Dear Saints, Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father
and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying:
But Jesus immediately puts up a road block in your way of attaining that righteousness, when He says, “I have not come to abolish [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them” (Mt 5:17). This means that when you come to the Law or the Prophets, seeking to live by them, in order to exceed the scribes and the Pharisees, as was commanded, you will find nothing. This is why St. Paul says, “no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Gal 3:11).
“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham” (Rom 4:16).
If there were no roadblock. If everyone did what was right in their own eyes; whatever to church, whatever to communion. If God’s own, complete freedom had been given to man, we would always choose sin and always declare ourselves our own savior and god. 100%. No deviation to the left or to the right. If absolute freedom were given to man, absolute hell would be his choice, each and every time. This is why the Tree of Life was denied to Adam and Eve after they had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The confusion our sin creates in us is this: that we hear God speak with a forked tongue. We hear Him say, “So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do” (Deut 29:9), but also things like: “For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Ps 73:3).
Well which is it? Does prosperity go to the righteous or does prosperity go to the wicked? Following God’s commands is supposed to bring prosperity, but those who despise God prosper also or instead. This hits way too close to home: when we prosper is it because God is approving what we are doing or because God is disapproving? How can you tell?
Repent. You can’t. It is impossible. The Commands and Demands of God lock you in prison, but also they kill you, as Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death”. In our sinfulness, we then conclude that God is impossible to please, as He is not happy with anything, and therefore we quit Him and recreate Him as whatever we want, usually a god to fit our private preferences, destroying faith and church on the way.
And our private preferences are only 1), for us and no one else and 2) excuses for whatever behavior we choose whether or not it follows God’s Law and Order. And when God becomes this private enabler in our pocket, he becomes a false god and you must once again defend your private preferences, that you think are approved, as either being righteous prosperity or wicked prosperity.
Dear Christians, our God and Lord, Jesus Christ does not leave you out in the wilderness to gain entertainment by watching you struggle and then laugh when you try to follow Him. He speaks. And He speaks as the Good Shepherd and His sheep hear His voice, know Him, and follow Him into His Sheep-pen, His Sheep fold.
Now a Sheep fold is hemmed in for two reasons. One, to keep lies, wolves and false shepherds, out and Two, to keep the sheep in the right place; to show them where the right place is. In essence, the Sheep Pen is the place where the righteous prosper all. the. time.
All the time. Why? Because that is where the Shepherd is and that is where He declares is meet and right so to be and that is where He stays. So while our sinfulness is debating and arguing over which of us shows the most Christ-like love in Church, Christ is showing His own Christ-like love, Himself.
And the Commands of God are the beginning of that show. As in, while we navel gaze, God is out here declaring, “I am the Lord your God”. This is Who I am and this is how I act and I will name ten ways, or commands, for you to understand that:
There is only one of ME, I should know.
I have not only given you my Word, but my Name also, so much do I love you, in Christ.
I have an ultimate rest planned for you, which you can begin to see in this Sabbath Day.
I honor father and mother.
I do not murder.
I am chaste and faithful.
I do not steal.
I am not false.
I do not covet house or home, for all things are mine, but Am also the Giver of all things.
In the very first place, Jesus’s Commands and Demands describe Who He is. They are not simply basic instructions before leaving earth, and if you would have ears to hear, then you would hear, believe, and find salvation in Him. For He ends Exodus 20 in just such a manner, describing the Sheep-fold, His Church, saying, “You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven...An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my Name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you” (v. 22-24).
In every place He causes remembrance. He does that work and He does it by connecting this Word in Exodus with His Word in St. Luke 22:19, “This do in remembrance of me”!!
This do in Remembrance of me bringing you out of the house of slavery of Egypt. The Egypt of sin, death, and the power of the devil, by My Hand. This do in remembrance of me baptizing you into My death, freeing you from the Law, as it is written, “you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom 7:4).
This do in remembrance of Me exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees on your behalf, freeing you from the prison of your private preference, to live a new, public, universal life in front of God for all eternity. And this life is offered and lived out wherever God causes His Name to be remembered. For us Word-made-flesh believers, that sheep fold is His Word and Sacrament.
In the very first place, prosperity that is righteous and God pleasing, is having the Word and sacraments preached and administered in front of you. True, Godly prosperity is the communing presence of God among you and that you find yourself within His Sheep-fold which is walled in by faith in Him, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life.
You hear them, by grace you believe them, and in that trust or faith in God’s Promise, have exactly what He promises you. In that God given prosperity, purchased by the crucifixion of Jesus our God and Lord, you begin to see all your prosperity as coming from Him. Not only in prosperity, but even in your tribulations.
It is in your tribulations, that you find out just how invincible God’s Prosperity is. That it can withstand tribulation, the hour of death, and the Day of Judgement. In Faith, all of life is prosperous. In the suffering, dying, and resurrection of Jesus, even all of death is prosperous, for in death, we immediately are transferred to our Lord’s side for all eternity. There is no losing!
If you measure life and eternal life by earthly prosperity or by how much or how many commands of God you can keep, then there is no point, because, “He has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (Rom 9:18).
Thank God our measuring stick is Crucifix shaped. For it is Christ Who is the full revelation of God and His plans of prosperity for us. In Christ, He promises, “it depends not on human will or exertion, but on [the] God, who has mercy” (Rom 9:16). Find all your prosperity in Christ and in His Bride, the Church, for true prosperity is in and from the Lord and He has plans for your prosperity, in His Son, for all eternity. He is the God Who gives. It is just Who He is.
