The Parable of the Sinful Samaritan

Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

August 25, 2013

Luke 12:23–37

Growing up vacationing in a motorhome, one of the things I got used to noticing were stickers on RVs that had a big smiling face of a man with a halo over his head and the words underneath, “The Good Sam Club.” The Good Sam Club, of course, took its cue from Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Here was this Samaritan who saw a person in need and stopped to help him in his need. When RVers joined the Good Sam Club, they were pledging to help fellow RVers in their need.

In the parable, Jesus obviously is distinguishing the Samaritan from the two Jewish characters in the story, the priest and the Levite. Those two did not stop to help the man in need, but the Samaritan did. The Good Sam Club did not form as an organization for theological motives, but simply to provide a way for people to join together to help each other out. However, often Christians take a similar approach to their theology. What is Jesus teaching us in the parable of the Good Samaritan? We should be like the Good Samaritan, of course!, and not like those wretched Jewish priests and Levites who wouldn’t even stop to help a poor soul in need.

But if this is really what Jesus is getting at, then what truly is the difference between His religion and, say, an organization such as the Good Sam Club? There is no difference. The man who was testing Jesus was wanting a theology similar to what can be found in a secular organization such as the Good Sam Club. Jesus, however, is teaching something radically different.

Looking again at the parable Jesus teaches, what is the difference between the Samaritan and the two other guys, the priest and the Levite? The answer is: absolutely nothing. There is no difference. The priest and the Levite were obviously sinful human beings. Their actions attest to that. The thing that is easily missed is that so was the Samaritan. The Jews found it easy to notice that those heretic Samaritans were sinners. And they were right. The Samaritans were sinners, just as the one in Jesus’ parable was. What might have been harder for them to realize is that they were just as much sinful people as those hated Samaritans were.

So the Parable of the Good Samarian might better be titled the Parable of the Sinful Samaritan. There were three sinners who traveled the road the man was on who had been beaten and left for dead. There was no difference between them. For that matter, there was no difference between these three and the robbers and the man who had gotten beaten up! All were sinners.

Jesus’ response to the man is striking. Surely it can’t be right. The man asks what he must do to gain eternal life and Jesus directs him to the Law? What does it say? How do you read it? The man answers correctly. Exceptionally well, in fact. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Wow, the man knew his stuff. That is the essence of the Law of God, the summary of the Ten commandments. And what does Jesus say to him? “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

So is Jesus now teaching salvation by works? Is He directing the man to the Law so that he can indeed gain salvation by what he does rather than by grace alone? Is Jesus, after all, doing what every other religion does and teach that there is something we must do in order to gain eternal life? What Jesus is doing in fact is answering the man in the way he is approaching God. If you want to know what you can do to gain favor with God, Jesus will tell you. You must be perfect. You must go to the Law of God and keep it down to its last jot and tittle. So, yes, what Jesus said is true. Do this and you will live. You will have eternal life exactly as you have desired it.

But don’t we know deep down that that can’t happen? That it’s not that God will renege on His part of the bargain, but more that we simply will fall short. That far from keeping all the Ten Commandments, we’ll be lucky if we can get beyond the first one.

Ask a Law question and you will get a Law answer. The man asks Jesus about God and salvation but from a Law standpoint. Not from how God brings it about, but from how he can do something whereby God will be expected to grant him eternal life. Ask a Law question, get a Law answer. And the Law will always fail you if you hang your hat on it. That’s what Jesus shows in his parable of the Samaritan. This was Jesus’ response to the man’s second attempt at getting a satisfying answer to his question.

Jesus’ first answer was straight-forward. You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. But the man, Luke says, wished to justify himself. That’s easy for You to say, Jesus, keep the Law and you will live. But I want to show you that I am one who deserves eternal life. So if I am to love my neighbor as myself, who is my neighbor? The answer is the one who is not worthy of your time or your money or your effort. The answer is the one you would just as soon ignore. The answer is the one you naturally think of as one who is opposed to you.

This is who the Samaritans were. They were the enemies. And it wasn’t a one-sided thing. The Samaritans hated the Jews just as much as the Jews hated the Samaritans. Each thought they were the true people of God. So when this man, a Jew, asked Jesus who he should love as himself, his neighbor, he was expecting the guy down the street; his fellow Jew; a person who is worthy of love; something along those lines. But not a Samaritan! Not the hated half-breeds from up north. Not someone who is not worthy to be spoken of in polite company.

But this is the beauty of Jesus’ parable. It is the beauty of His answer to how one gains eternal life. The Samaritan is not the one in need. The Samaritan is not the one in the story who needs help. It is indeed a fellow Jew. And what happens? The two other Jews in the story pass right on by. And they are not even your ordinary Jews, but a priest, and a Levite! These do not see a neighbor in that man lying there half-dead. Their own fellow Jew. What if it had been a Samaritan? It wouldn’t have made a difference. These religious Jews weren’t about to stop and help one in need.

But it was the hated Samaritan who did. The man had asked, Who is my neighbor? Jesus responded with a question of His own. Who was the neighbor to the man who needed help? It was the Samaritan, of course. Or, as the man said it, “The one who showed him mercy.” And this is where we see how Jesus teaches the man that it is not by works that he will be saved. It is not by anything he will do or any attempt to justify himself that he will gain eternal life. But it is rather by mercy. It is rather by God’s pure gift to the man.

Ask a Law question, and you will get a Law answer. When the man responded to Jesus, getting it right once again, “The one who showed mercy on him,” Jesus said, “You go, and do likewise.” Do this and you will live. Be a neighbor to the one in need. Have mercy on the one who is your sworn enemy. Give of your own time, your own money, your own effort to help the one who is left for dead, and you will live. You will have eternal life and blessings beyond your wildest imagination.

And is this because you have done all this? Has Jesus reversed course again and reverted to teaching salvation by works, by what we do? No, He has done just the opposite. To see this, we go back again to our alternate title of the parable, the Parable of the Sinful Samaritan. The fact that the Samaritan was the good Samaritan wasn’t due to him being somehow a better person than the priest or the Levite. It was due to him having been justified, as the man testing Jesus had sought, but justified by grace. Justified by the Gospel, by God forgiving him his sins. Not by keeping the Law. Not by attempting to show his worth to God. The priest and the Levite were prime examples of the Law of God, but they did not see the need for showing mercy as they had received it. The Samaritan was outside of the Jews’ law.

