Sermon B: 5th S Epip: Job 7:3

Before getting into the readings, this week marks a new look to the Blog as my son Luther updated it with new color, abbreviated articles that you can expand, the latest of postings and an index which is under construction but will be well on its way to help you navigate the material. Let me know if you have any other advice or suggestions for improvement. And don't forget to go to the website to find info on ordering materials including the latest book I have written entitled, "Ten Weeks of Just Words."

This 5th Sunday after the Epiphany has the following three readings for Series B: Job 7:1-7 (life is futile); I Corinthians 9:16-23 (becoming a servant to all) and Mark 1:29-39 (Jesus healing both Peter's mother-in-law and the demon-possessed). This is a difficult Sunday on which to choose a specific reading because each of them is pack full of marvelous revelation and application. However, the verse chosen to analyze for this Sunday's sermon is Job 7:3, "so I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights have been appointed to me."

The real temptation with such a passage is to have a sermon on psychology rather than theology. To put it another way, many pastors will preach that while things right now may look bleak and futile, give God a little time, have more faith and things will turn around. The Gospel will then be a promise from the pastor that things will get better. All you have to do is have a more positive attitude and believe that you can do the impossible. While they may take place in some lives, that sure didn't take place in the lives of the early Christians.

I enjoy asking questions which most Christians get wrong. In my own experience, what a professor was teaching had a much greater impact on me if he had begun by asking a question that I got wrong. Here is the question. Can you think of at least 3 blessings you received from God this past week? Don't read further until you have in mind those 3 blessings.

I love doing this with a group because the next statement is as follows. Now that you have those three blessings in your mind, please put your hand up if you are NOT thinking of something positive. And guess what? Rarely do hands go up. Permit me to remind you of the kinds of blessings that Paul considered as he enumerated the following: "From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers..." and the list goes on and on in 2 Corinthians 11:24f. And how did Paul regard these experiences? Verse 10 of the next chapter reads, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Rare is the Christian who does not experience sleepless nights due to worry, tragic events in life including the death of loved ones, tomorrows that are dreaded with no hope in sight. That is the weight of the law's burden on us as we, like Job, complain that all we do and have done is futile. This part of Job is much like Ecclesiastes in which all is vanity. You build a huge fortune only to leave it to children who squander it. And the list goes on and on.

The Gospel is NOT some kind of good news that things will get better. That was not the message of the apostles as tradition holds that all but one died the death of a martyr. The Law of this sermon can be preached by the pastor who knows his flock well and how their futilities are experienced. God has a purpose in driving our lives to futility in order that we might become like Job. How so? Recall, this same Job who grieves so deeply in these verses that his eye will never again see good (Job 7:7) is the same Job who in chapter 19, verse 25 proclaims, "I know that my Redeemer lives and He shall stand a last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God!"

What happened? Job was taken from a life lived under the Law to one lived under the Gospel. What does that mean? A person who lives under the Law is under the assumption that what he does makes a difference not only here on earth but especially before the God of heaven. Every religion in the world assumes that God's justice is understood as giving a person what he deserves. Therefore every religion attempts to appease or placate the god of their imagination by works, thoughts, meditations, worship, sacrifices and the like to get on that god's good side.

Job apparently had that view of God because when troubles came, he had this attitude, "What did I do to deserve this???" Three of his friends were of no help. One was, and of course, so was God. By the time God had finished with Job, his attitude changed to "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear (rumors) but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." And when Job spoke those words, he still was ill and in dire straits.

What happened? The essence of the book of Job is found in chapter 40, verse 8 when God asks Job, "Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?" Wow! When even Christians look on life as futile and worthless, it really is an indictment against God's judgment in regard to us. We feel useless; therefore, God is to be blamed. We condemn Him that we might be justified! In reality, we all have a little Pharisee in us who prefers to crucify the Lord of lords rather than worship Him when our lives appear so useless and futile.

