SECOND SUNDAY after EPIPHANY 2021

 

The phrase "Love and marriage" summarizes the littler gallery below: I introduce to you Pic #1 which is the artwork entitled "Beloved" by the late Amy McCutcheon. Her theme is written "His banner over me is love" - Song of Solomon 2:4; Pic #2 is from the 16th century German artist, Hans Sebald Beham, "The Wedding at Cana" (Circa 1520); Pic #3 reverts to the Old Testament Song of Solomon, with the beautiful contemporary art of Columbus, Ohio native, Cody F. Miller. He has this to say about his wonderful work: "Biblical love is the revelation of God Himself" and, lastly is Pic #4 known as "Adoration of the Mystical Lamb" by the Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck, showing the great love the Lamb of God had for His Church by the shedding of His blood.

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This brings me to this morning's address:

“Changing Water into Wine: The Glorious Manifestation”

John 2:1 11 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6 Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” 11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. NKJV

My friends in Christ: God speaks through John as he records for us a heaven on earth, speaking to us of water, wine, and the wedding feast that our Lord Jesus graces with His presence. God’s word also speaks to us of another wedding feast — a heavenly feast that is yet to come. In the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus was present as an invited guest; in the feast yet to come, He will be present as the Bridegroom. At both wedding feasts, the glory of Christ is manifested. In the wedding feast at Cana, the glory of the Lord is miraculously shown, by virtue of the Son of Man changing water into wine, and what the disciples see strengthens their faith in Christ. In the feast yet to come, we too, will behold His glory with our own eyes.

Throughout Scripture the people of God are portrayed as the Lord’s bride. The central theme of the often misunderstood book of the Bible, the Song of Solomon, is the relationship between the Messiah and God’s people that is comparable to the loving relationship of a man and a woman, a bridegroom and his bride; and yet the central theme of another prophet, Hosea, is of spiritual whoredom, that Israel has been unfaithful to her faithful Lord and Husband. These same themes are found throughout the Old Testament: Israel is portrayed as the Lord’s chosen bride but as one who is constantly unfaithful. Yet in all of this, the Lord himself is faithful. He does not abandon His people; He promises that He will remain faithful and will bring about their reconciliation.

The prophet Isaiah records this promise of the Lord: “No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah which means “My delight is in her” and your land Beulah [translated “married”]; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married... As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” (Isaiah 62:1-5)

This promise was fulfilled in Christ. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, followers of John the Baptist became perplexed that the people were beginning to follow Jesus rather than their teacher, John. When they complained about this, John responded by saying: “He who has the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled.” (John 3:29) He who has the bride — He whom the people of God are following — is the Bridegroom. Here, John specifically identifies Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ. The Bridegroom has come. And already the bride for whom He came is being drawn to Him. But the betrothal is not complete during Jesus’ earthly ministry. At that time, a woman’s preparation prior to a wedding would include bathing in water and being clothed in new wedding garments.

Preparation was also needed for the bride of Christ. How this was accomplished is described for us in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. There, in a section devoted to marriage, Saint Paul writes: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So, husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies.”

Although we, by our fallen sinful nature, are not worthy to be Christ’s bride, Paul writes that Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. He died for us, that we might be His bride. St. Paul explains that Christ gave Himself for us that He might present us to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle but holy and without blemish. Jesus takes us, who are clothed in the filthy rags of sin, and makes of us a pure and holy bride, adorned in the spotless white of a pure, innocent virgin.

How does God accomplish this miraculous transformation? According to St. Paul, having given Himself for us, Christ now sanctifies us and cleanses us by the washing of water with the word.

It is in this washing of water with the Word of God, the baptismal regeneration, that Christ washes us clean. We are clothed with the garments of salvation, arrayed in the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) — not because of any merit or worthiness in ourselves, but because Christ adorns us in His perfect righteousness. He who has suffered for our sins gives us His righteousness; He who has paid the price for our impurity gives us His perfect purity, which we simply receive in and through faith alone. That is how Christ prepares us so that we might be presented to Him as His pure and holy bride.

This is what we sing about in the popular hymn “The Church’s One Foundation”:

“The Church’s one Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;

she is His new creation by water and the Word;

from heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride;

with His own blood He bought her and for her life He died.”