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying:
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that
of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
But Jesus immediately puts up a road block in your way of attaining that righteousness, when He says, “I have not come to abolish [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them” (Mt 5:17). This means that when you come to the Law or the Prophets, seeking to live by them, in order to exceed the scribes and the Pharisees, as was commanded, you will find nothing. This is why St. Paul says, “no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Gal 3:11).
“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham” (Rom 4:16).
If there were no roadblock. If everyone did what was right in their own eyes; whatever to church, whatever to communion. If God’s own, complete freedom had been given to man, we would always choose sin and always declare ourselves our own savior and god. 100%. No deviation to the left or to the right. If absolute freedom were given to man, absolute hell would be his choice, each and every time. This is why the Tree of Life was denied to Adam and Eve after they had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The confusion our sin creates in us is this: that we hear God speak with a forked tongue. We hear Him say, “So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do” (Deut 29:9), but also things like: “For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Ps 73:3).
Well which is it? Does prosperity go to the righteous or does prosperity go to the wicked? Following God’s commands is supposed to bring prosperity, but those who despise God prosper also or instead. This hits way too close to home: when we prosper is it because God is approving what we are doing or because God is disapproving? How can you tell?
Repent. You can’t. It is impossible. The Commands and Demands of God lock you in prison, but also they kill you, as Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death”. In our sinfulness, we then conclude that God is impossible to please, as He is not happy with anything, and therefore we quit Him and recreate Him as whatever we want, usually a god to fit our private preferences, destroying faith and church on the way.
And our private preferences are only 1), for us and no one else and 2) excuses for whatever behavior we choose whether or not it follows God’s Law and Order. And when God becomes this private enabler in our pocket, he becomes a false god and you must once again defend your private preferences, that you think are approved, as either being righteous prosperity or wicked prosperity.
Dear Christians, our God and Lord, Jesus Christ does not leave you out in the wilderness to gain entertainment by watching you struggle and then laugh when you try to follow Him. He speaks. And He speaks as the Good Shepherd and His sheep hear His voice, know Him, and follow Him into His Sheep-pen, His Sheep fold.
Now a Sheep fold is hemmed in for two reasons. One, to keep lies, wolves and false shepherds, out and Two, to keep the sheep in the right place; to show them where the right place is. In essence, the Sheep Pen is the place where the righteous prosper all. the. time.
All the time. Why? Because that is where the Shepherd is and that is where He declares is meet and right so to be and that is where He stays. So while our sinfulness is debating and arguing over which of us shows the most Christ-like love in Church, Christ is showing His own Christ-like love, Himself.
And the Commands of God are the beginning of that show. As in, while we navel gaze, God is out here declaring, “I am the Lord your God”. This is Who I am and this is how I act and I will name ten ways, or commands, for you to understand that:
There is only one of ME, I should know.
I have not only given you my Word, but my Name also, so much do I love you, in Christ.
I have an ultimate rest planned for you, which you can begin to see in this Sabbath Day.
I honor father and mother.
I do not murder.
I am chaste and faithful.
I do not steal.
I am not false.
I do not covet house or home, for all things are mine, but Am also the Giver of all things.
In the very first place, Jesus’s Commands and Demands describe Who He is. They are not simply basic instructions before leaving earth, and if you would have ears to hear, then you would hear, believe, and find salvation in Him. For He ends Exodus 20 in just such a manner, describing the Sheep-fold, His Church, saying, “You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven...An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my Name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you” (v. 22-24).
In every place He causes remembrance. He does that work and He does it by connecting this Word in Exodus with His Word in St. Luke 22:19, “This do in remembrance of me”!!
This do in Remembrance of me bringing you out of the house of slavery of Egypt. The Egypt of sin, death, and the power of the devil, by My Hand. This do in remembrance of me baptizing you into My death, freeing you from the Law, as it is written, “you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom 7:4).
This do in remembrance of Me exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees on your behalf, freeing you from the prison of your private preference, to live a new, public, universal life in front of God for all eternity. And this life is offered and lived out wherever God causes His Name to be remembered. For us Word-made-flesh believers, that sheep fold is His Word and Sacrament.
In the very first place, prosperity that is righteous and God pleasing, is having the Word and sacraments preached and administered in front of you. True, Godly prosperity is the communing presence of God among you and that you find yourself within His Sheep-fold which is walled in by faith in Him, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life.
You hear them, by grace you believe them, and in that trust or faith in God’s Promise, have exactly what He promises you. In that God given prosperity, purchased by the crucifixion of Jesus our God and Lord, you begin to see all your prosperity as coming from Him. Not only in prosperity, but even in your tribulations.
It is in your tribulations, that you find out just how invincible God’s Prosperity is. That it can withstand tribulation, the hour of death, and the Day of Judgement. In Faith, all of life is prosperous. In the suffering, dying, and resurrection of Jesus, even all of death is prosperous, for in death, we immediately are transferred to our Lord’s side for all eternity. There is no losing!
If you measure life and eternal life by earthly prosperity or by how much or how many commands of God you can keep, then there is no point, because, “He has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (Rom 9:18).
Thank God our measuring stick is Crucifix shaped. For it is Christ Who is the full revelation of God and His plans of prosperity for us. In Christ, He promises, “it depends not on human will or exertion, but on [the] God, who has mercy” (Rom 9:16). Find all your prosperity in Christ and in His Bride, the Church, for true prosperity is in and from the Lord and He has plans for your prosperity, in His Son, for all eternity. He is the God Who gives. It is just Who He is.
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