The Fourteenth Sunday after
Trinity, 2013
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10
AM Central Time
The Hymn # 292 Lord Jesus Christ 1:2
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
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon
Hymn # 192 Awake My Heart 1:22
Descriptions of Faith
The Communion
Hymn # 480 Lord of the Worlds 1:62
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 # 511 Jesus Shall Reign 1:80
KJV Galatians 5:16 This I
say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now
the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I
have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts.
KJV Luke 17:11 And it came
to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria
and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men
that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices,
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he
said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that,
as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was
healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his
face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus
answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father, who by Thy blessed word and Thy
holy baptism hast mercifully cleansed all who believe from the fearful leprosy
of sin, and daily dost grant us Thy gracious help in all our need: We beseech
Thee so to enlighten our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may never forget
these Thy blessings, but ever live in Thy fear, and, trusting fully in Thy
grace, with thankful hearts continually praise and glorify Thee; through Thy
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy
Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Descriptions of Faith
KJV Luke 17:11 And it came to pass, as he
went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12
And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were
lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and
said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
5. In the first place it is a characteristic of faith to
presume to trust God’s grace, and it forms a bright vision and refuge in God,
doubting nothing it thinks God will have regard for his faith, and not forsake
it. For where there is no such vision and confidence, there is no true faith,
and there is also no true prayer nor any seeking after God. But where it exists
it makes man bold and anxious freely to bring his troubles unto God, and
earnestly to pray for help.
This is a miraculous healing
where we learn so much about faith and also about thankfulness. Ten lepers
heard about the miraculous power of Christ. This report or sermon or confession of faith by others
moved them to ask Jesus for healing.
KJV Romans 10:16 But they
have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? [the sermon that was heard) 17 So then faith cometh
by hearing [the sermon], and hearing [the sermon] by the Word of God.
In this passage from the
Means of Grace chapter in Romans, Paul described the three-fold impact of the
Gospel Report. One word is used in a three-fold way, very concisely showing the
relationship between the revealed Word of God, the sermon based on the Word of
God, and faith created by the Word of God. It is not simply the act of hearing,
but hearing the powerful Gospel Word, such as the Healing of the Ten Lepers.
This healing presumes the
lepers heard the report and were so filled with trust in Jesus that they faced
the mockery and rejection of the crowd to beg him for healing. Nothing is quite
so bad as a disfiguring disorder. For some reason we really have trouble
looking past the unusual face or skin or features of someone.
Besides this, the lepers
were unclean and therefore unwelcome among their own family friends, not to
mention strangers.
The lepers bodies are weak,
so their voices are small and difficult to hear. So they put together all their
weak voices and begged Jesus in faith, as a group.
But true faith does not doubt the good and gracious will of
God.
Wherefore its prayer is strong and firm like faith itself. St. Luke does not
relate three things of them in vain; first, that they went to meet him; second,
they stood; third, they lifted up their voices. By these three things their
strong faith is commended and presented to us as an example.
We have laughed over the long-time friends we have met at the
oddest times. Chris expects to, so she is on the lookout. She was sure she saw
someone on I-80 and so we persisted until the professor stopped the car along
the interstate, we greeted each other, and got together at the next rest stop.
We saw the same couple at the Mayo Clinic, purely by accident.
We were a bit miffed that we were forced into a new place in
downtown Chicago, on a trip. We parked and walked on the sidewalk, only to have
Chris say she saw another long-time friend ahead. There was no way to tell in a
polite way, so I shouted, “Lenny!” and the Lenny we sought turned around.
The funniest was when I explained carefully that appearing at
a seminary in downtown Chicago, without plans, could hardly get us to see
another long-lost friend, who had no regular business at that location. Just as
I was done with an excellent, reasoned explanation, that same person came
walking down the hall toward us.