Luther preached on the Wedding Feast at Cana, and the water in the pots made of stone as were the tables of the Law. Dr. Luther said: “The water in the pots is the contents and the substance of the Law by which conscience is governed, and is graven in letters as in the water pots of stone...To turn water into wine is to render the interpretation of the Law delightful...Thus the right interpretation and significance of the law is to lead us to the knowledge of our helplessness, to drive us from ourselves to another, namely, to Christ, to seek grace and help from Him. Therefore, when Christ wanted to make wine He had them pour in still more water, up to the very brim. Then comes the consoling Gospel and turns water into wine. For when the heart hears that Christ fulfills the law for us and takes our sin upon Himself, it no longer cares that impossible things are demanded by the Law...Water is no longer in the pots, it has turned into wine, it is passed to the guest, it is consumed, and has made the heart glad.”

(Luther’s Church Postil for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany.)

And this is what Martin Luther saw as the servants who listened and did what Jesus told them, namely, “And these servants are all preachers of the New Testament like the apostles and their successors. The drawing (the wine) and passing to the guests is, to take this interpretation from the Scriptures, and to preach it to all the world, which is bidden to Christ’s marriage.”

What has happened to such servant preachers today within the Christian churches and especially within the Lutheran Church? These churches serve everything to their guests but the finest wine, which is the pure Gospel. God help us!

Mary, in today’s Gospel, encourages those servants to do what her Son says, and the Old Testament for today states emphatically, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet...Unto Him ye shall hearken.” (Cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19) Have they not believed and therefore have spoken that their Christian guests have been washed in water and the Word, that they are the bride of Christ, and yet the wedding celebration is still to come? If our preachers serve up other than the best wine, what do they offer to those who desire to taste the Gospel’s message?

I invite you to take a good look and inspect an unfaithful servant’s gospel, of the likes of those which are representative of the new U.S. Senator from Georgia, the Reverend Raphael Warnock. His first name is rather ironic since Raphael means “God heals.” Those who pretend to be servants of Christ always serve the inferior wine since they have perverted the pure Gospel of our Lord (not having listened to Him) and totally confound the roles of Church and State. Many preacher/servants, therefore, are merely social workers (and Marxist ones at that) who do not know how to heal the broken hearted and those kept imprisoned by their own flesh, sin, and the devil.

But listen to how it actually is: In two of His parables, Jesus portrays the last day for the Christian as the time of a wedding celebration. In both parables, Jesus Himself is the Bridegroom. Those who join Him in the wedding celebration are described in one parable as those having oil in their lamps. That is, faith in their hearts and in the other parable as those wearing the wedding garments He has provided, namely, the robe of Christ’s righteousness that He freely gives in Word and Sacrament and that we receive through faith. In other words, it is those who receive the free gift of Christ’s righteousness in faith that will join Him in His marriage feast.

This is also seen in the book of Revelation, where God reveals that the marriage feast of the Lamb comes at the end of time, and the Bride of the Lamb is revealed to be the Church. And so we live already as His bride, but still awaiting the marriage feast in His kingdom that knows no end. We wait. We don’t have to worry, but we are to be confident that our faithful Lord will come for us to take us into His kingdom of glory and welcome us to the great wedding banquet.

Meanwhile Christ is bringing even more people into this body, the Church. He does this in Holy Baptism — washing them in water and the Word, just as He has washed you — especially through the proclamation of the Gospel, which creates faith as the Word of Christ crucified is heard. As St. Paul wrote Titus (3:4-6), “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

In the wedding at Cana, Jesus miraculously provided wine for the wedding celebration. And at the wedding feast to come, you will personally join Christ in partaking of the fruit of the vine. On the night that He was betrayed, after instituting His Holy Supper, Jesus said to His disciples: “I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). As faithful Christians, you earnestly desire that day. In the meantime, Christ has given you a foretaste of the feast to come; a little heaven manifested here on earth. He has given you not only wine to drink — but something much more precious. In the Lord’s Supper, our Lord graciously serves you by giving you not only wine, but wine that is miraculously united with His true and essential blood. It is as the Lord says to you through Saint Paul in the tenth chapter of First Corinthians: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion in the body of Christ?”

It is also little known that in the Song of Solomon, God associates wine with His love. For example, there the Lord’s bride expresses her joy in the Bridegroom with the words, “He brought me into the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.” Our translations actually use the words “Banqueting house” but the literal translation from the Hebrew is “house of wine” Beth-aiyin. In the Lord’s Supper, we are given a gift of His immeasurable love — not only wine, but along with wine the blood of Christ that has been given for us in the greatest act of love ever known, His shed blood upon Calvary’s Cross.. Christ bought us with His blood, He has washed us in His blood, and now He feeds us with His own body and blood.