As he walked down that road he did so as a justified sinner. The priest was a sinner, and so was the Levite. The Samaritan saw a man in need. One who was as he was. The Samaritan received mercy and simply did what people who have received mercy do, they show it others. Especially those in need. They do not consider that the person they’re helping is not worthy, or their hated rival, or cannot repay them. They just do it. Having received mercy, they give mercy. They live under mercy, they are merciful to others.

We can be grateful that there are people who want to be in organizations like the Good Sam Club. We can be grateful that there are people who simply help others out whether they’re in an organization for that or not. We can be grateful that there are people who want to be good people. Mostly what we can be grateful for is mercy. Not what we can do, how much we can do, what will be enough for God to take us in. Simply mercy. God’s mercy in His Son. The sinless one who walked the road we were on and picked us poor sinners up and poured out for oil His own blood to wash away all our sins. Who did not walk on by but walked to the cross so that He could suffer as the sinner in our place. He did this for those who did not deserve it, you and me. He did this for those who are not worthy, everyone.

There is one who is good and He is Christ. There is one who needed no justification but is the one who has justified all in His suffering, death, and resurrection. There is one who gives you balm in your need, medicine for your soul; one who brings you to the Inn of the Church and there feeds you with His body and blood. Who forgives you. Who strengthens you. Who preserves you in body and soul to life everlasting. Amen.

SDG

The Greater Glory of God

Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

August 18, 2013

Mark 7:31–37

What God has done is glorious. That was the estimation of the people. Here this man was deaf, and he could now hear. Here this man could speak only in jumbled words, and now he was speaking clearly and freely. This was glory that only God could bring about. “He has done all things well,” the people proclaimed. And there is no question. This was a great glory of God. God bringing healing to this man. God restoring this man, bringing this blessing to him.

But there is a greater glory of God. The crowds alluded to it, though without question did not fully realize it. It is in what they said. “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Mark says they were astonished at this glory of Jesus bringing hearing to the man and the ability to speak. Mark recounts their words. But he wasn’t simply stating what they stated. He was putting the words of the crowd in his Gospel account as a direct reference to the promise of the Old Testament of the Savior who would come. He would be the one, as today’s Old Testament reading says, that in the day He would come “the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.”

This was a promise of the greater glory of God. Would it be amazing glory for the deaf to hear and the blind to receive their sight? No doubt. But the Old Testament didn’t spill all those pages of ink simply to tell us about the glory of God in healing people of their infirmities and physical limitations. That’s great glory, to be sure. But there is a greater glory of God.

God gave His words to the prophets in the Old Testament to tell of the one who would come to restore. The bringing of hearing to the deaf and sight to the blind wasn’t simply for healing, which is great glory in itself. It primarily was for the greater glory, restoration. God brought restoration to that man that day. He could now hear. He could now speak. He was restored to how God had originally created the crown of His creation, human beings. We weren’t created for ears that don’t hear. God did not bring us into existence only for us not to be able to see His glorious creation. God’s will was that we share in all His glory.

But we were the ones who chose to listen to words other than His alone. We were the ones who choose to look to ourselves and the enticements of the world rather than to Him alone for all good that we need. We chose our own way. That is why some are deaf and some are blind and some are paralyzed and some suffer from chemical imbalance and some suffer injury and some contract cancer and why all have limitations, aches, pains, hardships, and things generally don’t work the way they should with our bodies and minds. Sin entered the world and along with it a host of disease and disaster and illness and tragedy.

God’s will is clear. We see that from His amazing decision of creating us and giving us everything that is His. Why is it when you have everything you want more? This happened when Satan fell, rebelling against his Lord. It happened when he tempted Adam and Eve. It happens when he tempts us. God gives us more than we could ever want or imagine, but we want what we think we don’t have. Because of our rebellion, we live in a fallen world. It is a world of sickness, sin, and trouble.

It is most certainly great glory that God gives healing where we need it. He invites us to pray when we or our loved ones are suffering from pain or sickness. It is wonderful glory when God gives the answer of yes to our prayers for healing of physical and temporal hardships. We should never let up in our prayers in this regard, He has promised to hear us and to bless us according to His good and gracious will; at times with physical healing.

But even so, there is a greater glory of God. This doesn’t minimize His glorious work of healing cancer, or depression, or heart murmurs, or any number of medical issues we face. Rather, His glorious work of healing and restoring points us to His greater glory. Those who witnessed a man who was not able to hear or to speak normally now hearing and speaking as they were able, caught on to the glory of God. They were exactly right in what they exclaimed about Jesus. But they did not see exactly how they were right. Jesus’ work of restoration—bringing hearing to this man, restoring sight to that one, giving strength to paralyzed legs to another, casting out a demon from a child, and a multitude of other miraculous actions—was all a work in progress. In other words, when Jesus brought hearing and clear to speech to that man on that day, that wasn’t a one-time action to be understood on its own. It was part of a larger, glorious work of God being brought about through this man the Old Testament prophesied of.

For there was a greater glory God was yet to bring about. It was a work which culminated in the cross. Whereas Jesus had spent three years bringing healing and hope to the downtrodden and the sick, on the cross, He was the one who was brought low. He was the one who suffered. He was the one who was brutally treated. He was the one who took on Himself all our infirmities and rebellion. He was the one who suffered as though He were the guilty one. He was the one who suffered as the sinner, in the place of every sinner—you, me, and everyone who has ever lived and ever will live. There was a greater glory of God, and this was it. There was an act in which He had done all things well, and this was it.

If the man who had his ears opened by Jesus and his tongue loosed by Jesus thought that this was the most glorious thing he could experience, well, he hadn’t seen anything yet. Or heard anything yet, for that matter. It was at the cross where his path to God was opened up. It was at the cross where the bonds of his sin was loosed. The man who received his hearing and his speech received a greater glory when the same Lord who gave him his hearing and speech was silent as His Heavenly Father laid on Him the iniquity of us all. There was a greater glory of God and it was in this, in God forsaking His Son so that we may be restored.

There was a greater glory in that though the man whose ears now worked and mouth now spoke clearly could wake every day to an amazing new life of hearing and speaking, would at some point face what is due all of us, because of sin: death. He would die one day. And he knew that. We all do. Whatever glory might be shown in your life, whether through God granting you healing, or preserving you in an accident, or whatever way He helps you, you know that at some point you will die.