The Gospel reminds us of the greatest sorrowing and despair that ever was recorded in human history. It took place on a windswept hill outside of Jerusalem one Friday afternoon centuries ago. The words even were spoken, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me." Talk about an apparent life of futility and emptiness. And least that's what the disciples who fled from the Garden of Gethsemane thought.

Now we may think that on Easter things changed. Not really. The only difference for the disciples was not so much in their experience but in their attitude. As chosen apostles, they now followed in the footsteps of the prophets who had gone before them in being beaten, imprisoned and martyred. But now this took place with them singing hymns, praying fervently, and with joy going to their deaths. For what had changed was not their experience but their perspective. They were now brothers of Christ with God as their Father. Every promise connected to the Gospel was now theirs free of charge.

Yes, even as Christians we may entertain days, weeks, months and for some, even years of apparent illness and futility. But God has not forgotten us. What a blessing to experience what Job went through as God's way of bringing us even closer to Him Who died so that we believers will never really die and Who lives so that we live eternally. This is most certainly true.

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Index To Law Gospel

INDEX to Sermon Studies. Passages in Biblical order

• Genesis 22:18
• Exodus 20:3
• Deuteronomy 5:12
• Numbers 21:9
• Job 7:3
• Jonah 3:10
• Isaiah 43:24
• Lamentations 3:25
• Mark 3:35
• Mark 4:40
• Mark 8:34
• Mark 14:49
• Mark 16:8
• Luke 1:37
• Luke 2:11
• Acts 10:35
• 1 Cor. 1:8
• 1 Cor. 6:12
• 1 Cor. 8:1
• 1 Cor. 9:24
• 2 Cor. 3:16
• 2 Cor. 5:10
• Colossians 3:12
• I Thessalonians 5:22
• Hebrews 5:9
• 2 Peter 3:11
• 1 John 1:6
• 1 John 3:1
• 1 John 3:22
• 1 John 4:8
• 1 John 5:3

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Sermon B: 4th S Epiph: 1 Cor. 8:1

For this 4th Sunday after the Epiphany the three readings assigned are Deuteronomy 18:15-20 (God will raise up a new Prophet); 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 (food offered to idols) and Mark 1:21-28 (Jesus heals man with unclean spirit). The verse I would preach about is 1 Cor. 8:1 which says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."

As pastor, I would encourage the members to underline the Bible as they read through it at least every three years. Why underline? Because many of the underlines were different since their lives were different and they had new challenges which were met by different Bible verses even within a span of 3 years. In our day this verse is more relevant than in past generations because of the fairly broad notion that love is more important than doctrine. This verse would be used by those who disparage pure doctrine imagining that we ought to all get along together and not be divided by issues of doctrine.

Other passages such as I Cor. 13 are also used to back up such a notion. For example, verse 1 says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging symbol." Verse 2 even makes love higher than the gift of prophecy and faith which could move a mountain! Our age has certainly bought into the notion of the superiority of love over and against pure teaching particularly since pure doctrine can be seen as divisive between Christian denominations.Some congregations this week are celebrating "Life Sunday" in opposition to the pro-death abortion thinking of many in our world. Often many imagine that their pro-death stand is founded on the notion of love such as "Who would want an unwanted child to come into this world?" Then within many a congregation there are those who can't understand the practice of closed communion in which only those who profess proper doctrine are invited to the Lord's Supper. Each pastor can think of other specific examples of how members of his congregation have fallen into Satan's teaching that love should be more important than pure doctrine.

The following is a possible option in preaching this theme on the basis of I Cor. 8:1. I would first pretend to agree with the commonsensical understanding of this text. The commonsensical understanding is that understanding which the old Adam has or the typical man-in-the-street has who is unschooled in Christian thought. Perhaps other Bible passages could be used such as James chapter 2 in which it appears that even with the greatest of faith, if you don't have love, you only have dead faith (verse 17).

Many of our people have been fooled by the world into thinking that love trumps doctrine. After using examples in their understanding of how love is more important than doctrine I would begin to level the Law's accusations against them by saying something like, "Isn't it too bad that Jesus did not understand this principle. Had He only been more loving than insisting on pure teaching, perhaps He would not have been hated so much and certainly He would not have been crucified."The sermon would then become theological in the sense of making distinctions that clarify the context of passages that sound like love trumps doctrine. Specifically in 1 Cor. 8:1 Paul is not really pitting doctrine against love. He is comparing the knowledge about the freedom to eat meat offered to idols to the fact that some new Christians are still not up to speed on that teaching and therefore if you begin to eat such meat you give them the impression that you are sinning. If they then force themselves to eat such idol meat, they will begin to think that they are damned to hell and lose their faith.

The point of 1 Cor 8 is to use our freedom in such a way that we do not unnecessarily offend those who are not up to speed on Christian teaching. For example, if I invite Jewish friends over for a meal, I would not serve pork even though I know it can be eaten in freedom. I would not place an unnecessary obstacle that would offset open ears to hearing the true message of the Christian faith.

In regard to abortion, it is not love but hatred of God's will that moves people to support abortion on demand. True love is a fulfillment of God's law and will not be disobedient to His will. The reading from Deuteronomy 18 would be mentioned as to the fact that what makes the Prophet unique that God will raise up is that He will speak the words that God commands Him to say. Doctrine trumps love!

Jesus shows, however, in Mark 1 how doctrine and what He says is always done in love from God's point of view. For Jesus speaks with authority in commanding the unclean spirits to depart which in reality is the highest form of love toward an individual who is a poor, miserable sinner deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. I would then move to that event in which a kind of exorcism was done to each of us believers in the waters of baptism as God moved us from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom or reign of God here on earth; namely, the holy Christian Church.

The purpose of the sermon would be first to show how ridiculous is the commonsense notion that love is more important than doctrine. The second purpose would be to illustrate how pure doctrine was preached by Jesus and then practiced by Him in loving us to death. Yes, love is important but only as a fruit of faith that cares enough to set aside our liberty and freedom in suffering for those who don't deserve it. How can we do any less in light of our Savior Who died so that we will never really die the accursed death and Who lives so that we live eternally?

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Sermon B: 3rd S Epi: Jonah 3:10

The readings for the third Sunday after Epiphany, Series B, are Jonah 3:1-5, 10 (Nineveh repents); I Cor. 7:29-31 (Form of world passing away) and Mark 1:14-20 (Call of the disciples). The verse chosen to preach on this Sunday is Jonah 3:10, "Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it."

From a Law/Gospel perspective, it is a verse like this that gives Christianity the reputation that it is just like every other religion in the world. For all other religions have a god of Law who will change his mind about punishing you if you will only turn from your evil way. Just today I was listening to a physician hailing the need for people who are ill to pray. For those who pray appear to get healthier more often than those who do not pray. Of course, she was not speaking of praying to the Trinity but any god at all. Her point? What counts is not that there is some god who hears your prayer; no, instead, what counts is your positive attitude that you can become healthy and that is what makes the difference.

Now at first reading, it appears that this text gives that impression that if you will only turn from your evil ways, start praying and the like, god will really like you and you will be blessed indeed! How can we escape from that apparent conclusion?

One way to understand false doctrine is that it has the cart before the horse. However, the cart does not pull the horse, rather the horse pulls the cart. In most religions we pull God to us. But in Christianity, God pulls us to Him. Yet how can we understand that properly from this text which certainly appears to give the impresion that we can get God to relent if we only change our evil ways?

From an L&G point of view, the cart before the horse is understood as works being the first and primary reason why God changes His attitude toward us. But in Christianity what precedes works? The answer is "faith." Apart from faith, no works are pleasing to God as Jesus Himself revealed with, "I am the Vine; you are the branches; without Me you can do nothing."