All are invited to the wedding feast. But there are those who refuse. And there are also those who first receive the good news in faith — receive the wedding garments prepared for them in faith — but then turn away, abandoning their heavenly Bridegroom, preferring to live in a state of spiritual adultery. They find themselves staying away from church and no longer interested in studying God’s infallible Word, and eventually find themselves void of faith. These people will not enter into the feast but will be cast into everlasting darkness. But for those who by faith receive the white robe of righteousness from Christ and who are found faithful at the end, there is the sure promise of everlasting joy and peace that awaits them.

Through Jesus’ body and blood given for you in the Lord’s Supper and through the Word of the Gospel, Christ continually washes and brightens the spotless wedding garments in which He has so lovingly and freely clothed you in holy baptism. In this way, Jesus manifests His glory to you as He graciously strengthens and preserves you in the one true faith unto everlasting life. Amen.

THANKSGIVING DAY 2020

 Thankfulness and being thankful in good times and bad is aptly displayed in the 1940's Americana art of Norman Rockwell. With the little gallery below I now would like to offer my address for Thanksgiving Day 2020:

“Giving Thanks to Jesus Glorifies God” Text - Luke 17:11-19

11) Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12) Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13) And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14) So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they were went, they were cleansed. 15) And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, 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) So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18) “Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19) And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” NKJV

My Christian friends: This Thanksgiving Day is especially important to observe since the world is so set against being thankful for anything during this pandemic. Nevertheless, showing gratitude for what we have glorifies God. Being grateful is recorded in the Bible, such as the offering Noah gave to the Lord after the flood. Noah, the “preacher of righteousness,” built an altar to the Lord immediately after he and seven of his family came off the Ark after the great, universal flood.

After the landing of the Mayflower at the Plymouth rock in 1620, prayers of thankfulness that glorifying God was most notably held in America’s history of 1621, “after the ingathering of the first harvest in the new world,” Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony invited the pilgrims to keep “a day of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.” It may surprise some people to know that our Thanksgiving Day was neither a religious holiday declared by the Church nor by the Church’s Head, Jesus Christ, but it is a holiday legislated by civil governments in this world.

By an act of congress, November 1, 1777, it declared that the third Thursday in December would be a national Day of Thanksgiving. Later, on October 3, 1863, President Lincoln, by an act of congress, set aside the last Thursday in November to be our National Day of Thanksgiving. Nevertheless our United States Government nowhere states and should never command that anyone is to render worship or gratitude to any god, or even the true God, our Savior Jesus Christ, who is the One who has given us every blessing we have both physical and spiritual.

Colossians 1:16, simply declares that “by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.” True gratitude, friends, cannot be legislated but only comes by faith! It is faith, faith by hearing the Word of God, that brings people to Jesus. It is that faith that makes people come to worship Jesus on a regular basis simply out of gratitude for what He has done and still does!

Faith will even move people to come to Jesus and the heavenly Father in order to receive some special blessing, such as the ten lepers who came for healing of the body, crying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” But the test of genuine faith comes from the fact that a person is so humbled that not only he begs for mercy but that he would come back to the source of mercy to render thanksgiving. This type of grateful faith is received also from the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God. It is a faith that not just humbles the heart but also lifts up the heart in order to render sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

St. Ambrose said it best when he stated that no duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. What a shame it was for the Church in Jesus’ day that only one of the ten lepers was so moved with gratitude to return and offer thanks to Jesus, his healer and redeemer. What a shame for the Jews that it had been the Samaritan, a half-breed of the dispersed ten tribes of Israel, despised of the Jews, who displayed such gratitude. It is not surprising that Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah (29:13), saying, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”

Today, in most cases, people don’t even honor Jesus with their lips (with the exception of the mainline Christian churches who do so only for the sake of tradition.). Case in point: In years past, the NEA (National Education Association), one of the most powerful union groups in the U.S., issued a letter in which was said that Thanksgiving Day is a time to reflect and give thanks for our multi-culturalism. What’s even worse is the Marxist-socialists are bent on what is now commonly known as Cancel Culture (Kultur abbrechen, for you German pilgrims). And this Cancel Culture is directed against Christianity in particular this Thanksgiving.