But there is a greater glory God has shown in His Son. It happened to Him. He was laid to rest in a grave. He has gone the way before you. He has sanctified the grave so that you don’t have to fear it. The greater glory of God was submitting to the grave but not be bound by it. Because death cannot hold the Lord. The greater glory of God is that in three days He Himself was loosed from the tomb. The bonds of the linen were unbound. He rose having conquered sin, death, hell, and the devil. The greater glory of God is that no matter what you face, whether illness or trials or temptation, Jesus has conquered all of those things in His death and resurrection.

All of this Jesus has accomplished. He has accomplished it for you. It is a done deal. He did it. It is a historical event, an action He has brought about in the past and so it cannot be undone. Salvation is not up to speculation, it is true. And it is true for you.

But there is a greater glory. With God it’s not quite like, and that’s all there is to it. No, with God, there’s always a greater glory. With a great God comes great glory. And with God bringing about His glory through His Son, there’s always greater glory to be given; greater glory to be received by us. That’s why there’s a greater glory for you in your Baptism. The death He died, He died for all, including you. In Baptism you were joined in that death He died for you. The resurrection He rose to, He rose for you and your life without death having power over you. In Baptism, you were joined in that resurrection He rose. There is greater glory in your Baptism than an anything you might wish for in terms of blessings in this life, as great as those blessings are. In Baptism, He has restored you. He has opened up for you not only your ears and your eyes and your mouth, but your whole being! You have new and eternal life in Christ!

Even so, with Him, there is always greater glory. In sending His Son to take a man who could not hear aside. To touch Him. To lift up a sigh to His Heavenly Father, and to give this man hearing and clear speech. We see that the greater glory of God is to do the same with you. Restoring you in body and soul. Touching your lips with the bread of His Meal, with the wine of His Supper. Imparting to you for your eating and drinking His body and blood in and with that bread and wine. You may long for healing. You may long for the day when your troubles and trials subside. Here at His Table, He gives you refreshment from your sorrows and troubles. He restores you in body and soul. He gives you His body and blood. He forgives you. He strengthens you. He sustains you and lifts you up.

He has done all things well. Amen.

SDG

Confidence and Humility

Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

August 11, 2013

Luke 18:9–14

Confidence is not to the exclusion of humility and humility is not to the exclusion of confidence. If you are not humble in your confidence, the fault is not with confidence. Likewise, if you are humble, but lacking in confidence, you are not truly humble.

The difference is found in what your confidence is in. It is found in why you are humble. Confidence and humility are not at odds with each other but rather form a beautiful marriage. Trying to divorce the two from each other does disservice to both and to the perfect marriage found in both of them.

Jesus told a parable to people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. They were completely confident but lacked humility. The problem wasn’t that they were confident, it’s that they weren’t humble. This led them to be confident in the wrong thing: themselves. Since they were confident in themselves, they saw what was lacking in others and treated others with disdain.

Luke says that Jesus told this parable to those people; people who had that problem. Who were they? Were there some who weren’t that way? Are there some still today who do that? Are there some who don’t? Luke doesn’t specify who they were, just that Jesus told the parable to those who operated this way.

The best bet in this situation is to not speculate. No specific people are mentioned, just that there are those who are this way and Jesus was speaking to them. Confidence in yourself would assume He was speaking to someone else. You know, someone who really needed to hear it. Humility would assume He was speaking to you. That is, someone who really needed to hear it. So let’s go with that application. He’s speaking to you and me. Confidence abounds, but in the wrong thing. In ourselves.

This confidence Jesus is talking about is not self-esteem. It’s not, I feel really good about myself, or, I feel confident that I’m really good at certain things. It’s a confidence based on being convinced of something that gives the confidence. When comparing yourself with others, you find much good about yourself and much lacking in others. This kind of confidence is blinding, because you see only what you want to see, in yourself and in others. It leads to an inflated sense of yourself and disdain for others.

In Jesus’ parable, He reverses the roles of the two characters. The Pharisee is the one we’re supposed to look up to and follow the example of. The tax collector is the one we are supposed to take notice of and not follow that path. But Jesus reverses the roles. The Pharisee has a lot of confidence, but it is all in himself. The tax collector only has humility, there is nothing in himself he can see worthwhile in making an appeal to God.

The Pharisee actually speaks the truth. His confidence in himself is warranted, because he is indeed a good person. He prays, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” He does not act in selfishness like those he mentioned, who act in ways that are selfish and that harm others. Rather, as he states, his actions are selfless. He does things that are not geared toward himself but toward others. His confidence abounds because he believes that what those others do warrants condemnation, and what he does warrants favor.

Jesus turns the tables on those who think this way. This actually is utterly self-centered. The focus is not on God, but on self. The prayer is not for God’s will but rather for God to acknowledge the goodness of the Pharisee. The confidence is not in God but in self. The Pharisee went home from the temple not justified, but righteous in his own eyes. He went in that way and he received his reward. He was convinced he was right in this. How fortunate God was that there are people like him!

The tax collector was everything the Pharisee said about him. He was not worthy to be in the presence of God, and so he stood far off. He was not a good person and so did not even lift his eyes in the presence of God. He was overwhelmed with his sin and guilt, sorrowful over his state. He beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” What the Pharisee accused the tax collector of, the tax collector confessed of himself. The Pharisee compared himself to the tax collector. The tax collector compared himself to God. The Pharisee pointed out that the tax collector was not worthy, and the tax collector agreed. He could not stand before God stating anything good within himself as the Pharisee did about himself. All he could do was confess his sin, and so he did.

But whereas the Pharisee appealed to God on the basis of confidence in himself, the tax collector appealed to God on the basis of humility and a plea for mercy. That’s the difference between the two, but notice the similarity. One was humble, the other was not. The tax collector had no confidence in himself, but in humility appealed to God on the basis of His mercy: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” But in this was the very thing he had in common with the Pharisee, full and complete confidence. It wasn’t as the Pharisee’s was, in himself. It was rather confidence in God.

