Luther Sermon for Septuagesima

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

SERMON FOR SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

by Martin Luther

TEXT: Matthew 20:1-16 (KJV).

1. Some church fathers applied this Gospel to all the preachers from the beginning to the end of the world, and taught the first hour was the time of Adam, the third that of Noah, the sixth that of Abraham, the ninth that of Moses, and the eleventh hour that of Christ and his apostles. Such talk is all right for pastime, if there is nothing else to preach. For it does not harmonize with Scripture to say that the shilling signifies eternal life, with which the first, or Adam and the holy patriarchs, were dissatisfied, and that such holy characters should murmur in the kingdom of heaven, and be rebuked by the householder and made the last, that is, be condemned.

2. Therefore we will let such fables pass and abide by the simple teaching and meaning of Christ, who wishes to show by this parable how it actually is in the kingdom of heaven, or in Christendom upon the earth; that God here directs and works wonderfully by making the first last and the last first. And all is spoken to humble those who are great that they should trust in nothing but the goodness and mercy of God. And on the other hand that those who are nothing should not despair, but trust in the goodness of God just as the others do.

3. Therefore we must not consider this parable in every detail, but confine ourselves to the leading thought, that which Christ designs to teach by it.

We should not consider what the penny or shilling means, not what the first or the last hour signifies; but what the householder had in mind and what he aims to teach, how he desires to have his goodness esteemed higher than all human works and merit, yea, that his mercy alone must have all the praise. Like in the parable of the unrighteous steward, Luke 16:5f., the whole parable in its details is not held before our eyes, that we should also defraud our Lord; but it sets forth the wisdom of the steward in that he provided so well and wisely for himself and planned in the very best way, although at the injury of his Lord. Now whoever would investigate and preach long on that parable about the doctors, what the book of accounts, the oil, the wheat and the measure signify, would miss the true meaning and be led by his own ideas which would never be of any benefit to anyone.

For such parables are never spoken for the purpose of being interpreted in all their minutia. For Paul compared Christ to Adam in Romans 5:18, and says, Adam was a figure of Christ; this Paul did because we inherited from Adam sin and death, and from Christ life and righteousness. But the lesson of the parable does not consist in the inheritance, but in the consequence of the inheritance. That just like sin and death cling to those who are born of Adam and descend by heredity, so do life and righteousness cling to those who are born of Christ, they are inherited. Just as one might take an unchaste woman who adorns herself to please the world and commit sin, as a figure of a Christian soul that adorns itself also to please God, but not to commit sin as the woman does.

4. Hence the substance of the parable in today’s Gospel consists not in the penny, what it is, nor in the different hours; but in earning and acquiring, or how one can earn the penny; that as here the first presumed to obtain the penny and even more by their own merit, and yet the last received the same amount because of the goodness of the householder. Thus God will show it is nothing but mercy that he gives and no one is to arrogate to himself more than another. Therefore he says I do thee no wrong, is not the money mine and not thine; if I had given away thy property, then thou wouldest have reason to murmur; is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ?

5. Now in this way Christ strikes a blow first against the presumption (as he also does in today’s Epistle) of those who would storm their way into heaven by their good works; as the Jews did and wished to be next to God; as hitherto our own clergy have also done. These all labor for definite wages, that is, they take the law of God in no other sense than that they should fulfill it by certain defined works for a specified reward, and they never understand it correctly, and know not that before God all is pure grace. This signifies that they hire themselves out for wages, and agree with the householder for a penny a day; consequently their lives are bitter and they lead a career that is indeed hard.

6. Now when the Gospel comes and makes all alike, as Paul teaches in Romans 3:23, so that they who have done great works are no more than public sinners, and must also become sinners and tolerate the saying: “All have sinned”, Romans 3:23, and that no one is justified before God by his works; then they look around and despise those who have done nothing at all, while their great worry and labor avail no more than such idleness and reckless living. Then they murmur against the householder, they imagine it is not right; they blaspheme the Gospel, and become hardened in their ways; then they lose the favor and grace of God, and are obliged to take their temporal reward and trot from him with their penny and be condemned; for they served not for the sake of mercy but for the sake of reward, and they will receive that and nothing more, the others however must confess that they have merited neither the penny nor the grace, but more is given to them than they had ever thought was promised to them. These remained in grace and besides were saved, and besides this, here in time they had enough; for all depended upon the good pleasure of the householder.