Luther, however, believed that true thankfulness, which glorifies God the Father, is rendered through Jesus Christ. Dr. Luther, in lecturing on Galatians 1:3-5 said:

“In their writings the Hebrews make it a custom to mingle praise and thanksgiving, a custom observed both by the Hebrews and by the apostles, as is evident very often in Paul. For the name of the Lord should be held in great reverence and should never be mentioned without praise and thanksgiving, which are a certain kind of worship and divine service. In secular matters, when we speak the name of a king or a prince, we make it a custom to do so with some nice gesture, reverence, and genuflection. Much more should we bow the knee of our heart when we speak about God, and we should mention the name of God with gratitude and the greatest reverence.”

Many people today only bow the knee in an act of defiance and hatred and if they feigned any reverence to our Lord, it would certainly be rejected by our Sovereign. As it is written in Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him.”

Maybe Jesus was thinking along these lines when he asked the Samaritan, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” We need to be ever mindful of Jesus’ question when we start to become negligent of our worship practices. Have we not been healed and delivered from sin, death, and the devil? Would we not then want, out of a thankful heart, to worship as often as we can with other believers? It is not enough to assemble only on the appointed holidays such as Thanksgiving Day, Easter and Christmas.

Many don’t understand the real significance of Christ. It is like the morning of December 18th 1903, when the Dayton Journal (Ohio) carried bold headline letters on the front page, “STORES FILLED WITH CHRISTMAS SHOPPERS!” But there was not even one word concerning the historic flight of their two local boys, Orville and Wilbur Wright that took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Lorine, the youngest brother of the fliers, had tried to inform the Dayton press, upon receipt of a telegram. “Fifty-seven seconds, eh?” yawned Journal staffer Frank Tunison. “If it had been fifty-seven minutes it might be a news item.” Such was the clueless, ingratitude of good news displayed upon receipt of the historic flight.

Just think of how insignificant the birth of Christ was to the worldly people at that time. Now think how insignificant this particular Day of Thanksgiving is to all those who feel they don’t owe God any gratitude for the lives they still live in this day of grace. Gratitude, as defined by Henry Ward Beecher, is the most painful thing to bear, next to ingratitude. Reason may tell you that you have worked hard to get what you have and God had nothing to do with the work and progress you have made. You might just continue to accumulate even more before you die. But then what? What does it profit you, then, as Scripture says, if you have all that and yet lose your own soul? “Then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deut. 6:12).

Luther defines gratitude this way:

Gratitude always merits the receipt of more; ingratitude drains the fountain of divine goodness. Gratitude consists of more than the expression “I thank you, Lord God.” It also involves acknowledging first that it is a gift of God, that a person knows that peace, which today holds sway here in Germany, a type of government, and the security that allows one to marry are pure gifts of God. It is a gift of God to have a king and a state and the pest without poison, etc. After all, Satan wants the air polluted, all the land burdened with pestilence and death. That this does not occur is a gift of God. We have so many kings and peoples, so much produce, food, and property, purely out of His goodness. This gratitude consists not only in our words alone but principally in our acknowledgment of the blessing we have received. Those people are rare who make such an acknowledgment. Thus no one gives thanks, nor do people pray. Even those who pray with their mouth do not make this acknowledgment. Gratitude must be involved with prayers because one must confess the gifts he has received. ( Lectures on 1 Timothy 2).

But let’s look to the more cheerful side of the subject. We all have seen the beautiful autumn colors God has given us. Inside, we can smell the aromas coming from the kitchens, which remind us that God has indeed given us a bountiful harvest. For all that, and for the farmers and ranchers of our land, we also owe a debt of gratitude and continually give thanks to the Lord. For our spouses, for good children, for good friends and a godly government we should give thanks. But most of all we should be grateful to Jesus for gathering His church family together who have trusted in their Savior; for all that they have and for heaven itself when we must part ways; or until Jesus comes again to take us to our harvest home.

Lastly, look to the amazing saying of Jesus to the prostrate, worshiping Samaritan: “Rise and go, your faith has made you well!” Again, were not all ten lepers healed? This miracle was done for them specifically to show them that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that God was among them bringing salvation to the world. Yet the other nine were so involved with formalism, in such a hurry to show themselves to the priests (even as Jesus had directed) in order that they could soon be reinstated into society.

