Forgiveness, not condemnation [Trinity 1; St. Luke 16:19-31]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Jesus says,

“Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.”

Even our bulletin cover betrays us today, as we contemplate the Gospel according to St. Luke. For on it, we see fear and fear leads us to focus on the rich man going to hell: what sent him there, how he got there, and what we can do to not go there. Thus, even Christians will present their belief as simply, “well, you don’t want to go to hell, right?”

This is no witness to the Christian faith. This line of thinking only leads us to the life of the rich man and neglect of our neighbor. If our only mode of accessing the Christian faith is “how not to go to hell”, then our worldview turns very black and white and all we see are those going to heaven and those going to hell. And of course, those going to hell aren’t worth our time, right Lazarus?

And it is not just that we take time out and care for the poor and those who need our help in our community. Those should be things that are our default positions. No one should lead a luxurious life, nor live in worldly pleasures and perpetual feastings, nor should he be a slave of his lusts and forget God (Against Heresies, p. 464). For, as Isaiah says, “They [drink wine with] lyre and harp, tambourine and flute ...at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands.” (Isa 5:12)

Again, here is godly fear that the Lord employs in order that we not be like these men, showing that if they had simply obeyed Moses and the prophets, they would believe in Him whom these had preached, the Son of God, Who rose from the dead, and bestows life on us.

But what are the deeds of the Lord and the works of His hands? The prophets and the Psalms are quick to praise the Lord for creating all things. Those are the easy things, although not many people believe that these days.

And even though these things were continually in front of their noses, I mean what on earth isn’t, God still says, “But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel...but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did...Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds.” (Ps. 106:13, 35, 39)

We have learned from the nations, from the unbelievers, to do their works. Their works of unchurch. Their works of unworship, unprayer, and unthanksgiving. So it is that we find condemnation from Jesus, not because of works, but because of unbelief. “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (Jn 3:19)

So the rich mans works and deeds were evil enough to land him in hell, but Lazarus’ deeds were sufficient enough to bring upon him the furnace of poverty, hunger, and distress. So it is with the sinner. His works, by their very sinful nature, take him away from the Lord’s work. Simply acknowledging God’s handiwork in creation is not enough.

The works and deeds of the Lord are for Jesus to accomplish as He says (Jn. 4:34). And we already heard last week that the works of the Lord are far above us and our ways. In light of this, we must wait for God to show us His works. He must be the one to reveal them and tell us that these are His works and no one else’s.

So we wait on Jesus and see what He does, since the works of God are His alone. Miracles are not enough. His work is to suffer and die for us which is the only true work of God.

In our Epistle, St. John tells us that we have come to know and believe that God loves us and that He is love itself. That perfect love is given to us, for free, and in this perfect love we can have confidence for the day of judgment. Meaning, Christ has taken that judgment upon Himself already in His suffering and dying.

Abraham feared that the Lord would not be able to keep His promise to give him a son, in the OT reading. The Lord basically said to Abraham that Abraham will not be the heir, neither will his relative, because Abraham feared and did not believe. Instead a son that is not afraid, shall be heir. Not Isaac, but a son of Abraham none the less.

That son, the true Son of the Father, is one Who will not only create numerous offspring of Abraham, but also count our belief as righteousness. In fact, the Lord is in the business of belief and confession (Ps. 111:3). Which finally are His works for us.

In fact, you may ask Him directly if you don’t believe me. Ask what must you be doing to be doing the works of God. Jesus answers you, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:28-29)

Belief. Belief is the work of God. The work that God gives you to do on this earth, in this life. Belief that there is a true Son Who is heir to an eternal throne. Belief that God created all things. Belief that there is a perfect love given to you, for free. Belief that there is a spot at Abraham’s bosom reserved just for you.

Here is the real Gospel. That you are Lazarus, just as Christ was Lazarus on earth for you. Despised, forsaken, rejected. In the furnace of God’s wrath because of sin. But, because of Jesus’ belief and Jesus’ faith, Lazarus’ sins are not counted against him. They are removed from him as far as the east is from the west and because of that hidden grace that does not look upon outward appearances, but on the heart, Lazarus is carried to eternal peace.

The Christian does good to all, because all good has been done to him. The Christian should not be so quick to point out hell, as he should be to point out forgiveness and heaven to those who do not yet believe, because forgiveness and heaven have been given to him for free.

In the resurrection, because of your belief, you will receive good things many times over the amount of bad things you had in this life. Because of Jesus, you will not only receive eternal peace, but such a great chasm has been erected so that there will be no danger of you losing it. This is the Good News.

Not my words [Trinity; St. John 3:1-15]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Who speaks to you all today saying,

“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

If anyone were to come up to you, uninformed, or even you have doubts yourself, as to whether or not the Divine Service is a work of men instead of a work of God, I submit for your approval the Call of Isaiah, in chapter 6 of his book. This Divine Service Isaiah has been made a part of is the work of angels.

The similarities are that the Lord fills the space, He is with angels and archangels, the song is the Sanctus, holy holy holy, there is the Lord’s house, there is confession and absolution, there is an Altar, and there is communion.