7. Therefore if one were to interpret it critically, the penny would have to signify temporal good, and the favor of the householder, eternal life. But the day and the heat we transfer from temporal things to the conscience, so that workrighteous persons do labor long and hard, that is, they do all with a heavy conscience and an unwilling heart, forced and coerced by the law; but the short time or last hours are the light consciences that live blessed lives, led by grace, and that willingly and without being driven by the law.

8. Thus they have now each a penny, that is, a temporal reward is given to both. But the last did not seek it, it was added to them because they sought first the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 6:33, and consequently they have the grace to everlasting life and are happy. The first however seek the temporal reward, bargain for it and serve for it; and hence they fail to secure grace and by means of a hard life they merit perdition. For the last do not think of earning the penny, nor do they thus blunder, but they receive all. When the first saw this, by a miscalculation they thought they would receive more, and lost all. Therefore we clearly see, if we look into their hearts, that the last had no regard for their own merit, but enjoyed the goodness of the householder. The first however did not esteem the goodness of the householder, but looked to their own merits, and thought it was their’s by right and murmured about it.

9. We must now look at these two words “last” and “first,” from two view points. Let us see what they mean before God, then what they mean before men. Thus, those who are the first in the eyes of man, that is, those who consider themselves, or let themselves be considered, as the nearest to or the first before God, they are just the opposite before God, they are the last in his eyes and the farthest from him. On the other hand those who are the last in the eyes of man, those who consider themselves, or let themselves be considered, the farthest from God and the last before him, they also are just the opposite, in that they are the nearest and the first before God. Now whoever desires to be secure, let him conduct himself according to the saying: “Whosoever exalteth himself, shall be humbled.” For it is here written: The first before men are the last before God; the last in the eyes of men are first in the eye of God. On the other hand, the first before God are the last before men; and those God esteems as the last are considered by men to be the first.

10. But since this Gospel does not speak of first and last in a common, ordinary sense, as the exalted of the world are nothing before God, like heathen who know nothing of God; but it means those who imagine they are the first or the last in the eyes of God, the words ascend very high and apply to the better classes of people; yea, they terrify the greatest of the saints. Therefore it holds up Christ before the apostles themselves. For here it happens that one who in the eyes of the world is truly poor, weak, despised, yea, who indeed suffers for God’s sake, in whom there is no sign that he is anything, and yet in his heart he is so discouraged and bashful as to think he is the last, is secretly full of his own pleasure and delight, so that he thinks he is the first before God, and just because of that he is the last. On the contrary should one indeed be so discouraged and bashful as to think he is the last before God, although he at the time has money, honor and property in the eyes of the world, he is just because of this the first.

11. One sees here also how the greatest saints have feared, how many also have fallen from high spiritual callings. David complains in <19D102> Psalm 131:2: “Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother.” Likewise in another place, Psalm 36:11: “Let not the foot of pride come against me”. How often he chastises the impudent, and haughty, <19B921> Psalm 119:21. So Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7 says: “That I should not be exalted overmuch there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,” etc. And as we have heard in today’s Epistle what honorable men have fallen. To all of whom without doubt the sad secret ill-turn came because they became secure, and thought, we are now near to God, there is no need. we know God, we have done this and that; they did not see how they made themselves the first before God. Behold, how Saul fell!

How God permitted David to fall! How Peter had to fall! How some disciples of Paul fell !

12. Therefore it is indeed necessary to preach this Gospel in our times to those who now know the Gospel as myself and those like me, who imagine they can teach and govern the whole world, and therefore imagine they are the nearest to God and have devoured the Holy Spirit, bones and feathers.