The gang of nine refused to understand the significance of the Healer; the gang of nine failed to see what saving faith meant to them. The Lutheran Commentator, R.C.H. Lenski, postured that “Whatever outward arguments this one (leper) had with the other nine (lepers), the decisions were due to something inward. In the heart of the one, out of the faith that made him too, cry to Jesus for mercy, and out of the word of Jesus that had healed him, something was born that was not born in the hearts of the others, something that drew him back to Jesus in spite of the decision of the other nine to go on, something that could not draw the others because it was not born in them because they grasped only at the healing and not also at the Healer.” The other nine could see nothing else but the precepts of the law and therefore refused to return to give thanks out of gratitude to the Healer Himself! The majority isn’t always right, you know. Lord, save us from such a heart as theirs.

2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” In those words we should draw some comfort since one to actually become ungrateful to the real source of all blessings. Dear friends, remember that all people, good and bad, benefit from the blessings of God. All ten were healed...but! Jesus did all His works to glorify His Father, and just as the Son and the Father are One, it is our place to give all honor and glory to the Father through His Son our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, the ones who are truly thankful are the ones who have felt the weight of their sins lifted from their shoulders through knowing the forgiveness of sin freely given them in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the true thank offering rendered by FAITH unto God; this is the FAITH which continues to heal the soul until the last Day when Jesus takes us to be with Him in our Father’s heavenly home. This faith, indeed, makes the believers well. Amen.

You Are Part of a Great Mission

THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

 Slaves to righteousness or to sin seems an appropriate title for the little gallery below. Pic #1 is the 19th century art of Joseph Noel Paton, entitled "Christian at the Foot of the Cross" depicting John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress as Christian completes his spiritual walk on earth and embraces his Master while the three celestial beings look upon his joy; Pic #2 shows the filth of walking in the lust of the flesh. Here is just one photo from the regular perversions in Riverside Church of Manhattan NY (affiliated with the United Church of Christ); Christ's altar, symbolizing His great sacrifice for man's sins, means nothing as Pic #3 shows a couple in a Belfast cathedral having sex on what was once built to be holy; whereas, these are condemned by God's righteous Law, Pic #4 nevertheless shows the extraordinary joy of having been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection, having put on the righteous robes of Christ.

This brings me to my address for this Sunday:

“Freed to Become Slaves”

Galatians 5:16-18 NKJV “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

My Christian friends: St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions (Book 8, Chapter. 7), “Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet.” Augustine recalled, in a humorous manner, that which St. Paul found difficult in Romans chapter 7 as he strove to walk in his born-again nature after the likeness of Christ Jesus. The old man within Augustine had struggled immensely with his new nature. Nevertheless, that which follows justification is sanctification and not just a freedom for freedom’s sake as you, too, would walk according to your new nature.

St. Paul begins the 5th chapter to his letter to the Galatians: “Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage;” and, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.” You, Christian, are called to walk according to your new nature.

As I see it, by walking in your old nature there are two ways of being slaves to sin: You are either placed back into being a slave by yielding to sin’s allures, or you place yourself back into slavery. In order to clarify the first, the third chapter of Galatians, as you heard last Sunday, explains how we are no longer under the strict school-master called the Law since we are justified by grace once faith is revealed. Galatians 3:22-25, reads: “But the Scripture has confined ALL under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” See how the Word of God is attributed to confining (literally, “shutting up” like an inmate in prison) all under sin. This is the result of the sin of all mankind.

The law, however, does come with a guarantee; it guarantees you eternal death. But notice the consequent phrase giving the proper understanding for the Christian, namely, God’s Word confines all of us under sin in order that we may have certain rescue by faith in Christ Jesus. This simple statement runs contrary to all the high-minded church theologians who say that there has been an Easter justification of all people, that is, a forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ mandated by God prior to faith. This simply is not what our text confirms; however, with Christ we die a watery death only to be raised to a newness of life, praise God! Continue to hear what Scripture says with the explanatory next verse: “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.”

Paul now gives us the completed reason for the law, especially for the Christian: “Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” But this freedom does not imply that one is free to sin. On the contrary, if you are free from righteousness you will automatically once more become a slave to sin. If, however, you are a slave to righteousness, you are free from sin.

St. Paul emphasizes this point to the Church in Rome: “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.”