The answer to our dilemma is found in the previous verse which begins, "So the people of Nineveh believed God..." There you have it. Faith precedes works. It is so clear from that verse that prior to proclaiming a fast, putting on sackcloth and so forth, the people of Nineveh first believed--and that came about due to the preaching of a half-hearted messenger of God who would have preferred to see those Ninevite Gentiles burn in hell! What a great example of the power of the Word no matter who the messenger is! But I digress.

I will be preaching this sermon by asking the congregation whether they have turned sufficiently from their evil ways. Perhaps I will show them that in comparison to others, most of us are good and decent people. When it appears that they have been caught line and sinker, I will then blast them with the Law's accusations that all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. Depending on the congregation and the circumstances, the proper Law will be used so that each listener will fear for his salvation.

At that time comes the Gospel which points out how God relents from sending us to hell not because of our great works but because of the works of Jesus Christ that we now have through the gift of the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness. Both the epistle and Gospel have themes that can be incorporated into the sermon. The bottom line is that God no longer looks upon the believer in wrath because of the faith that God Himself created within the elect who can be sure of their salvation not because of their works but because of the works of Jesus Christ.

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Sermon B: 2nd S Epi: 1 Cor. 6:12

On this 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany the Old Testament reading is from 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (the call of Samuel); 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (body as the temple of the Holy Spirit) and John 1:43-52 (the call of Philip). The text chosen for this sermon is 1 Corinthians 6:12, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful." As is our custom, what is the first interpretation of this verse that comes to the commonsensical mindset. It probably is that while I can do whatever I want, there are some things that are not as helpful.

The problem with that interpretation is that the context makes clear that a synonym for the word "helpful" is really "sinful." Immediately in verse 13 Paul brings up the act of sexual immorality as that which is not helpful. Verse 16 makes clear that there is a time when such an action is appropriate when the two become one flesh. But when sexual activity takes place outside the boundaries God has established, then such action is not only not helpful; it is sinful.

Thus, in this sermon there would be two goals. The first is the obvious as to how we don't realize that certain things we do are in reality sin. The item in this regard which I would focus on are our good works. How many Christians do not look to their good works as a means of being assured of salvation and God on my side? The fact is that if we ever do a good work and don't understand that it could be sin, it is deadly sin. How so?

Any good work we do that we imagine is perfect means that in such a case, there is no need for the cross of Jesus Christ. The fact is that while we do fruit of the Holy Spirit, our old Adam is always motivated inappropriately. At times we do not realize the extent of our sinful condition. For example, ask the congregation to think of three sins from this past week. Then tell them to put their hand up if they are not thinking of something they did wrong, said wrong or thought wrong. Rarely do any hands go up. They just forgot about 60% of their sins which are called sins of omission of which a large precentage of those we are unaware.

The second is how we often are told that we are sinning when in reality we are not sinning. Is it not true how some congregations will give their members the impression that if they are not involved in some facet of church work, they really are not doing the work of the LORD. One of the great discoveries at the time of the Reformation is that a "good work" can be a secular work. One's vocation; that is, what God is having you do as husband, father, employee, son and so forth have activities associated with them that are God-pleasing. For example, a woman who changes the diapers of her baby faithfully is doing a far greater work in God's eyes than a pastor who prepares a lazy sermon week after week.

Yes, all things are lawful but not helpful is taken to excess. Yet, many day to day activities are indeed pleasing to God as we faithfully follow the calling into which we have been placed. It simply is not true that a spiritual work done in church is more pleasing than a secular work done in the neighborhood or at work or at school.

The Law of this sermon therefore clarifies God's understanding of what is sin and what is not sin. The Gospel is that because we were bought with a price; namely, the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, we are free to glorify God in both our body and spirit without the burden of doing something spiritual in order to stay on the good side of God. To put it another way, we are in a no lose situation.

