The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2023. Luke 17 - t

 Vimeo Link to the Ten Lepers

Bethany Lutheran Church, Springdale, Arkansas

The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2023

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

The Hymn #56   Jesus Came the Heavens Adoring                 

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

Behold, O God, our Shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed: 

for a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.

Psalm. How amiable are Thy tabernacles, 

O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, 

yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy; and because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual 

Gradual

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord: 

and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High.

V. To show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning: 

and Thy faithfulness every night. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion: 

and unto Thee shall the vow be performed. Hallelujah!

      

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #457    What a Friend We Have in Jesus
  

One in Ten Thankful

The Communion Hymn #224      Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord

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 #198                 He's Risen

Announcements and In Our Prayers

• Enzo Meyer is in his third year at Grand Canyon University campus in Phoenix.
• Diagnosis and treatment - Randy Anderson, Lori Howell, Sarah Buck, Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris, Kermit Way + good news for Maria Way, Callie.
• Zach Engleman returns home this week.

 Norma A. Boeckler

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.

One in Ten Thankful

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:

KJV John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The beauty of God's Word is the Holy Spirit teaching us about the Father and the Son. Although some speak of the Spirit being in the background, how do they consider the Spirit in every Word of the Bible? Not only that, as Jesus taught in the Gospel of John, the Spirit gave the knowledge of Jesus teaching the disciples and also what they needed to know in preaching and in writing down the divine passages.

The gross errors of the moderns, rationalists, and apostates come from treating the Scriptures as human documents, often something to mock or to replace with their own "creative" thoughts, which I heard in the 1960s and ever since. In doing so, they cannot see or understand what a passage means and therefore cannot teach Christianity at all. Would anyone go to a restaurant and sit down for a meal of pictures of various foods? So are the churches and synods that refuse to teach faith in Jesus Christ. They know everything, except Jesus saying, "When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith?" (Hint - they are not sure whether Jesus is the Son of Man, because that suggests the divinity of Christ. The same genius level is found in all the modern Bibles and the notorious Beck Bible - denial and removal of verses about the divinity of Jesus.)

The sight of lepers gathered had to be pitiful. Ten gathered together in the hope of gaining the attention and help of Jesus. They bore the burden of being weak, sick, and shunned by everyone. They gave some hope and comfort toward each other, but that made their plight that much more repulsive to the crowds. What chance did they have?

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.

They had faith in Him. We know that because they hailed Him as their Master, their Teacher. This is a good example of the efficacy of the Gospel (Romans 10). Faith comes by hearing the Good News. The miracles of Jesus spread throughout the region because that was God's plan to expand knowledge and to instill the faith of Jesus the Son of God.

Jesus did not say He was healing them. Instead, He emphasized sending them to the priests.

Luther:

He does not first say he will do it, but as though it were already done, he did as they wished. For he does not say: Yes, I will have mercy on you, ye shall be cleansed; but merely: “Go and show yourselves unto the priests.” As though he would say: There is no use of asking, your faith has already acquired and obtained it, before you began to ask; you were already cleansed in my sight when you began to expect such things of me; it is no longer necessary, only go and show your purity to the priests; as I consider you and as you believe, so you are and shall be. For he would not have sent them to the priests, if he had not considered them clean, and so wished to deal thus with them, as those who had become cleansed.

This should resonate with people - Ephesians 3 - God gives us more than we can imagine. 

"KJV Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,"

And this similar Promise

KJV Isaiah 65:24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

This point alone should dwell in our minds and be so certain to us that we count on it, treasure it, and think about its meaning, its divine power. That is one of the key concepts of efficacy. At first someone may resist such a great claim, even make fun of it, but agitation brings about more clarity. Can that really be true? If we have a weak concept of God's Word, the Promise here is overlooked. The power comes from knowing God will do what is right and best in the long run. 

That meant a lot that our little group was praying for a neighbor, not someone who asked for prayer and often resisted many things because of very corrupt clergy he knew too well. "They are praying for you." All the medical people are impressed that such a horrible development was responding so well.

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. 

All ten shuffled off and were cleansed along the way. One saw he was cleansed already and began praising God in a loud voice (too weak to shout before). He came back to worship Jesus Christ, falling down at His feet, thanking Him. And this man, an outsider hated by observant Jews, was a Samaritan.

Luther said he would have given leprosy back to the nine who were not grateful to God.

Note that Jesus did not limit His work to Jews, which nowdays would be people born in the right denomination in the right location to the right parents with the right amount of money. The healing miracles spread the Faith very quickly and His resurrection even more.

Eyewitnesses and those cured could not help spreading the news, which matched the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 and the details of the crucifixion in Psalm 22.

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.

Luther:

17. 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. So now you also see that Christ hears these lepers before they call, and before they cry out he is prepared to do all their hearts desire. “Go,” he says, I will not add a word, for it has succeeded in your case farther, no promise or consent is necessary; take what you ask and go.

Are not these strong incentives that make the heart joyful and eager?

Behold, then his grace permits itself to be felt and grasped, yea it grasps and satisfies us. This has been said on the first part, namely, faith.

As Luther also says, faith and love go together. Through faith in the Savior, we have everything, even before we ask. One consequence of faith is knowing and experiencing God's protection and help. Because we have so much through God's will and power, we naturally help our neighbors in any kind of need. Where that exists, people are blessed in many ways. 

My experience with clergy is - they do not trust God to help and protect them. The officials can get rid of pastors and often do - it is the nature of wolves to murder and scatter. Just look at the publications of the early 20th century and 100 years later. They worked for almost nothing and produced great works of faith, which was a lot of labor in those days. 

Jonah was tossed off the ship because the sailors knew he was guilty of something, and they were threatened with death. However, Jonah did not die but got a ride to Nineveh. 

The clergy today shiver and moan that they will lose their precious retirement, their health insurance, and - worst of all - the friendship of other sheepish clergy. That makes it easy to herd the clergy sheep and the members into a cage and make them obey man, not God. Like the 9 lepers, they had the complete blessings at one point but dropped them in favor of serving their own needs.

19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

It is not up to us to demand from God, but to trust in His wisdom. The carnival types who dangle something before others are always promoting - "Do this for God, and He will do this for you." They often add, "Look at my mansion and my deluxe car. You can have the same, but only if you do..." 

As one Church Growth genius said throughout his speech, "Do this and you will have a lot of happy campers." People sat there and absorbed the toxins. Decades later, nobody was left to attend the formerly large church of happy campers.

Every clergy wolf has a solution - "Satisfy my appetite." But the Savior teaches trust in Him, helping us before we even think to ask, giving us more than we can imagine (Isaiah 65, Ephesians 3).

Daily prayers should include -

1. Thankfulness for all our blessings, including difficulties of the past that led to blessings.
2. Care for those with special needs, from finances to healing, and many other important things.
3. Focus on the Scriptures and faithful Christian works and hymns.
4. Guidance for the future.
5. Repentance for sin and joy in forgiveness.
6. Blessings for others.

Gospel readings strengthen and deepen our faith in Jesus Christ.

The End