For why is it that so many sects have already gone forth, this one making a hobby of one thing in the Gospel and that one of another? No doubt, because none of them considered that the saying, “the first are last,” meant and concerned them; or if applied to them, they were secure and without fear, considering themselves as the first. Therefore according to this saying, it must come to pass that they be the last, and hence rush ahead and spread shameful doctrines and blasphemies against God and his Word.

13. Was not this the fate of the pope when he and his followers imagined they were the vice-regents and representatives of and the nearest to God, and persuaded the world to believe it? In that very act they were the vicegerents of Satan and the farthest from God, so that no mortals under the sun ever raged and foamed against God and his Word like they have done.

And yet they did not see the horrible deceiver, because they were secure and feared not this keen, sharp, high and excellent judgment, “The first shall be the last.” For it strikes into the lowest depths of the heart, the real spiritual darkness, that considers itself as the first even in the midst of poverty, dishonor and misfortune, yea, most of all then.

14. Hence the substance of this Gospel is that no mortal is so high, nor will ever ascend so high, who will not have occasion to fear that he may become the very lowest. On the other hand, no mortal lies so low or can fall so low, to whom the hope is not extended that he may become the highest; because here all human merit is abolished and God’s goodness alone is praised, and it is decreed as on a festive occasion that the first shall be last and the last first. In that he says, “the first shall be last” he strips thee of all thy presumption and forbids thee to exalt thyself above the lowest outcast, even if thou wert like Abraham, David, Peter or Paul.

However, in that he also says, “the last shall be first,” he checks thee against all doubting, and forbids thee to humble thyself below any saint, even if thou wert Pilate, Herod, Sodom and Gomorrah.

15. For just as we have no reason to be presumptuous, so we have also no cause to doubt; but the golden mean is confirmed and fortified by this Gospel, so that we regard not the penny but the goodness of the householder, which is alike and the same to high and low, to the first and the last, to saints and sinners, and no one can boast nor comfort himself nor presume more than another; for he is God not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, yea, especially of all, and it matters not who they are or what they are called.

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Luther Sermon for Sexagesima

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

SERMON FOR SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

by Martin Luther

TEXT: Luke 8:4-15 (KJV).

I. THE NATURE OF THE WORD SPOKEN HERE.

1. This Gospel treats of the disciples and the fruits, which the Word of God develops in the world. It does not speak of the law nor of human institutions; but, as Christ himself says, of the Word of God, which he himself the sower preaches, for the law bears no fruit, just as little as do the institutions of men. Christ however sets forth here four kinds of disciples of the divine Word.

II. THE DISCIPLES OF THIS WORD.

2. The first class of disciples are those who hear the Word but neither understand nor esteem it. And these are not the mean people in the world, but the greatest, wisest and the most saintly, in short they are the greatest part of mankind; for Christ does not speak here of those who persecute the Word nor of those who fail to give their ear to it, but of those who hear it and are students of it, who also wish to be called true Christians and to live in Christian fellowship with Christians and are partakers of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. But they are of a carnal heart, and remain so, failing to appropriate the Word of God to themselves, it goes in one ear and out the other. Just like the seed along the wayside did not fall into the earth, but remained lying on the ground in the wayside, because the road was tramped hard by the feet of man and beast and it could not take root.

3. Therefore Christ says the devil cometh and taketh away the Word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. What power of Satan this alone reveals, that hearts, hardened through a worldly mind and life, lose the Word and let it go, so that they never understand or confess it; but instead of the Word of God Satan sends false teachers to tread it under foot by the doctrines of men. For it stands here written both that it was trodden under foot, and the birds of the heaven devoured it. The birds Christ himself interprets as the messengers of the devil, who snatch away the Word and devour it, which is done when he turns and blinds their hearts so that they neither understand nor esteem it, as St. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:4: “They will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” By the treading under foot of men Christ means the teachings of men, that rule in our hearts, as he says in Matthew 5:13 also of the salt that has lost its savor, it is cast out and trodden under foot of men; that is, as St. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:11, they must believe a lie because they have not been obedient to the truth.