For example, Lutherans should know that we do not attend public worship in order to be saved. It is not necessarily sinful to miss public worship or Mass. But we also know, through compiled statistics of Lutheran memberships in the U.S., that less than half of baptized members attend worship on any given Sunday. Just where is the other half? There may be those use the pandemic we are presently going through as an excuse not to worship with a community of believers. Are not all to return and give thanks to God like in the historic gospel for today, Luke 17:17-19? Have they insisted on their Christian liberty by not returning to church to thank their Savior?

We could insist that they must come worship the Lord according they said they intended to do when they were confirmed. But this lawful way is not a motivating factor in changing their heart; the law can’t reform but only conforms to expectations of the outward behavior. Punishment should never be associated with the forgiveness in the Gospel.

If we use the law to enforce either attendance at our worship services or to change the hearts of our children by spanking their rear ends, then I contend that we have placed the Christian back under the law which can only bring about more lawlessness. Luther confirms what I speak when he said: “Neither is there any difference between a slave of sin and a slave of the Law, because he who is a slave of the Law is a sinner. He never fulfills the Law except to put works on display, and a temporal reward is given him just as it is given to children of slave women.”

You become the Galatian church when you no longer feel the need to hear God’s Word that sets you free and instructs you in doing good works. But then don’t you become slaves again to sin when you also ignore the Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”? We are indeed free from the Law but in a sense that seems nonsense to common man.

Luther again wrote: “For it is human freedom when laws are changed without effecting any change in man, but it is Christian freedom when men are changed without changing the Law. Consequently, the same Law that was formerly hateful to the free will, now becomes a delight since love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”

Isn’t this “delight” Luther mentions about the Law the same, the very same, as when the Psalmist says, “Let Your tender mercies come to me that I may live; for Your law is my delight” (Psalm 119:77)? Yes, indeed; for it is the New Man, being now reborn in the image of the New Adam. It is your new nature reborn in the image of Jesus Christ who will always delight in the Law of the Lord, because the Law is no longer threatening but now embraced as holy and good by the Christian.

Luther continues: “In this freedom (i.e. true Christian freedom), he (the Holy Spirit) teaches us, we must stand strongly and steadfastly, because Christ, who fulfills the Law and overcomes sin for us, sends the spirit of love into the hearts of those who believe in Him. This makes them righteous and lovers of the Law, not because of their own works but freely because it is freely bestowed by Christ.”

If you incline away from this, you are both ungrateful to Christ and proud of yourselves since you want to justify and free yourselves from the Law without Christ.

How dare Christians think that they have the spirit of love and are freed from the Law when they refuse to love and forgive their family members and neighbors? Neither should we think that we are loved of God BECAUSE we have forgiven others. This might give us that spiritual uplift our sinful nature needs, if we feel God will forgive us IF we forgive our neighbor...but this is the flesh talking and not the words of the Holy Spirit.

This brings me to the second point, namely, that we place ourselves back under the Law. Jesus, after teaching His disciples what we call The Lord’s Prayer tags on this truth: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). If Jesus were telling us that we have to forgive the sins of others as a condition for His Father’s forgiving us our own sins, then we have made God obligated to us. We have then placed ourselves once again into slavery to the Law and must keep all things in accordance with the Law of God. But what Jesus means to say is this: “If My love abides within you, you will forgive others who sin against you, no strings attached, just as I forgave you and gave up My life for your sins.” In other words, it is a sure sign that you understand the Gospel and your own forgiveness in that you have the love of Christ and willingly, from the heart, forgive others.

The Word of God says, in Romans 5:8, 10-11: But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us...For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. When you have been set free spiritually you have become a slave to righteousness. Worshiping the Lord, whether in public or individually in Bible readings and devotions, now becomes a joy and not drudgery. You are free in Christ but you are never free to ignore your Savior.

The concept of Sunday School is a good thing but how many know that it was developed for two reasons? Yes, Sunday School was created to help children read and to train them under the law of God until the time of grace should be revealed. Unfortunately many churches today no longer apply the Law as a tutor but rather use the deceptive practices of Church Growth that entice children with food, fun and games, even having inflatable amusements and video games, and call these worldly attractions a Sunday School and, quote, “having church.” But the connection between learning the stories of the heroes of the Old Testament with Jesus is never made; the connection of learning the distinction between Law and Gospel is never taught to Sunday School children. The attention is all on being entertained.