The Pharisee was confident but not humble. The tax collector was humble and also confident. The Pharisee’s confidence led him to no humility. The tax collector’s humility led him to full confidence. The Pharisee had confidence in himself, and therefore no humility. The tax collector was in complete humility and therefore complete confidence, but not in himself, in God. This led to the conclusion of Jesus that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” His conclusion bears out that what is needed is not humility to the exclusion of confidence, but rather humility that leads to confidence. It is humility regarding oneself and confidence in God.

The one who has confidence in himself does not have confidence in God and certainly not humility. The one who is humble has no confidence in himself and therefore must have confidence solely in God. This is why Jesus says, “I tell you, this man—the tax collector—went down to his house justified, rather than the other.” The appeal to God for mercy is met with the giving of mercy. God justified that tax collector. “God, I have nothing to give you, because all that I am and do is sinful. Therefore, be merciful to me.” And this is what the man received, mercy. He was justified, forgiven. He was declared innocent of all that he had done. The Pharisee, on the other hand, walked away guilty of his sin even though he remained confident in his self-righteousness.

So for you and me the choice is clear. We can walk away from here in confidence and leave the humility to others. Or we can walk away from here in humility and complete confidence. The difference makes all the difference in the world. The righteousness of the Pharisee got him by in this lifetime. The humility of the tax collector and the confidence he had in the God of mercy got him through this lifetime and to eternity. You and I have come here today as did the Pharisee and tax collector. Blessed are we if we do not seek to know who is who and which one applies to what people we know, but rather see in ourselves what the tax collector saw in himself—sin, wretchedness, unworthiness. Nothing in himself worth having confidence in.

And blessed are we if we see also what he saw in God—mercy, love, abounding grace, forgiveness. Blessed are we if we see that confidence is a good, holy, wonderful thing, for the God who has given us His Son is the God worth having confidence in. That is because it is confidence based on the humility of God’s own Son, humbling Himself on the cross to bear the sin of the world and yet fully confident in His Father that His suffering was not in vain. It is was rather what accomplished salvation and the basis for the Father’s mercy on sinners.

It is indeed humbling to admit our sin. To confess our wretchedness and unworthiness. It is indeed a blessed thing to be exalted by the gracious and merciful God, for He is the God who justifies you. He is the God who forgives you on the basis of His own Son, the Exalted One, humbling Himself on the cross, thereby showing and delivering His mercy to sinners such as we are. Sinners who have no confidence in ourselves but are given the green light for full confidence in the one who paid the penalty for our sin and guilt and condemnation. The one who blesses us with the blessing that though sinners, we go home justified.

And going home justified means not simply going home today justified. It means living daily in this mercy, this justification. It means going home to the place our Father has prepared for us. It means receiving in humility and full confidence that the body and blood of our Lord we receive at His invitation is that very body and blood which justifies us sinners now and forever. Amen.

SDG

Jesus Warns You to Protect You

Eighth Sunday after Trinity

July 21, 2013

Matthew 7:15–23

It’s a beautiful sunny day and you’re driving along, enjoying the day and the weather. Up ahead on the side of the road is a yellow sign. You know that’s a warning sign so you take note. “Slippery when wet.” Immediately you dismiss it because it doesn’t apply. Beautiful day. Beautiful weather. Dry road. You’re good to go. You can drive right on by that warning sign without taking heed to that warning.

When you get to the office building where you work and before crossing the lobby area you are met with something that normally is not there, you stop to look. It is a sign and it says, “Caution. Wet floor.” You continue on, but slowly. You know you have been warned and you know that the floor you normally stride right across is now dangerous if you’re not careful.

The first warning you rightly dismissed because the warning didn’t apply to you under the conditions. The second warning could only be described as your fault if you ignored it. And so you come to the conclusion that both warnings are good, because they are necessary when the conditions apply to the situation you’re in. Even though heeding the warning inhibits you and limits you and restrains you, it is for your good, as well as for the good of others.

If the road is wet and you continue on at an unsafe speed, you not only put yourself in danger but you put others at risk. If you waltz right across the floor like you normally do, you put the company at risk of an insurance claim. Warnings are good and heeding them is good.

The warning Jesus gives in the Gospel reading is to beware of false prophets. He gives the warning for your good: your safety, your welfare, your benefit. He gives you the warning because without it you may be unaware of the danger posed by false prophets. If you don’t know a portion of the road gets really slippery when it’s wet, you will continue on as you are and it may come to your harm and put others in danger. If you don’t know there was a spill on the floor at work, you might waltz right across and end up breaking your arm. Warnings make you aware of danger. They tell you of something you otherwise might not be aware of. Warnings are good.

How would you know of the threat posed by false teachers if Jesus did not warn you of them? They look nice. They sound nice. They speak well. As Jesus says, “They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Outwardly, they look like true shepherds of Christ’s flock. They appear as wonderful, godly, preachers and pastors who care and love the people of God. They seem to have a heart for God and a passion for missions. They look like the very ones you would point to to show that there is a servant of God.

They are not. They are false prophets. They are ravenous wolves. They will tear you to pieces spiritually. But how do you know who the false prophets are? Jesus has warned you, beware of them. How are you to beware of them if they look on the outside like the very ones you should be listening to and taking to heart what they say and preach and teach?

Jesus says, “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” You can’t go on appearances. Just because a pastor says he is a faithful pastor doesn’t mean he is. Just because he sounds like a godly pastor or appears to be a faithful leader in God’s Church, doesn’t mean he is. You must look at the fruit that is produced in his ministry. If it is fruit that delivers something other than the Gospel, the man is a false prophet. If he points you to someone or something other than Jesus Christ and your hope and salvation in Christ alone, then you are hearing the words of a wolf who will destroy you, not a shepherd who will guide you and guard you.

Jesus says, “Every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Those who know trees can see things that those of us who don’t know cannot see. They can see disease on a tree where we just see a tree. They can see the difference between rich, lush fruit, and diseased or unhealthy fruit, whereas we just see a fruit tree. Without knowing what you’re looking for, you may miss the signs completely between was is bad and what is good.

That’s why the false prophets are so hard to spot. They look like the true shepherd. They look like the good trees. But their real actions are those of ravenous wolves. Their true fruit is bad fruit. You need to know what you’re looking for to spot them. Otherwise they will devour you. They will lead you astray and poison you with spiritual poison.