But all that doesn’t matter, does it? I mean, just listen to St. Paul’s words in the Epistle reading. No one can know God. He is unsearchable. He shows up on no intellectual radars. His mind is a closed book. His needs are all hidden and He has no lack of anything. How can you be so uppity as to pretend that you have a handle on what the Lord is doing in Isaiah?

All we need is God’s holiness. All we need is His majesty. All we need is His omnipotence. And you know why that’s all you think you need? Its because then you are right and are called by God on your very own holy crusade. Yes, because your God is the one in charge and you are His faithful hound, then whatever you do is justified and forgiven, no matter who you steamroll.

This is what we all mean when we say, “Its God’s will”. This is what we mean when we say, “God is in charge”. Nothing bad will happen to us and our plans and even if we encounter sadness on the way, that is just God’s way of showing that we are the chosen one to carry out His will. Too bad for those of you with little faith.

And what does this kind of attitude lead to? Who are the types of people that spout this type of nonsense? We call them fanatics. We call them zealots, bigots, and hypocrites. If this is all we are garnering from Isaiah 6, then we are no better than them. Worse, we use this “favor” from God to justify interpreting the Bible however we want, completely removing Jesus from Isaiah 6.

You do not have to take my word for it. Neither do you even have to take any Lutheran’s word for it. Even before there was a “lutheran”, Isaiah 6 had been nothing but Isaiah meeting Christ and offering the Divine Service. Beginning immediately in the New Testament, St. John tells us that Isaiah saw the Lord’s glory here (Jn. 12:41), just as we have seen His glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (1:14) in other words: Jesus.

Even before this, Zechariah likens the burning coals to Jesus saying, “Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” (3:2). Moving ahead to the 4th century AD, St. Cyril comments that when the angels say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord”, they are referring to the Trinity. The three, holy holy holy, in One, the Lord.

St. Chrysostom says that God does not sit, so what or who was Isaiah looking at on the throne? St. John already answers that question in Revelation saying that the creatures of heaven never stop singing the Sanctus to Him Who sits on the throne, Who of course is the Lamb that was slain (rev. 4:6-9, 5:13).

Finally, St. John of Damascus speaking from the 7th century, says, “Wherefore with all fear and pure conscience and certain faith let us draw near and it will assuredly be to us as we believe. Doubting nothing. Let us pay homage to it in all purity both of soul and body: for it is twofold. Let us draw near to it with an ardent desire and with our hands held in the form of a cross let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal, in order that the fire of longing, that is in us, with the additional heat derived from the coal may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation in the divine fire. Isaiah saw the coal. But the coal is not plain wood but wood united with fire: in like manner also the bread of communion is not plain bread but bread united with divinity. But a body which is united with divinity is not one nature, but has one nature belonging to the body and another belonging to the divinity that is united to it, so that the compound is not one nature, but two.” (Exposition of the Orthodox faith, Bk IV, Ch XIII).

So now what do we do? We have not only the Old Testament, but the New Testament, and the Church teachings from the first 800 or so years after the Apostles all telling us that something more is going on in this event with Isaiah. In fact, you may rightly conclude that Isaiah has been taken up into the Divine Service that goes on in heaven for all eternity.

I don’t make any of this stuff up folks. I don’t sit in my study and think of how to sell my make-believe stories about what the Apostle’s doctrine is. I’m not buying into the “gifts of the spirit for home use” self-help books, and we don’t take spiritual gift inventories for this reason: You don’t find any of that in the Bible or history.

Thus, as a called and ordained servant of the Word of God I am constrained by that Word to preach and teach. Meaning, only what is found in there. And as we have just discovered, what is in there is God’s glory of His crucified Son and the Spirit’s glory of the one, true Church. That’s it.

So we either accept and believe that the history of the Church has been kept holy by the Holy Ghost Himself or we can reject it and find ourselves opposing God. St. Cyprian also says, “There is no salvation outside the Church”. Likewise, “He can no longer have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother.”

In this way, very conveniently, we find gathered all that is necessary for our salvation, as we talked about at Pentecost. We find knowledge, understanding, counsel, piety, fortitude, fear, and wisdom. We find the Word Incarnate, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, sins forgiven and sins reproved, pastors called and ordained, public and intelligible prayer, praise and thanksgiving, and the cross.

The gifts of the Spirit are the gifts of Jesus. The gifts of Jesus are the gifts of the Father. The vision of Isaiah is the vision of the Church. No higher and greater calling does a Christian have than to receive the good things the Lord of hosts comes to give.

Jesus is born of the flesh and the Spirit. He is high and lifted up on the cross. So now the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God has been made man. His judgments and His ways are the way of the cross. His mind and His counsel are set on forgiving sins through means.

Truly, God is with Jesus. Truly, truly the rebirth of water, fire, and Spirit is purchased and won on the cross and given freely in the Church. We can’t help but be caught up in the times and history that we live in and we did not choose the Way, the Way chose us. But the One Who put us on this path and the One Who keeps us on this path is none other than the one God in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity.