they fast.” This kind of fasting Christ
teaches us here while in the wilderness alone without anything to eat, and
while he suffers his penury without murmuring. The first kind of fasting, one
can end whenever he wills, and can satisfy it by food; but the other kind we
must observe and bear until God himself changes it and satisfies us. Hence it
is much more precious than the first, because it moves in greater faith.
As many people have
observed, when all goes well, we take it for granted and expect things always
to be the same. We are less productive. In sales we used to laugh at ourselves,
going slack after a couple of good weeks, then working overtime to catch up.
The postwar Baby Boom made every mainline denomination feel successful, building new Sunday School
space and larger worship areas. Fifty years later, they began to close down
those larger areas to help pay the utilities.
The members who attend the
most have experienced the drought of traditional Christian worship. They know
what they have missed and do not take it for granted. Ministers who have missed
the thrill of the bureaucracy get the chance to study the Word and the
Confessions in a concentrated way, without worrying about which faction they
will offend if they say this or that. That does not make life easier but more
fruitful.
Once, when it rained every
day for a long time in Columbus, I cut the rose blooms off the bushes, about
one dozen a day. No matter how many I cut, I always had more the next day –
because of the rain and the pruning. They went to neighborhood homes and the
workplace, and produced an effect there, too. One woman got so many roses that
her husband finally sent her roses at work, because he learned how much she
enjoyed the free ones brought each day. That thrilled her, because her husband
learned how to be more thoughtful from a positive experience.
Privation forced upon us,
accepted in faith, make us more fruitful because we look for ways to turn bad
experiences into something worthwhile. “What men meant for evil, God meant for
good.”
KJV Genesis 50:19 And Joseph
said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for
you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
This is a constant theme in
the New Testament, with the Human Nature of Christ subjected to the
difficulties and trials of accepting His divine mission. This is especially
emphasized in John’s Gospel, where we find the dual message of Jesus speaking
and doing what God the Father commanded, but doing so willingly. Because of His
Human Nature, He is the ultimate example for us, since everything He did led to
the cross, but the cross redeemed mankind, bringing the blessings of the Gospel
to millions upon millions.
God, who was able to nourish Christ forty days without any
food, can nourish also his Christians.
6. Secondly, this is written for our admonition, that we may in the light of this example also cheerfully suffer want and temptation for the service of God and the good of our neighbor, like Christ did for us, as often as necessity requires it; which is surely accomplished if we learn and confess God’s Word. Therefore this Gospel is sweet consolation and power against the unbelief and infamy of the stomach, to awaken and strengthen the conscience, that we may not be anxious about the nourishment of our bodies, but be assured that he can and will give us our daily bread.
6. Secondly, this is written for our admonition, that we may in the light of this example also cheerfully suffer want and temptation for the service of God and the good of our neighbor, like Christ did for us, as often as necessity requires it; which is surely accomplished if we learn and confess God’s Word. Therefore this Gospel is sweet consolation and power against the unbelief and infamy of the stomach, to awaken and strengthen the conscience, that we may not be anxious about the nourishment of our bodies, but be assured that he can and will give us our daily bread.
2 And when he had fasted
forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
People do not accept hunger
very well. On the cruise ship Victorious, people were given plenty of food, but
under difficult circumstances. Ships came up and sent it to the waiting
thousands. Lines were long and wait-times could be three hours. The result was
food hoarding (as if they might starve?) and some fighting as well.
It was pointed out often
that soldiers give up far more comforts than these vacationing tourists, but
that is Luther’s point. When we volunteer to fast, it is less difficult than
having it forced upon us. The sudden loss of comfort and security tempts our
faith in God.
That should not lessen our
admiration for soldiers who volunteer for duty and know they will face all
these dangers. Even the superstar SEALs are mortal, feel the cold, the wounds,
and the privation. A remarkable example of that is found in Lone
Survivor, by Luttrell.
This verse shows us that
Jesus fasted for 40 days and was famished, but there was no food to be found.
3 And when the tempter
came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be
made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
7. But as to how temptation takes place and how it
is overcome, is all very beautifully pictured to us here in Christ. First, that
he is led up into the wilderness, that is, he is left solitary and alone by
God, angels and men, by all creatures. What kind of a temptation would it be,
if we were not forsaken and stood not alone? It is, however, painful when we do
not feel anything that presents its back to us; as for example, that I should
support myself and have not a nickel, not a thread, not a twig, and I
experience no help from others, and no advice is offered. That means to be led
into the desert and to be left alone. There I am in the true school, and I
learn what I am, how weak my faith is, how great and rare true faith is, and
how deeply unbelief is entrenched in the hearts of all men. But whoever has his
purse, cellar and fields full, is not yet led into the desert, neither is he
left alone; therefore he is not conscious of temptation.