What you need to look for is doctrine. True doctrine is what delivers to you life-giving gifts of salvation. False doctrine is what destroys you and leaves you without hope and salvation. The Word of God, the Bible, is the only source God has given us for true doctrine. He’s God, so certainly He could reveal to us true doctrine in another way, or even many other ways. And if He wanted to do that, He would be in His rights to do that. He simply hasn’t shown us, though, that He has. What He has done, is reveal Himself to us in a general way through creation and each individual’s conscience. And He has revealed Himself to us in very specific ways through His Son, God in the flesh, and His Holy Word, the Bible, and in the Sacraments Christ instituted for His Holy Christian Church.

In the general ways, creation and conscience, we see evidence that there is a god. But we don’t find out who or what the god is. It is only in the Bible that we find that the true God is the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Only the Bible makes known to us that there is one true God and who exactly He is. It is in the second Person of the Triune God, Jesus, that we see God’s revelation of Himself primarily in God’s action of becoming flesh. God humbling Himself to become a man was His amazing decision to save us from our sin and condemnation. As God, He certainly could have chosen to do it in a different way, but He didn’t. He did it in this way. In His Son; in Jesus, the Word made flesh. True God becoming true man. The second Person of the Trinity taking on human nature and dying in the place of all who have been created by God but sadly who have fallen into sin.

God has given us this doctrine, this teaching of who He is and that we are sinful and that He has accomplished salvation in His Son, to us in the Bible. Any doctrine that is taught that goes beyond the Bible, or takes away from the Bible, or alters the Bible, is false doctrine. Any pastor who teaches such doctrine is a false teacher, a false prophet. We have been warned. We need to be on the lookout. We need to be aware. We need to go forward not with abandon but with caution. When we hear false doctrine we must confront it. When we are taught false doctrine we must resist it.

The purpose of this is the safety of the flock. A true pastor, a shepherd God has called to tend the flock, guides and protects the flock. The teaching and preaching of true doctrine not only delivers salvation to the people of God but also protects them from Satan, who seeks to devour. It is true that it is the responsibility and the duty of a pastor to preach and teach faithfully. It is also true that they are sinners as we all are. It is true that many of them are not faithful and are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Therefore, it is true that all of us need to be on guard. We need to heed the warning our Lord gives us. Beware of the false prophets. Beware of the ones whose fruits do not comport with their appearance. Of the ones whose teaching and preaching points us to someone or something other than Christ alone for salvation.

There’s another reason. And that is for the sake of the false prophet. If you do not make known to the false prophet his error you are aiding and abetting it. That means we all need to vigilant in keeping our pastors accountable on the basis of the Word of God. If a pastor is preaching and teaching false doctrine, he needs to be called on it. He needs to be given the opportunity to repent of his error, for the sake of his soul and for the sake of his hearers.

Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” These men Jesus is referring to are false prophets; ones who continued on in their error without repenting. Was it because no one had called them to repentance? Was it because people had, but the false prophets refused to listen and refused to repent? Regardless, we must call false prophets to repentance on the basis of the Word of God. They call Him “Lord,” they prophesy in His name, they cast out demons in His name, and they do many mighty works in His name. But He will cast them out into utter darkness and flames of fire. He will say to them, “I never knew you, you are a worker of lawlessness.”

It’s never easy to confront those who stand in the place of God and speak the opposite of what God has called them to speak. That is why God has given us His Word. It points us unwaveringly and manifestly to Christ and salvation in Him alone. The Bible is clear. There is one man who died on the cross for the sin of the world, and that man is Jesus, the one born of Mary and begotten of the Father. He is the Savior of the world. He is your Savior. He sends pastors out to be true prophets. Hear them as though you were hearing your Lord and so you also will be warned of those who point you away from Christ. His warning is to protect you, just as His Gospel is to save you. Amen.

SDG

Seeing All of God’s Blessings

Seventh Sunday after Trinity

July 14, 2013

Mark 8:1–9

There is universal truth and there is truth that is appropriated. Universal truth is a fact. Something that is true is true, whether you believe it or not. But even though it’s true, if it is not appropriated by you, it doesn’t do you any good. It is good, in and of itself, but it still doesn’t do you any good personally.

The sun rises every day. That is truth, and it is universal. But what if you close your eyes to that fact, literally. What if you say, “I am going to cover my eyes my whole life just to prove that the sun doesn’t rise every day. I can’t see it rise every day, and therefore it is not true.” The truth remains, but you have not appropriated it. The fact of the sun rising every day is not a fact, a truth, for its own sake. God didn’t create the sun to operate that way for the simple action of it rising every day. He created the sun to shine its light. The sun rises so that we may see and work and enjoy the beauty of this world. Making use of the sun’s light, opening your eyes and using them, appropriates the truth of the rising of the sun to your personal life.

It is universal truth that God has accomplished salvation for everyone. It is also true that not everyone is saved. The reason is that the universal truth of God’s salvation for everyone is a fact, but it is not appropriated by everyone. Just as a person closing his eyes to the rising of the sun does not get the benefit of the rising of the sun, so the person closing his eyes to God’s salvation doesn’t receive the benefit of that salvation.

Now we can see the sun rising each day. There’s not much faith involved there. I know it rose today, just as it has every day of my life, and I am confident it will rise again tomorrow. I am equally confident it will continue every day for the rest of my life. Now somewhat more difficult to grasp this is with the person who is blind from birth. This person has never seen the sun rise. He must take it on faith that what everyone tells him about the sun, that it rises every day and gives light to the world, is true. The fact of it is true even though that person cannot see it. It is also true that that person cannot appropriate the truth of it as far as some of the benefits of it, as he cannot see to make use of the light. The warmth of the sun, the balance it gives to the maintenance of the solar system, those are benefits even the blind person receives even though he has never seen this thing we call the sun.

Regarding the universal truth of salvation, we are not just blind—like a person who is blind and cannot appropriate some of the benefits of the sun—we are utterly blind in that we cannot appropriate any of the benefits of the salvation God has secured for us. The blind person can’t see by the light of the sun, but can live comfortably because of the warmth of the sun. We are spiritually blind from birth and therefore not only cannot see the light of salvation, we can’t experience any of the warmth or balance it provides for our life now and eternally. Far from being blind and not being able to get around as easily in this life, spiritually we are blind and in a cave with no way to get out and no source of any help or benefit.