4. Thus all heretics, fanatics and sects belong to this number, who understand the Gospel in a carnal way and explain it as they please, to suit their own ideas, all of whom hear the Gospel and yet they bear no fruit, yea, more, they are governed by Satan and are harder oppressed by human institutions than they were before they heard the Word. For it is a dreadful utterance that Christ here gives that the devil taketh away the Word from their hearts, by which he clearly proves that the devil rules mightily in their hearts, notwithstanding they are called Christians and hear the Word.

Likewise it sounds terribly that they are to be trodden under foot, and must be subject unto men and to their ruinous teachings, by which under the appearance and name of the Gospel the devil takes the Word from them, so that they may never believe and be saved, but must be lost forever; as the fanatical spirits of our day do in all lands. For where this Word is not, there is no salvation, and great works or holy lives avail nothing, for with this, that he says: “They shall not be saved,” since they have not the Word, he shows forcibly enough, that not their works but their faith in the Word alone saves, as Paul says to the Romans: “It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 1:16.

5. The second class of hearers are those who receive the Word with joy, but they do not persevere. These are also a large multitude who understand the Word correctly and lay hold of it in its purity without any spirit of sect, division or fanaticism, they rejoice also in that they know the real truth, and are able to know how they may be saved without works through faith.

They also know that they are free from the bondage of the law, of their conscience and of human teachings; but when it comes to the test that they must suffer harm, disgrace and loss of life or property, then they fall and deny it; for they have not root enough, and are not planted deep enough in the soil. Hence they are like the growth on a rock, which springs forth fresh and green, that it is a pleasure to behold it and it awakens bright hopes. But when the sun shines hot it withers, because it has no soil and moisture, and only rock is there. So these do; in times of persecution they deny or keep silence about the Word, and work, speak and suffer all that their persecutors mention or wish, who formerly went forth and spoke, and confessed with a fresh and joyful spirit the same, while there was still peace and no heat, so that there was hope they would bear much fruit and serve the people. For these fruits are not only the works, but more the confession, preaching and spreading of the Word, so that many others may thereby be converted and the kingdom of God be developed.

6. The third class are those who hear and understand the Word, but still it falls on the other side of the road, among the pleasures and cares of this life, so that they also do nothing with the Word. And there is quite a large multitude of these; for although they do not start heresies, like the first, but always possess the absolutely pure Word, they are also not attacked on the left as the others with opposition and persecution; yet they fall on the right side, and it is their ruin that they enjoy peace and good days. Therefore they do not earnestly give themselves to the Word, but become indifferent and sink in the cares, riches and pleasures of this life, so that they are of no benefit to any one. Therefore they are like the seed that fell among the thorns. Although it is not rocky but good soil; not wayside but deeply plowed soil; yet, the thorns will not let it spring up, they choke it. Thus these have all in the Word that is needed for their salvation, but they do not make any use of it, and they rot in this life in carnal pleasures. To these belong those who hear the Word but do not bring under subjection their flesh. They know their duty but do it not, they teach but do not practice what they teach, and are this year as they were last.

7. The fourth class are those who lay hold of and keep the Word in a good and honest heart, and bring forth fruit with patience, those who hear the Word and steadfastly retain it, meditate upon it and act in harmony with it.

The devil does not snatch it away, nor are they thereby led astray, moreover the heat of persecution does not rob them of it, and the thorns of pleasure and the avarice of the times do not hinder its growth; but they bear fruit by teaching others and by developing the kingdom of God, hence they also do good to their neighbor in love; and therefore Christ adds, “they bring forth fruit with patience.” For these must suffer much on account of the Word, shame and disgrace from fanatics and heretics, hatred and jealousy with injury to body and property from their persecutors, not to mention what the thorns and the temptations of their own flesh do, so that it may well be called the Word of the cross; for he who would keep it must bear the cross and misfortune, and triumph.

8. He says: “In honest and good hearts.” Like a field, that is without a thorn or brush, cleared and spacious, as a beautiful clean place: so a heart is also cleared and clean, broad and spacious, that is without cares and avarice as to temporal needs, so that the Word of God truly finds lodgment there. But the field is good, not only when it lies there cleared and level, but when it is also rich and fruitful, possesses soil and is productive, and not like a stony and gravelly field. Just so is the heart that has good soil and with a full spirit is strong, fertile and good to keep the Word and bring forth fruit with patience.