Luther did not find works contributing to
salvation, and published against the entire, unified tradition of the Medieval
Church. There was no alternative, except for such exceptions as Huss – burned
at the stake for being a false teacher.
So he too was in the wilderness, alone, with a
few voices saying to him, “Are you the only one right? And you, a young monk,
dare to say that Holy Mother Church is wrong? The Holy Spirit chosen pope is
wrong? The theologians are wrong? Your monastic superiors are wrong? We have
worshiped falsehood for century upon century? Who are you to question Aquinas
and Jerome, Ambrose and Jerome, the visions and teachings of our sainted
leaders?”
Anyone who recognizes false teaching is led by
the Spirit into the same desert, to remain year after year, decade after
decade. For those who are new at this, it is the shock of hearing family and
friends, classmates and fellow workers say, “You are wrong.” Or they slip
silently away. Or they smirk as they repeat their falsehood in public, as if to
say, “I am distancing myself from x.”
This forces us into more and more study, which
is quite fruitful, just as Bunyan’s life in prison produced so many
best-selling Christian classics, the most famous being Pilgrim’s Progress.
10. Thirdly, behold how Christ resists this
temptation of bread, and overcomes; he sees nothing but stones and what is
uneatable, then he approaches and clings to the Word of God, strengthens
himself by it and strikes the devil to the ground with it. This saying all
Christians should lay hold of when they see that there is lack and want and
everything has become stones, so that courage trembles, and they should say:
What were it if the whole world were full of bread, still man does not live by
bread alone, but more belongs to life, namely, the Word of God. The words,
however, are so beautiful and powerful that we must not pass over them lightly,
but carefully explain them.
11. These words Christ quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses says: “Thy God humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.”
That is as much as to say: Since God permits you to hunger and you still continue to live, you ought indeed to grasp the thought that God nourishes you without bread through his Word; for if you should live and sustain yourself by bread alone then you must continually be full of bread. But the Word, that nourishes us is, that he promises us and causes it to be published that he is our God and desires to be our God.
12. Thus now the meaning of Moses and of Christ is: Whoever has here God’s Word and believes, has both blessings; the first, where he is in want and has nothing, but must suffer hunger, that Word will sustain him, so that he will not die of hunger nor perish, just as well as if he had abundance to eat; for the Word he has in his heart nourishes and sustains him without eating and drinking. But has he little to eat, then a bite or slice of bread will feed and nourish him like a kingly meal; for not only bread but the Word of God also nourishes the body naturally, as it creates and upholds all things, Hebrews 1:3. The other blessing he will also enjoy, namely, that finally bread will surely be at hand, come whence it will, and should it rain from heaven like manna where none grows and none can grow. In these two thoughts every person can freely trust, namely, that he must in time of hunger receive bread or something to eat, or if not, then his hunger must become so moderate and bearable that it will nourish him even as well as bread does.
11. These words Christ quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses says: “Thy God humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.”
That is as much as to say: Since God permits you to hunger and you still continue to live, you ought indeed to grasp the thought that God nourishes you without bread through his Word; for if you should live and sustain yourself by bread alone then you must continually be full of bread. But the Word, that nourishes us is, that he promises us and causes it to be published that he is our God and desires to be our God.
12. Thus now the meaning of Moses and of Christ is: Whoever has here God’s Word and believes, has both blessings; the first, where he is in want and has nothing, but must suffer hunger, that Word will sustain him, so that he will not die of hunger nor perish, just as well as if he had abundance to eat; for the Word he has in his heart nourishes and sustains him without eating and drinking. But has he little to eat, then a bite or slice of bread will feed and nourish him like a kingly meal; for not only bread but the Word of God also nourishes the body naturally, as it creates and upholds all things, Hebrews 1:3. The other blessing he will also enjoy, namely, that finally bread will surely be at hand, come whence it will, and should it rain from heaven like manna where none grows and none can grow. In these two thoughts every person can freely trust, namely, that he must in time of hunger receive bread or something to eat, or if not, then his hunger must become so moderate and bearable that it will nourish him even as well as bread does.
So many have said to me, “I need the bread more than the
Word.” They do not choose those words, but make excuses for abandoning a clear
confession of the truth, as if God is weak and the synod is strong. And yet we
are all weak in this regard. As Luther said, it shows us how weak our faith is.
While Jesus never doubted, we do. And those who fall away always have the
chance to return to the Word of God.
However, making up reasons against the Word is that very
process of blinding and hardening that the Scriptures warn us against in so
many ways. Those are the same verses people would rather skip over – to see and
not see, to hear and not hear, lest they understand and be saved.
5 Then the devil taketh him
up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith
unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He
shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God.