This is the universal truth, and most people deny it. Truth be told, all of us deny it, for we are sinful from birth. Our sinful nature does not see this truth and does not wish to acknowledge it. The disciples exhibit this in their response to Jesus. He knows the people are hungry. They’ve been with Him for some time. They’re hungry, they won’t be able to make it back home unless they are fed. The problem is that they are out in a place where there’s no food. The disciples recognize the simple fact that there’s no way these people can be fed in this situation.

But Jesus truly sees. He is spiritually aware. The disciples are blind. They are seeing things in their sinful flesh. They deny the plain truth that Jesus is Lord and brings salvation. He tells His disciples that He has compassion on the people. God’s salvation for everyone is in body and soul. It is with temporal blessings as well as eternal. It is with the things we need in this life as well as for what we need eternally. He has compassion. This is how God sees. He sees in compassion. We see through our sinful eyes, which means we don’t see at all. We deny the plain truth of God’s salvation in His Son. “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” the disciples said to Him.

What Jesus does next is feed the people. Here you see that your spiritual blindness can only be conquered by the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. Here you see that in taking a few loaves of bread and a few small fish, your inability to feed yourself, both physically and spiritually, can only come by your Lord feeding you. It is when those who don’t believe in Jesus deny this that they do not appropriate the truth of it. In other words, they go along in this life, perhaps even just fine by human standards, but never receive the benefits of what their Lord gives in salvation. They will claim, I am able to feed myself by having a job and working and doing what is necessary to live a very good life. And that is true as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go very far, because it goes only as far as themselves. Or perhaps even as far as all people in history. But the fact is, what they are denying is the God who brought them into existence. The God who created them and gave them all the blessings of this life. Without Him and without His creating all of this, those people would have nothing.

So often we who should know better take for granted the blessings God gives to us in this life. Yes, we do all the things we do to eat and make a living. But it is all from God. It is because of His compassion on us, His love for us. His salvation of us is not just far off into the future, it is here and now. It is in body as well as soul. He gives you food. He gives you a home. He gives you leaders. He gives you family. He gives you many blessings in this life. It is all from Him. Anything we do to bring these things about is also from Him. He gives us the ability to do what we need to do to take care of ourselves and our family.

There’s another blessing that comes along with this and it is one our sinful nature also does not see. It is that because our Lord gives us so much that our focus and energy does not constantly need to be on ourselves; what we need, what we need to do. It can be on others. It can be on helping and serving others. It can be on giving to others in their needs. If my focus is always on myself, what I do to provide for myself, then I am denying that it is my Lord who gives me everything I need. If my focus, rather, is on my Lord, who gives me what I need, I can see from that Light that there are many people in this world who have needs and who need help and that God calls me to serve and love them.

The Bible says that for us Christians this begins with the Household of Faith. If we cannot love and serve our own brother and sister Christians, how do we expect to love and serve those outside the Christian Church? As a congregation, this begins with our own congregation. We love each other. We help each other. We pray for each other. We encourage each other. We use the time God has given us to do these things, the talents He has given us, and the treasure He has given us. Individually, we cannot carry on the mission of Prince of Peace. But collectively, we can. Each of us giving of our offerings enables the mission and ministry of Prince of Peace to continue. Because God has blessed us so much, our focus doesn’t always need to be on ourselves individually, but rather, it can also be on us collectively, as congregation.

That’s where it starts, with the Household of Faith. It continues on from there. We love and serve our family members, our neighbors, those in this community, those we work with, those we socialize with, and many other people in our lives and who come into our lives. Whether they see it or not, God is working through us to love and serve them. Just as Jesus used simple things like bread and fish to feed many people, He uses simple things like our time, our talents, and our treasure to feed people physically and spiritually.

All of this is God in action. When He looks out at the people He has created, He has compassion on them. He loves them. He serves them. He feeds them. He nourishes them. Jesus came for this purpose. When He fed the crowds that day, He showed that this is why He came. They were unable to feed themselves, because they had been taking in the Word as He was preaching and teaching it to them. The disciples did not see that His salvation He was making known was all-inclusive. And so He feeds the crowds with food. How much more was He yet to give! His very life. His very body. His very blood being shed.

Looking back on it now, we see that it was a great miracle Jesus did in feeding thousands with a little bit of food. We see it was a wonderful blessing, as He desires to feed us in our need, and have us live a life in which we may enjoy His blessings. Looking back on it now, we see with new eyes, new sight; eyes that have been enlightened by the Light of the World. Our sinful flesh having been crucified with Christ. A new man rising forth. We now become a new creation in Christ. As Jesus fed thousands with a little bread and fish, He has fed everyone with Himself, He has given His life on the cross for our sin.

As He gave His life on the cross He continues to feed and nourish us. With simple bread and simple wine He feeds us with His body and blood. He nourishes us with Himself, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World. Now we can see what He sees. Opportunity. Blessings. Gifts received, gifts to share. Eternal life even in the midst of this earthly life. Blessings in body and soul. Amen.

SDG

What God Demands, He Gives

Sixth Sunday after Trinity

July 7, 2013

Matthew 5:20–26

What God demands He gives. He demands more than you can accomplish but gives in abundance.

There are many things we could say about God. We could talk about how He is almighty. He can do anything. We can marvel at His work of creation, bringing everything into existence. And doing so by the simple speaking of His word. We could talk about His love, His abounding mercy and grace. We could talk about His eternal nature, that He is without beginning and without end.

And as Christians, we do in fact spend a good amount of time talking about these things. We marvel at them, rejoice in them, confess them, and praise Him for them. As Christians we should in fact do this. There is indeed much to say about God and we should continue to say it.

But at the end of the day, there really is one thing to say about God, about which if we do not say it, none of the rest of it matters. The one thing we must say above all others about God is that He has given us His Son. His primary way He has revealed Himself to us—that is, everyone—is in the person of Jesus. To understand the one true God who demands much apart from Christ is to not understand God at all. To try to praise God apart from the salvation given and accomplished in the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is to give praise to a false god. To try to come to terms with the true God who is holy and who condemns sinners for their sin apart from God’s answer to our sin and our condemnation is to remain in our sin and end in condemnation. His answer is His Son.

It is not working it out. It is not trying harder. It is not in feelings or emotions. It is not in philosophy, or psychology, or spirituality, or morality, or any other attempt at goodness. It is solely in salvation from God. His salvation is solely in His Son.