True spiritual understanding is comprehended by the work worked alone through the Word by the Holy Spirit. This knowledge is only comprehended in the Faith College of Bible Knowledge.

When you have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, it means that you desire to be close to Him and want to worship and praise Him, and you want to learn more of Him and obey Him in love. How much more intimate with Jesus can you get than by partaking of His essential and true body and blood? That is why Luther said that if a person stays away for a long time from the Mass, that person should not consider himself a Christian.

Remember that you do not have to exhibit all that is mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21, that is, “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries” in order not led of the Spirit. All you have to do is to fall into this one last category, namely, “and the like”. And if you fall into that category, you are once again a slave to sin and once more condemned by God’s law. But see here what freedom you have when you become a slave to righteousness, controlled by the Holy Spirit; your freedom lies in the joys you have by the fruit of the Spirit, “love, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” “Against such things” St. Paul says, “there is no law.”

When you are led by the Holy Spirit you still need, in this life, to constantly hear of the forgiveness of sins that Jesus earned for us through His perfect obedience to the Law and His perfect sacrifice on the cross, nailing the regulations of the Law with His body to the cross forever. You must see and taste this forgiveness for yourselves in the Holy Supper, which is the same body and blood born of the Virgin and offered once and for all upon the altar of Calvary; it is the same body and blood given to us in and with the bread and the wine for the remission of sin; it is the same body and blood that ascended into the heavens and continues to plead our innocence before the heavenly Father. If knowing all that doesn’t stir you to faithful acts of love, then I suppose you haven’t comprehended the Law of God.

Only the Christian can truly say, as the Psalmist who trusted in the coming Savior, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105), and “I cry out to You; Save me, and I will keep Your testimonies” (Ps.119:116). Dear friends, justification and holiness does not depend upon your keeping the Law of God, but it does depend upon you knowing and responding to the continuing goodness of Jesus by faith who has upheld and fulfilled the Law for you. Do you have a desire to be a slave to Jesus your Master? Then continue to be strong and steadfast in the Word of God for you no longer serve Moses and the Law but are now free by grace; free indeed to become slaves to the righteousness of Christ Jesus, your Lord and Savior. Amen.

The Peasants Revolt Comparable to BLM movement and Antifa

 Murderers and thieves are the BLM and Antifa and should be handled with much force and not reason, since they are, as mobs, unreasonable. The liberal Lutheran churches and those Jesuits in Roman Catholicism need to replace the name "peasants" with their own. Hear how Martin Luther told those in authority how to handle these mad dogs in this excerpt of his treatise: Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants, translated by J.M. Jacobs.

The peasants have taken on themselves the burden of three terrible sins against God and man, by which they have abundantly merited death in body and soul. In the first place they have sworn to be true and faithful, submissive and obedient, to their rulers, as Christ commands, when He says, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” and in Romans 13:2, “Let everyone be subject unto the higher powers.” Because they are breaking this obedience, and are setting themselves against the higher powers, willfully and with violence, they have forfeited body and soul, as faithless, perjured, lying, disobedient knaves and scoundrels are wont to do. St. Paul passed this judgment on them in Romans 13, when he said, that they who resist the power will bring a judgment upon themselves. This saying will smite the peasants sooner or later, for it is God’s will that faith be kept and duty done. In the second place, they are starting a rebellion, and violently robbing and plundering monasteries and castles which are not theirs, by which they have a second time deserved death in body and soul, if only as highwaymen and murderers. Besides, any man against whom it can be proved that he is a maker of sedition is outside the law of God and Empire, so that the first who can slay him is doing right and well. For if a man is an open rebel every man is his judge and executioner, just as when a fire starts, the first to put it out is the best man. For rebellion is not simple murder, but is like a great fire, which attacks and lays waste a whole land. Thus rebellion brings with it a land full of murder and bloodshed, makes widows and orphans, and turns everything upside down, like the greatest disaster. Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel. It is just as when one must kill a mad dog; if you do not strike him, he will strike you, and a whole land with you. In the third place, they cloak this terrible and horrible sin with the Gospel, call themselves “Christian brethren,” receive oaths and homage, and compel people to hold with them to these abominations. Thus they become the greatest of all blasphemers of God and slanderers of His holy Name, serving the devil, under the outward appearance of the Gospel, thus earning death in body and soul ten times over. I have never heard of more hideous sin.