This temptation is a great
one, as if to say to God, “I will believe in You and in Your gracious will, if
You do things my way. Since God says in Isaiah 55, “My ways are not your
ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts,” this is a constant problem.
18. And this very appropriately follows the first
temptation. For where the devil feels a heart trusts God in times of want and
need, he soon ceases his temptation of bread and avarice and thinks: Wait, wilt
thou be very spiritual and believing, I will assist you: He approaches and
attacks on the other side, that we might believe where God has not commanded us
to believe, nor wills that we should believe. For example, if God gave you
bread in your homes, as he does yearly everywhere in the world, and you would
not use it, but instead you would cause need and want yourselves, and say: Why,
we are to believe God; I will not eat the bread, but will patiently wait until
God sends me manna from heaven. See, that would be tempting God; for that is
not believing where all is at hand that we need and should have. How can one
believe that he will receive what he already has?
Luther also points out that this temptation is
behind people taking unnecessary risks, as if God will protect them. There is a
name for this, when people see so many surviving from risky behavior and do the
same. I told a cab driver the same thing, “All the survivors think they can
drive and talk on a phone. You don’t hear from the rest. Pull over or stop talking,
now.”
8 Again, the devil taketh
him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the
world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I
give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him,
Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve.
24. For whom the devil cannot overcome with
poverty, want, need and misery, he attacks with riches, favor, honor, pleasure,
power and the like, and contends on both sides against us; yea, “he walketh
about,” says St.
Peter in 1 Peter 5:8, so that if he cannot overthrow us either with suffering or love, that is, with the first temptation on the left or the third on the right, he retires to a higher and different method and attacks us with error, blindness and a false understanding of the Scripture. If he wins there, we fare ill on all sides and in all things; and whether one suffers poverty or has abundance, whether he fights or surrenders, all is lost. For when one is in error, neither patience in misfortune nor firmness in prosperity helps him; seeing that in both heretics are often powerful and the devil deliberately acts as if he were overcome in the first and last temptations, although he is not, if he has only won in the middle or second temptation. For he lets his own children suffer much and be patient, even at times to spurn the world; but never with a true and honest heart.
Peter in 1 Peter 5:8, so that if he cannot overthrow us either with suffering or love, that is, with the first temptation on the left or the third on the right, he retires to a higher and different method and attacks us with error, blindness and a false understanding of the Scripture. If he wins there, we fare ill on all sides and in all things; and whether one suffers poverty or has abundance, whether he fights or surrenders, all is lost. For when one is in error, neither patience in misfortune nor firmness in prosperity helps him; seeing that in both heretics are often powerful and the devil deliberately acts as if he were overcome in the first and last temptations, although he is not, if he has only won in the middle or second temptation. For he lets his own children suffer much and be patient, even at times to spurn the world; but never with a true and honest heart.
We see this constantly today, as the heretics
brag about their riches as they boast about their false teaching. They have
something new and different, each one says, and they alone have discovered this
truth.
The latest, which is not new at all, is
Emergent Church – trying hard to blend with current culture. So what do they
say to be so appealing? They talk about themselves a lot, which is quite
entertaining for the sheep. They deny the basic articles of the faith, ignore sin,
and use “love” and “grace” in the wrong way. The worst heretics like to talk
about God’s grace, including it in their title (Time of Grace, Grace Place, GracePoint)
or the cross (CrossWalk, CrossRoads, CrossWays) while denying the Biblical
message, It seems to work for a time, so they glory in it, fulfilling Satan’s
temptation.
If there are officials in a supervisory
capacity, they go along with it, because of the money and their own lack of
faith.
11 Then the devil leaveth
him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
We should not overlook this
verse. God’s angels took care of Jesus when no food was to be found. This is
our example. Jesus indeed could have created what He needed, as Satan encouraged
Him to do. But here He is an example of God providing, as God provides for us. Angels
in human form and unseen angels provide for us and protect us.
27. At last angels approached and served him. This
must have taken place in a literal sense, that they appeared in a bodily form
and gave him to eat and drink, and just as at a table, they ministered to all
his wants. For the service is offered outwardly to his body, just like, no
doubt, the devil, his tempter, also appeared in a bodily form, perhaps like an
angel. For, seeing that he places him on the pinnacle of the temple and shows
him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment, he must have been a higher being
than a man, since he represents himself as a higher being, in that he offers
him all the kingdoms of the world and permits himself to be worshiped. But he
surely did not bear the form of the devil, for he desires to be beautiful when
he lies and deceives, as St. Paul says of him in 2 Corinthians 11:14: “For even
Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.”