9. Here we see why it is no wonder there are so few true Christians, for all the seed does not fall into good ground, but only the fourth and small part; and that they are not to be trusted who boast they are Christians and praise the teaching of the Gospel; like Demas, a disciple of St. Paul, who forsook him at last, 2 Timothy 4:10; like the disciples of Jesus, who turned their backs to him. John 6:66. For Christ himself cries out here: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” as if he should say: O, how few true Christians there are; one dare not believe all to be Christians who are called Christians and hear the Gospel, more is required than that.

10. All this is spoken for our instruction, that we may not go astray, since so many misuse the Gospel and few lay hold of it aright. True it is unpleasant to preach to those who treat the Gospel so shamefully and even oppose it. For preaching is to become so universal that the Gospel is to be proclaimed to all creatures, as Christ says in Mark 16:15: “Preach the Gospel to the whole creation;” and Psalm 19:4: “Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” What business is it of mine that many do not esteem it? It must be that many are called but few are chosen. For the sake of the good ground that brings forth fruit with patience, the seed must also fall fruitless by the wayside, on the rock and among the thorns; inasmuch as we are assured that the Word of God does not go forth without bearing some fruit, but it always finds also good ground; as Christ says here, some seed of the sower falls also into good ground, and not only by the wayside, among the thorns and on stony ground. For where-ever the Gospel goes you will find Christians. “My word shall not return unto me void.” Isaiah 55:11.

III. THE FRUIT OF THIS WORD.

11. Here observe that Mark 4:8 and Matthew 13:8 say the seed yielded fruit some thirty, some sixty and some a hundredfold, which according to all interpretations is understood of three kinds of chastity, that of virgins, married persons and widows; and virgins are credited with a hundredfold of fruit, wedded persons with thirtyfold, the least of all, and widows with sixtyfold. But this is such coarse and corrupt talk that it is a sin and a shame that this interpretation has continued so long in Christendom and has been advocated by so many noted teachers, and criticized by none of them. In this one perceives how many wide-awake, well-armed and faithful teachers the church has had heretofore, and how one blindly believed another, and how God allowed many noted saints and people to play the fool so completely in these important matters pertaining to the soul that he warned us to believe no teacher, however saintly and great he may be, unless he comes with the pure Word of God.

12. First, it would be doing the Word of God injustice to hold that it brings forth no other fruit than chastity, since St. Paul boasts quite differently in Galatians 5:22. In brief, the Word of God accomplishes all good, it makes us wise, sensible, prudent, cautious, pious, kind, patient, faithful, discreet, chaste, etc. Hence this comment referring only to three kinds of chastity is wholly unchristian. The heathen and wicked people, who neither possess the Gospel nor persecute it, have also virgins, widows and married persons. Doubtless Anna and Caiaphas had been properly married. Thus there were virgins, widows and consorts before the Word of God; for virgins were born, and when the Gospel comes it finds virgins, widows and wives; the Gospel did not first make them virgins, widows or wives.

13. Secondly, thus marriage, virginity and widowhood are not fruits, nor virtues, nor good works; but three stations or states in life created and ordained by God, and are not creatures of our power. They are divine works and creations like all other creatures. For if it should be valid to interpret a station or state in life as good fruit, one would have to say the state of a lord, a servant, a man, a child and of officers was only fruit of the Gospel; in this way there would be no fruit at all left for the Gospel, since such states or callings are found everywhere regardless of the Gospel. But the chastity of virgins is paraded thus for the sake of a show, to the great danger and injury of immortal souls; just as if no virtue adorns a Christian but virginity.