God demands perfection of you. He demands perfect righteousness. He holds a place for you in heaven only if you have satisfied the requirements of His holy Law. His Law is laid down nicely in the Old Testament reading, which we are very familiar with. The Old Testament reading relates to us the Ten Commandments. The well-known demands of God. You shall not do this and you shall not do that. If you do what you shall not do then you will forever be separated from God because your righteousness, your holiness, your goodness, is anything but that. With God, His demand is perfection, not just ‘good enough’.

And so any attempt at knowing God, believing in Him, following Him, that rests in any notion that you are good enough, or that at least you’re trying, is an attempt that damns you. People across the ages have tried this. They still do. It’s very appealing. Don’t we all want others to live in such a way that they’re trying to be good people, that they are wanting to be better and better people? Yes, of course we do. To a certain extent, it enables living a better existence in this life.

The problem with it is that it robs God of His glory. His primary way of making Himself known to us is His Son. Any attempt on our part to be right with God takes away what Christ has already accomplished for us. He alone gets the glory, not us. Should we try to be better people? Of course! Should we seek to do what is right? No doubt. But the reason is because of Christ. The reason is that whatever good we do is brought about by Christ. The righteousness we have is the righteousness of Christ.

The way we view God is skewed. It is skewed because of our sin and our fallen nature. We look at Him through our sinful eyes and we think that the good we do should count for something. If we step back though, and view Him the way He ought to be viewed, we can see that He is by nature not a God who demands but who gives. His creation was perfect. His love and gifts upon His people were in abundance. There were no constant demands on Adam and Eve because there was no need for it. It wasn’t only until sin entered the world that the need for demands came in.

But though He was now making demands, He was still by nature the God who gives; and who gives in abundance. Knowing the demand of perfect righteousness could never be met by us, He gave once again. He gave the promise. It was the promise of the Savior. And when the time had fully come He gave that Savior. He gave His Son. Here was His gift, perfect righteousness, for that is what Christ is. He is righteousness in the flesh. God alone is holy. He alone is without sin. He alone is perfect in righteousness. And so His gift was Himself, God in the flesh. Righteousness, in the flesh.

God demanded righteousness, He gave righteousness. He required we be like God, He gave us God—giving us Himself in the person of Jesus. God demands, yes. But God gives. What He demands, He gives. That is why He gave His Son. Jesus didn’t just pay for our sins. He didn’t just pay the penalty for our sins. He didn’t just receive the punishment for our sins that we rightly deserve. He accomplished what God demands. Perfect righteousness. Look at the Ten Commandments. Christ alone has kept them all. Perfectly. Look at the demands of God. Christ alone did what was demanded. And He did it freely. He did it joyfully. He did it out of love. Out of love for you and me and the whole world.

Jesus said our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. You’d be hard put to find others who were more righteous than they were. They were upstanding people, good people, taking God’s Law very seriously. Exceeding their righteousness would be exceedingly difficult. In fact, there is only one way it can be done. It cannot be done in the way they sought to be righteous. For them, they saw righteousness as abiding by the letter of the Law. You shall not murder? Got it. Haven’t taken the life of anyone unjustly. You shall not commit adultery? Good to go. Have not had an affair with anyone. You shall not steal? No problem. Haven’t taken anything that is not mine. And they would just go right down the list, confirming themselves in their righteousness.

Many people do this same kind of thing, but we must remember that most of us don’t take it nearly as seriously and nearly to the extreme that the scribes and Pharisees did. They were righteous! And everybody knew it. So how in the world can our righteousness exceed that of theirs?

There is only one way. When it comes to adultery, Jesus ups the ante. We’re not just talking about having an affair here, but what is in your heart. The lust that consumes you. When God’s Law prohibits stealing, Jesus raises the bar. We’re not just talking about physically taking someone else’s stuff, but conniving and taking advantage of a person. And He goes on down the list, showing that the Ten Commandments is not just a list of certain actions we should and should not do, but a matter of the heart. It is out of the heart that come our evil thoughts and desires.

The Gospel reading today addresses the Fifth Commandment, You shall not murder. You haven’t unjustly taken the life of another person? That’s good. But what about the vengeful thoughts in your heart? What about the grudge you are holding onto? What about your refusal to reconcile with the person who has sinned against you? The Ten Commandments show you that, in the final analysis, your righteousness does not simply not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, it shows you that you are utterly unrighteous. They were too, by the way, but were too full of their own righteousness to see it.

There is only thing you can say at this point. Only one hope and solution when you have come to this realization. It is Christ. It is Christ alone. He is perfect righteousness, and God declares you righteousness. You who are unrighteous are given what He has demanded, the perfect righteousness of His Son. While He took all of your unrighteousness on Himself, He has given you His perfect righteousness. He who exceeded all righteousness suffered what justly we ought to have for our unrighteousness and receiving the wrath of God upon sinners. At the cross, it was Christ alone suffering, the righteous for the unrighteous, His death for your life.

God demanded righteousness, holiness, perfection. He gave His Son. He gave Him to you. He has given to you what He has demanded, perfect righteousness. And in that is eternal life. Amen.

SDG

The Essence of Faith

Fifth Sunday after Trinity

June 30, 2013

Luke 5:1–11

Do you have strong faith, or weak faith? Or just enough faith? Are you growing in your faith? Are you backsliding in faith? Perhaps the real question is, what is the essence of faith? The word faith never appears in today’s Gospel reading. But today’s Gospel reading teaches us what faith is. It gets to the heart of faith. It directs us to what we need to be directed to when it comes to faith.

Faith is never about faith itself. If it were, it wouldn’t be faith. Faith is something that is directed toward something else, confidence in something outside of itself. Faith in itself is faith that is baseless and without any power. Faith looks outside of itself. It relishes what it latches onto, not onto how great it itself is. In fact, faith is so outward looking that it has no thought to itself, no desire to have anything directed to itself.

Faith the Holy Spirit gives is faith that latches on to Jesus. Faith the Holy Spirit gives is not faith for faith’s sake, but faith on account of Jesus and in Jesus. It is faith that looks to Christ alone and is sustained by Christ alone. Faith comes by hearing. That is the first way our Gospel reading teaches us faith. This is what the people were doing. They were hearing. Specifically, they were hearing Jesus. Luke says, “On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.”