The best was similar, where Chris wanted to see the doctor
who delivered our son. She was the daughter of our friends’ friend in
Davenport. Her father was a famous conductor in Chicago. We were at the Kline
Biology Tower, a large Yale building for many science doctorates. How could we
even look for Hester? or remember what she looked like? And there she was –
name tag and all. Chris explained her excitement and Hester hoisted our toddler
up in the air. “We didn’t do so badly with this one,” she said.
In each case, not having faith for a good outcome would mean
not even trying. Why look for the impossible? Many people do that today. They
have no expectation of a good outcome because they trust in human reason alone
and not in God.
People explain why they have to remain slaves of their synod
and go to their expensive synod schools – “because there is no other choice.”
America has been populated by people who risked everything in creaky ships
because they trust God would give them a better place to worship in freedom
without oppressive bullies.
As Chytraeus explained in
his excellent book, it is a sin to question the goodness of God. That means, in
faith we see the wisdom and mercy of God – even in the difficult moments of
life. After five straight years of decline in the education business, I expected
to semi-retire with the help of Social Security. I suddenly found myself needed
in a job I prepared to do before the Dark Times – teaching English.
9. Behold this good inclination or comforting trust, or free
presumption toward God, or whatever you may call it, in the Scriptures is
called Christian faith and a good conscience, which man must have if he desires
to be saved. But it is not obtained by human works and precepts, as we shall
see in this example, and without such a heart no work is good. Therefore be on
your guard, there are many lecturers who want to teach faith and conscience,
and know less about them than a common blockhead. [WELS
plus the LCMS Seminaries, the ELS and ELCA!] They
think it is a sleepy, lazy thing in the soul, that it is enough for the heart
to believe that God is God. But here you observe what a thoroughly living and
powerful thing faith is. It creates wholly a new heart, a new man, who expects
all grace from God. Therefore it urges to walk, to stand, makes bold to cry and
pray in every time of trouble.
10. 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. The
Epistle to the Hebrews says, <581101> 11:1: “Now faith is assurance of
things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.” This clearly means faith
holds fast to what it does not see, feel or experience, either in body or soul,
but as it has firm trust in God it commits itself to and relies upon it without
any doubt but its hope will be realized. Thus it will also certainly be
realized, and the feeling and experience will come to it unsought and
unsolicited, even in and through such hope or faith.
We cannot call it faith if we imagine we have to qualify for
forgiveness. The lepers were in a position to realize that truth. Nothing in
their world told them they were deserving of anything, and yet they were filled
with faith in the goodness of God and Jesus’ power to heal them.
12. The third characteristic of faith is, that it allows of
no merit, will not purchase the grace of God with works, like the doubters and
hypocrites do, but brings with it pure unworthiness, clings to and depends
wholly on the mere unmerited favor of God, for faith will not tolerate works
and merit in its company, so entirely does it surrender, venture and raise
itself into the goodness for which it hopes, that for its sake it cannot
consider either good works or merit. Yea, it sees that this goodness is so
great, that all good works compared with it are nothing but sin. Therefore it
finds only unworthiness in self, that it is more worthy of wrath than of grace;
and it does this without any dissimulation, for he sees how in reality and in
truth it cannot be otherwise 13. These lepers here prove this clearly, who hope
for the grace of Christ without the least merit. What good had they ever done
to him before? They had never seen him, how then could they have served him?
Besides they were lepers, whom he could justly have avoided according to the
law, Leviticus 13:1, and kept himself free from them as was just and right.
One of the bizarre characteristics of this age, no different
from others, is people buying respect and forgiveness through the visible church.
As long as they give princely sums, their store-bought clergy servants proclaim
their great goodness, even though there is no evidence of faith or contrition.
Thus the business deal is made. The rich man will ignore Lazarus
at the gate so the clergy will praise him. The clergy will ignore Lazarus so
they will have more money to spend on themselves – all for the glory of God, of
course.
15. Behold, here is a good, real, living and true example of
Christian faith, that sufficiently teaches us how we must be disposed if we
would find grace, piety and salvation. Now, in addition to this doctrine
follows the incentive or inducement to faith, that we should gladly believe as
we are at present taught to believe. This incentive, however, consists in that
we observe how such faith never fails, that as it believes so it comes to pass,
and that it is certainly heard and answered.
So the idea of a bargain or
contract is lacking in the Word of God. The believer expects the best of God
and will see that accomplished in time. Rather than thinking he is working toward
forgiveness and eternal life, he sees God’s grace as additional motivation to
trust in all that may happen in the present and future.
What else does this mean than to say: Through me in faith you
now have everything that I am and have: I am your own, you are now rich and
satisfied through me; for all I do and love I do and love not for my but only
for your sake, and I only think how to be useful and helpful to you, and
accomplish whatever you need and should have. Therefore consider this example,
to do to each other as I have done to you, and only consider how to be useful
to your neighbor, and do what is useful and necessary for him.
Your faith has enough in my love and grace; so your love
shall also give enough to others.
Luther always emphasized that God provides for all human
needs, but for our spiritual needs especially – and those are the most
important. When we worry too much about daily needs we also forget about our
neighbor. But God has given us enough and more than enough for that.
The churches that had very little on their own a century ago –
they sent missionaries all over world, often with through the ladies missionary
societies.
Now established congregations have great wealth and bring the
missionaries back home.
23. See, this is what James means when he says, 2:26: “Faith
apart from works is dead.” For as the body without the soul is dead, so is
faith without works. Not that faith is in man and does not work, which is
impossible. For faith is a living, active thing. But in order that men may not
deceive themselves and think they have faith when they have not, they are to
examine their works, whether they also love their neighbors and do good to
them. If they do this, it is a sign that they have the true faith. If they do
not do this, they only have the sound of faith, and it is with them as the one
who sees himself in the glass and when he leaves it and sees himself no more,
but sees other things, forgets the face in the glass, as James says in his
first chapter, verses 23-24. [This passage in James deceivers and blind masters
have spun out so far, that they have demolished faith and established only
works, as though righteousness and salvation did not rest on faith, but on our
works. To this great darkness they afterwards added still more, and taught only
good works which are no benefit to your neighbor, as fasting, repeating many
prayers, observing festival days; not to eat meat, butter, eggs and milk; to
build churches, cloisters, chapels, altars; to institute masses, vigils, hours;
to wear gray, white and black clothes; to be spiritual; and innumerable things
of the same kind, from which no man has any benefit or enjoyment; all which God
condemns, and that justly. But St. James means that a Christian life is nothing
but faith and love. Love is only being kind and useful to all men, to friends
and enemies. And where faith is right, it also certainly loves, and does to
another in love as Christ did to him in faith.
Thus we say, too, that faith is everything and it saves us,
that a man needs no more for his salvation. Yet he is on this account not idle,
but labors much, all however for the benefit of his neighbor, and not for
himself; for he does not need it, he has enough in Christ.
All those great professors (like David Scaer) and church leaders
(like Jon Buchholz, Wayne Mueller, and Mark Schroeder) imagine that the entire world
is saved without faith – that Luther and the Book of Concord teach this strange
notion. They peer through their spectacles and find Paul teaching the same
nonsense that they have invented, and naturally persecute anyone who openly
challenges them.
The modernists are full of contradictions, because they read their
notions into the Scriptures and Confessions, which look like a bowl of raspberries
with insects swimming around in the juice. It’s difficult to ignore the insects,
but the UOJ stylists say – no, this is the real truth of Christianity, the real
teaching of Paul and Luther and it has always been so.
But every time I post a Luther sermon, I find just the
opposite to be true. Luther is consistent in teaching justification by faith because
that is the Chief Article of the Scriptures.
Once that is seen, people realize how much fraud has been
promoted in the last century.
35. And this is the method God
employs with us all to strengthen and prove our faith, and he treats us so that
we know not what he will do with us. This he does for the reason, that man is
to commend himself to him and rely on his mere goodness, and not doubt that he
will give what we desire or something better. So also these lepers thought:
Very well, we will go as he commands, and although he does not tell us whether
he will cleanse us or not, this shall not influence us to esteem him any the
less than before.
Yea, we will only esteem him so much the more and higher, and
joyfully wait, if he will not cleanse us, he will do still better for us than
if we were cleansed, and we will not on that account despair of mercy and favor.
Behold, this is the true increase of faith.
40. So these words of the text, “And it came to pass, as they
went, they were cleansed,” would say: It is impossible for faith to fail, it
must take place as it believes. For if these lepers had not believed and
remained steadfast, of course they would not have gone. Therefore, not for the
sake of their going, but on account of their faith they became cleansed,
because of which they also went.
Not knowing
means believing – for we walk by faith, not by sight.
82. How beautifully he divides
the three principles, that faith goes forth in trusting, love in laboring, and
hope in patience and suffering. As though he would say: Your faith is not a
dream nor a fancy, but it is life and action; and your love is not passive nor
is it idle, but it serves well for your neighbor. All this takes place in
prosperous days. while your hope is exercised in suffering and patience, and
all this in Christ; for there is no faith, nor love, nor hope outside of
Christ, as I said above. Thus a Christian life goes through good and evil until
the end, and yet it does not seek revenge, and only grows more and more in
faith, love and hope.
"Early in the morning it rises, sits upon a twig and sings a
song it has learned, while it knows not where to obtain its food, and yet it is
not worried as to where to get its breakfast. Later, when it is hungry, it
flies away and seeks a grain of corn, where God stored one away for it, of
which it never thought while singing, when it had cause enough to be anxious
about its food. Ay, shame on you now, that the little birds are more pious and
believing than you; they are happy and sing with joy and know not whether they
have anything to eat."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 114. Trinity 15 Matthew 6:24-34
"Pietist preachers were anxious to discover and in a certain
sense to separate the invisible congregation from the visible congregation.
They had to meet demands different than those of the preceding period: they
were expected to witness, not in the objective sense, as Luther did, to God's
saving acts toward all men, but in a subjective sense of faith, as they
themselves had experienced it. In this way Pietism introduced a tendency toward
the dissolution of the concept of the ministry in the Lutheran Church."
Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The
Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck,
Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.
"We have no intention of yielding aught of the eternal,
immutable truth of God for the sake of temporal peace, tranquility, and unity
(which, moreover, is not in our power to do). Nor would such peace and unity,
since it is devised against the truth and for its suppression, have any
permanency. Still less are we inclined to adorn and conceal a corruption of the
pure doctrine and manifest, condemned errors. But we entertain heartfelt
pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and anxious to
advance, that unity according to our utmost power, by which His glory remains
to God uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the Holy Gospel is
surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor sinners are brought to
true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, confirmed in new obedience, and
thus justified and eternally saved alone through the sole merit of
Christ." (Closing of Formula of Concord, Triglotta.
p. 1095)
Francis Pieper, The Difference Between Orthodox And Heterodox
Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981,
p. 65. Tappert, p. 632. Heiser, p. 294. FC SD XI, #94-96.
"Thus too, if our confidence is to begin, and we become
strengthened and comforted, we must well learn the voice of our Shepherd, and
let all other voices go, who only lead us astray, and chase and drive us hither
and thither. We must hear and grasp only that article which presents Christ to
us in the most friendly and comforting manner possible. So that we can say with
all confidence: My Lord Jesus Christ is truly the only Shepherd, and I, alas,
the lost sheep, which has strayed into the wilderness, and I am anxious and
fearful, and would gladly be good, and have a gracious God and peace of
conscience, but here I am told that He is as anxious for me as I am for
Him." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, IV, p. 86. Third Sunday after Trinity, Second
Sermon Luke 15:1-10.