14. I will say further, that chastity is a different and a far higher thing than virginity, and is nothing more than that a woman has never been under any obligation to a man. Besides, however, it is possible that a virgin has not only a desire and a passion for man, in harmony with the character and nature of her female body; but she must also be full of blood and life in order to bear children and multiply the race, for which God created her, and that creation is not her work but God’s alone. Therefore that woman may not hinder God’s work, nature as created by God must take its course, whether children be born or not. But chastity must indeed be a state of a woman’s mind that has no or little desire for man, and has in her body also little or no seed to bear fruit or children.

15. Now it is generally the case that a married woman does not so often experience such desire and lust, such a flow of love or life; for she will be relieved of the same by or through her husband; and besides, where a virgin has only passion in the thoughts of her heart and in the seed of her body, a married woman has much displeasure mingled with the pleasure of her husband, so that to speak in common terms, the high and best chastity is in the married state, because in it is the least lust and passion, while the least chastity is in the state of virgins, because in it there is much more lust and passion. Therefore chastity is a virtue far above virginity; for we call a bride still a virgin, although she is indeed full of desire, passion and love for her bridegroom. Chastity waves high over all three states, over marriage, over widowhood and over virginity. But when God does not work wonders it sinks low and exists most in the married state and least in the state of virgins, and there are not three kinds of chastity, but three states of chastity.

16. True, when we consider virginity according to its outward appearance, it seems great that a woman restrains herself and never satisfies her desires with a man. But what does it help if persons restrain their passions longer without a man or a woman and then satisfy them more than with a man or woman? Is there not more unchastity where there is greater lust, love, lewdness and sensation than where there is less? Therefore to calculate according to the amount of lust and sensation, as unchastity should be considered, virginity is more unchaste than the state of marriage. This is very apparent among prostitutes, who are virgins and yet are very forward and obscene, and cherish greater thoughts of the sin than the sin itself is. In short, I wonder if there is a virgin twenty years of age, who has a healthy, perfect female body.

17. This is enough concerning chastity, that we know how the fruits of the Word must be understood differently and in a wider sense than pertaining to chastity, and be applied especially to the fruits, by which many are converted and come to the knowledge of the truth. For although works are also called fruits, yet Christ speaks here especially of the fruits the seed of the Word brings forth in hearts that become enlightened, believing, happy and wise in Christ, as St. Paul says in Romans 1:13: “That I might have some fruit in you also, even as in the rest of the Gentiles;” and Colossians 1:6: “Even as the Gospel is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also;” that is, many will be made alive through the Gospel, delivered from their sins and be saved; for it is the characteristic work of the Gospel, as the Word of life, grace and salvation to release from sin, death and Satan. In harmony with this fruit follow the fruits of the Spirit, the good works of patience, love, faithfulness, etc.

18. Now that some seed brings forth thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold, means that more people will be converted in some places than in others, and one apostle and minister may preach farther and more than another; for the people are not everywhere alike numerous and do not report the same number of Christians, and one minister may not preach as many sermons or cover as great a territory as another, which God foresaw and ordained. To the words of St. Paul, who preached the farthest and the most, we may indeed ascribe the hundredfold of fruit; although he was not a virgin.

IV. WHY CHRIST CALLS THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES AND THE FRUITS OF THE WORD A MYSTERY.

19. But what does it mean when he says: “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God”, etc.? What are the mysteries? Shall one not know them, why then are they preached? A “mystery” is a hidden secret, that is not known: and the “mysteries of the kingdom of God” are the things in the kingdom of God, as for example Christ with all his grace, which he manifests to us, as Paul describes him; for he who knows Christ aright understands what God’s kingdom is and what is in it. And it is called a mystery because it is spiritual and secret, and indeed it remains so, where the spirit does not reveal it. For although there are many who see and hear it, yet they do not understand it. Just as there are many who preach and hear Christ, how he offered himself for us; but all that is only upon their tongue and not in their heart; for they themselves do not believe it, they do not experience it, as Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:14 says: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” Therefore Christ says here: “Unto you it is given”, the Spirit gives it to you that you not only hear and see it, but acknowledge and believe it with your heart. Therefore it is now no longer a mystery to you. But to the others who hear it as well as you, and have no faith in their heart, they see and understand it not; to them it is a mystery and it will continue unknown to them, and all that they hear is only like one hearing a parable or a dark saying. This is also proved by the fanatics of our day, who know so much to preach about Christ; but as they themselves do not experience it in their heart, they rush ahead and pass by the true foundation of the mystery and tramp around with questions and rare foundlings, and when it comes to the test they do not know the least thing about trusting in God and finding in Christ the forgiveness of their sins.