28. This however is written for our comfort, that we may know that many angels minister also to us, where one devil attacks us; if we fight with a knightly spirit and firmly stand, God will not let us suffer want, the angels of heaven would sooner appear and be our bakers, waiters and cooks and minister to all our wants. This is not written for Christ’s sake for he does not need it. Did the angels serve him, then they may also serve us.
28. This however is written for our comfort, that we may know that many angels minister also to us, where one devil attacks us; if we fight with a knightly spirit and firmly stand, God will not let us suffer want, the angels of heaven would sooner appear and be our bakers, waiters and cooks and minister to all our wants. This is not written for Christ’s sake for he does not need it. Did the angels serve him, then they may also serve us.
INVOCABIT
Temptation
"He shows, moreover, that it is customary in Scripture to
call temptation and tribulation in this life a fire. As the furnace tests the
vessels of the potter, so also tribulation tests unjust people."
Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent,
trans., Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1986, III, p. 254.
1 Corinthians 3:15.
Sins Against the Third
Commandment
"The sins which militate against the Third Commandment are
the profanation of the Sabbath through neglect and contempt of the ministry,
through Judaic and superstitious observance of the Sabbath, or through a
shifting of the ministry into the kingdom of this world. The faithfulness of
those who teach is the virtue by which the ministers of the Church, aware of
their modest skill in Christian doctrine, carefully and zealousy discharge and
steadfastly protect all the duties of the faithful dispenser of the mysteries
of God in teaching, debating, comforting and setting their hearers an example
of true devotion and of all the virtues. The other extreme are faithlessness,
heedless teaching or negligence in office, or deserting the ministry because of
excessive anxiety or concern over one's own weakness."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the Christian Faith, (1568), trans., Richard Dinda,
Decatur: Repristination Press, 1994. p.
71f.
"Those, however, who set the time, place and measure, tempt
God, and believe not that they are heard or that they have obtained what they
asked; therefore, they also receive nothing."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 172.
"So it is with all Christian; where faith is not continually
kept in motion and exercised, it weakens and decreases, so that it must indeed
vanish; and yet we do not see nor feel this weakness ourselves, except in times
of need and temptation, when unbelief rages too strongly; and yet for that very
reason faith must have temptations in which it may battle and grow."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 254.
"That temptation occurs before God's Word is heard; this
after we hear the Word, namely thus: when we know that God has promised help in
the time of any trouble, but are not content with it, go forward and will not
abide His promise, but prescribe time, place, and manner for His help; and then
if He does not come as we expect and desire, faith vanishes."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, I, p. 366.
Faith Is Trust
"He who holds fast to the Word alone, trusts and abides in
it, does not doubt that what the Word says will come to pass; he who does not
dictate aim or time or means and ways, but resigns all freely to God's will and
pleasure as to when, how, where, and by whom He will fulfill His Word; he, I
say, has a true living faith which does not nor cannot tempt God."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, I, p. 367.
Nature of Faith
"The second characteristic of faith is that it does not
desire to know, nor first to be assured whether it is worthy of grace and will
be heard, like the doubters, who grasp after God and tempt Him. Just as a blind
man runs against a wall, so they also plunge against God, and would first
gladly feel and be assured that he can not escape out of their hands."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 66.
Power of Faith
"Behold, so powerful is faith, to obtain all it wants of God,
that God considers it done before the asking. Of this Isaiah says, 65:24: 'And
it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are
yet speaking, I will hear.' Not as though faith or we were worthy of it, but in
order that he might show His unspeakable goodness and willing grace, thereby to
stir us to believe in Him, and comfortingly look to Him for every good thing,
with joyful and unwavering consciences, which do not stumble after Him nor
tempt Him."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed.,
John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 69.
[ye shall be
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy] "This is spoken to
all Christians, for every Christian must have temptations, trails, anxieties,
adversities, sorrows, come what may. Therefore He mentions here no sorrow nor
trial, He simply says they shall weep, lament, and be sorrowful, for the
Christian has many persecutions. Some are suffering loss of goods; others there
are whose character is suffering ignominy and scorn; some are drowned, others
are burned; some are beheaded; one perishes in this manner, and another in
that; it is therefore the lot of the Christian constantly to suffer misfor-
tune, persecution, trials and adversity. This is the rod or fox tail with which
they are punished. They dare not look for anything better as long as they are
here. This is the court color by which the Christian is recognized,and if
anyone wants to be a Christian, he dare not be ashamed of his court color or
livery."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 79.
Temptation Tests People
"When the Gospel begins to assert its influence, everybody
wants to become a Christian. All seems well, and everybody is pleased. But when
a wind or rainstorm of temptation comes on, people fall away in droves. Then
sectaries arrive, as worms and bugs, gnawing and polluting the fruits of the
Gospel, and so much false doctrine arises that few stay with the Gospel."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 37. John
4:46-54.