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Sermon B: 1st S Epi: Acts 10:35

Apologies to those of you who are now counting on this Blog for sermon preparation for this coming Sunday. I have just returned from Christmas vacation. The readings for this coming 1st Sunday after the Epiphany and Baptism of our Lord are Isaiah 42:1-7 (Spirit upon the Messiah to come); Acts 10:34-38 (Peter's sermon) and Mark 1:4-11 (Baptism of Jesus). The purpose of this Blog is to locate passages from the Sunday regular readings that either are often misunderstood or are not understood due to catechetical instruction from a Reformation point of view. The passage chosen for this coming Sunday is one of the latter. It's Acts 10:35 "But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him."

The technique followed is the same from previous weeks in which we think aloud how the man-in-the-street--or our old Adam--will interpret the Bible from a commonsensical point of view. This is kinda obvious in light of the following question, "According to this verse, whom does God consider as being acceptable in His sight?" Answer: "Those who are afraid of Him and work rightousness." The NIV is even better for the purpose of confusion as it translates the passage with "do what is right."

The apparent interpretation of this verse is that God will accept those who truly fear Him and do a lot of good works. You can understand how this verse is so confusing for those raised on the Reformation catechetical teaching that salvation is not by works. Yet in asking a number of Christians what does this passage mean if it doesn't mean "work righteousness", the answers are varied and often in error. One of the favorite responses is that Christians alone can be acceptable to God because only they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit through which works of righteousness can be accomplished.

This interpretation seems even more plausible when we discover what pleases the Father in regard to the Son in Mark 1:11, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Clearly, it is the behavior or works of Jesus to obey the will of the Father that makes Him so pleasing to the Father. Thus, the commonsensical conclusion is that is how the Father becomes pleased with us; namely, by what we do. In fact, one of today's best selling books has that theme in imagining that the Father is pleased with us as we fulfill the purpose for which we were created. Although it is regarded as a religious book, it should be categorized as a work of fiction!

In summary, a "bad" answer to what appears to be pure works righteousness is to pull from Isaiah 42 that we need to have the Holy Spirit and to pull from Mark 1 that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can please the Father in the same way that Jesus did in fulfilling His purpose for which He had been sent! Until....

What is the until? Until we realize that all of our works, even those that can be considered as "fruit of the Holy Spirit" continue to be filthy rags because of the ulterior motives that always are present on the part of our old Adam. The Father's pleasure to us is not on account of our Spirit-filled ability to mimic the good works of Jesus. Now there is a connection between Jesus' works and our being accepted by the Father but it is not on account of our imitation of His works. The Father is pleased not on account of our works but on account of His works.

Recalling Jesus' own words that we cannot do one good work until after we have been grafted to Him the Vine, this means that prior to bearing fruit of the Holy Spirit God is already pleased with us. Those who have experienced the birth of a child or grandchild will understand that the pleasure toward the child is present before any work or activity on the part of the child is seen.

To preach this text, I would first verbalize what the listeners are already thinking when they hear this verse; namely, that it does not'agree with Lutheran theology. I would then pretend to agree with their commonsensical repair of the verse that through the power of the Holy Spirit God accepts us because of our righteous works. At that point I would then bring the full force of the Law hammering down on the idea that we, even with the Holy Spirit, cannot perform even one sinless perfect work. The purpose would be to crush any notion that our works make a difference in either being saved or staying saved.

Then what is the Gospel to such a crushing blow of the Law? The Gospel is that God does not look to our Spirit-filled works as a proper fear of Him and righteousness; rather, He looks to our faith in Jesus Christ and counts that for righteousness, holiness, sinlessness and therefore acceptance. It is NOT that our faith saves us but that it takes hold of the Savior who has atoned for the sins of the whole world including mine.

For those who are worried that such an approach diminishes the necessity of good works, I would argue that the very opposite is true. Once the believer recognizes that there is no need to use good works to get God on his side, then good works can be freely done not out of a burden to please God but out of thankfulness that He already is pleased with me by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. With that realization, step back and watch the Spirit-filled works flow spontaneously and freely.

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