There is no faith apart from hearing. The Word of God proclaimed is what our ears take in. The Word of God proclaimed is what the Holy Spirit uses to impart faith to people. The setting of today’s Gospel reading is the hearing of the Word of God. Jesus was teaching it and the people were hearing it. This must be the staple of the Christian life: hearing, receiving, partaking of the Word of God through its proclamation and in the Sacraments. Here is where the Holy Spirit first brings faith into your life and here is where He continues to sustain it in you.

On this occasion we meet our friends Peter and James and John. They were fisherman. Jesus was teaching and they were doing their work. He would use this to His advantage. The God of creation is the God who uses His creation to bring about blessings to the people of His creation. Our Vacation Bible School this past week had the theme “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” When we look at the grandeur of God’s creation we can marvel at the blessings He gives to us. People can produce amazing artwork, but can anything match the beauty of God’s creation?

But the point of the theme of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” was not simply to marvel at the breathtaking glory of mountains and the natural beauty of God’s creation, but to see that God uses the things of His creation to come to us. At Mount Sinai He gave the Ten Commandments. At the Mount of Transfiguration He was declared the Lord who is glorious in His humility of walking the path to the cross. And of course on Calvary He died on that cross.  These mountains were specific mountains. They were located in particular places. God came to His people on those mountains.

There were many other instances where God came to the people of His creation. The Gospel reading for today is one such instance. Jesus used the boats of the fishermen to teach the Word of God. He used the water He created to get a little breathing room while the crowds pressed in on Him so that His voice would carry farther and more people would hear.

When He finished, He said to Peter, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” What does faith know about Jesus? He is God. He is almighty. He is Lord. It also knows that He is God in the flesh. He was born. He grew up. He ate regular meals, went to school, learned the trade of His father, which was likely a carpenter. Had He gone fishing when He was a kid? Possibly. Maybe, maybe not. But He was not a fisherman. He didn’t make a living on the water catching fish. But here He was telling Peter to put out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch.

Now what does faith know about this; about Jesus, the one who is God but not a fisherman? Well, for us it might be a different answer than what they would have had back then because we have the benefit of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all telling us of all the many miracles Jesus accomplished. We know He wasn’t a fisherman, but He wasn’t telling Peter to make a catch because of any knowledge of fishing, but because He was God! Because He could do anything! All of that is true, but that’s not only what faith looks to.

It looks not only at Christ as God. But also at Christ as Lord. The difference is in seeing Him as the Almighty being who can do anything and the one who is personally your Lord. Peter’s response is the response of faith. Not simply in Jesus as God but in Jesus as Lord. What we learn here about faith is that it is not dependent upon the heart of the person who has the faith. Or how much understanding he has. Or whether his faith is really strong or just hanging on by a thread. Rather, with faith, it is always dependent on one thing, and that is Christ.

Peter answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” His response, weak though it may be, is one of faith. The worst thing a person who is weak in faith can hear is that they are weak in faith. If you are struggling in your faith and you are told that you are weak in faith, that you need to have more faith, what is it you are being directed to? Your faith. What you are being directed to is yourself—the very last place you should be directed to. You are the problem! The reason you are weak in your faith is because your focus is already on yourself.

No, if you are weak in faith, you should not be directed to yourself but outside of yourself. You need to be directed to Christ. And even in his weakness, Peter recognized this. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” But what are his next words? “But at your word I will let down the nets.” Peter knew it wouldn’t do any good. He made his objection known to Jesus. He was tired. He had worked hard all night. He, the professional fisherman, had done all he could to catch some fish and it just wasn’t happening. Time to pack it in, clean up for another day, and go to it again that night.

But at Your word, Jesus, I will do it. Faith is strong even when it is weak. Even though, Lord, I don’t think it will do any good, I will do it. I will do it because of Your word. Because You have said so, I will do it. At Your word. This is the essence of faith. Not Peter. Not you. Not even the fact that God is God and is almighty. The essence of faith is Christ. At His word faith is formed, faith is sustained, and faith is strengthened.

They let down the nets. Well, we know what happened. We could see it a mile away. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen so often in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that we know that when Jesus says you need to put down the nets for a catch, a catch there will be. And lo and behold there was.

But they hadn’t seen it coming. They were floored. They were scared. They were in awe. What kind of person could this be? This wasn’t just a catch, this was a miracle! This was the kind of thing that just doesn’t happen! They needed to scramble. Their boats began to sink. At His word was produced something other-worldly. Something they could in no way bring about. Not through their toiling. Not through their knowledge. Not through their, well, their anything. They were in the presence of the Lord. He was the only one. And He is the only one faith looks to. Not your toils, not your knowledge, not yourself, not anything you do or of who you are. Christ and Him alone.

And faith sees something else. “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’” Peter had come face to face with his Lord. You know what that means? He had come face to face with his sin. When you are standing in the presence of the Almighty God, you are standing in the face of the one who is holy and standing as one who is very unholy. Faith sees this, and is terrified. Faith sees this and does not shy away from it. Faith knows it cannot be in the presence of the Lord because we are sinners from birth. Faith confesses what is true, we are sinners and are unable to stand before the Lord.

But the beauty of faith is that it doesn’t turn inward for help or hope. But rather to the very Lord of whom the sinner cannot stand in the presence of! What happens after Peter speaks and confesses? Hearing. Jesus speaking. Jesus speaking and Peter hearing His word. It was, after all, as Peter had said, “at Your word,” and now Peter got to hear His Word. Jesus said to [Peter], “‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” Do not be afraid. You are absolved. Forgiven. Lifted up. You cannot stand up in My presence. That is true, but take heart! Stand up anyway, because I tell you there is nothing to be afraid of. The miracle I have accomplished today is a drop in the ocean compared with the vastness of the mercy I will bring forth when I ascend the mount of Calvary. There I will die for all of your sins. Yes, you are a sinful man. And yes, I will depart from you so that I can go where you are unable to go and pay for all of your sins so that you can stand before Me and be in my presence forever.

This we know Jesus has done. The greatest miracle of all. And because of it the Holy Spirit grants you faith. The best way to think about faith is to not think about faith but about Christ. Rather than wondering if you have right faith or enough faith, look instead to Christ. He is the essence of faith, not faith. Faith hears Him. Which is nothing else to say than, you have faith. You hear Him and your are forgiven by Him. Your faith and your life are in Him. Amen.

SDG