20. But Mark says, Mark 4:33, Christ spake therefore to the people with parables, that they might understand, each according to his ability.

How does that agree with what Matthew says, Matthew 13:13-14: He spake therefore unto them in parables, because they did not understand? It must surely be that Mark wishes to say that parables serve to the end that they may get a hold of coarse, rough people, although they do not indeed understand them, yet later, they may be taught and then they know: for parables are naturally pleasing to the common people, and they easily remember them since they are taken from common every day affairs, in the midst of which the people live. But Matthew means to say that these parables are of the nature that no one can understand them, they may grasp and hear them as often as they will, unless the Spirit makes them known and reveals them. Not that they should preach that we shall not understand them; but it naturally follows that wherever the Spirit does not reveal them, no one understands them. However, Christ took these words from Isaiah 6:9-10, where the high meaning of the divine foreknowledge is referred to, that God conceals and reveals to whom he will and whom he had in mind from eternity.

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Still trusting in grace at the end of the day

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Septuagesima 2014

Jeremiah 1:4-10  +  1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5  +  Matthew 20:1-16

Jesus highlights God’s grace for us in today’s parable of the workers in the vineyard. He compares God to a kind and good landowner who goes out throughout the day and looks for workers, over and over again, from the first light of dawn right up to the eleventh hour, one hour before quitting time. And at the end of the day he gives to each one the same wages, which demonstrates that the benefit given out by the landowner is not in any way based on the amount or the quality of work that is done. He isn’t rewarding them based on their work, but based on his own generosity.

So it is with God. The vineyard is God’s earthly kingdom, His holy Church. All people are born outside of God’s vineyard, born enslaved to sin, born hostile to God and subject to death and eternal condemnation. But God, who is rich in mercy, calls many people by the Gospel into His vineyard, into His Church. He calls them at different times in history and at different points in their lives. Every time the Gospel is preached, as it is being preached today, God calls out to all who hear: You are evil, but Jesus has come and died for your evil and has risen again from the dead. Repent and believe the good news! Repent and come into God’s vineyard through Holy Baptism! That Gospel is preached, and many people never believe it, never come into God’s vineyard at all. Others do believe it and come into God’s vineyard. They’re baptized and given entrance into God’s field of grace. Here all sins are washed away in Holy Baptism and holy Absolution. Here God forgives sins every time the Church comes together to “do this in remembrance of Me.” Here we live by faith in a constant state of grace.  Here in the Church there is pure forgiveness, all the time.

Here in the Church, the new obedience is also rendered to God, obedience that flows from faith and that is rendered freely and willingly. Here in the Church, in God’s vineyard, we do work, not to be “compensated” with salvation, but as those who have been promised the gift of salvation through faith in Christ. Here in the Church, we aren’t rid of sin. But we’re struggling to get rid of it in ourselves. Here in the Church, we aren’t done sinning. But we’re daily repenting of it and striving to be done with it. Always striving, always working, always being renewed by the Holy Spirit, and always forgiven. We’ll hear more about that this Wednesday at Vespers.

But this parable wasn’t only told by Jesus to highlight God’s generosity. It was told primarily as a warning to the workers who worked the longest, because here’s what happens. The workers who start earlier and work longer than the rest start to glory in their own work. They begin to take pride in it, and they expect the landowner to reward them on the basis of their work and all those hours they put in, especially as compared to the lesser work of those hired toward the end of the day. They take His goodness toward them for granted. They despise His goodness toward others. And they are sent away from the vineyard with a rebuke. The last shall be first and the first shall be last.

It was the Apostle Paul who wrote to the Corinthians in today’s Epistle, admonishing them, encouraging them, pleading with them to “run the race” in such a way as to come in first, to win the prize. This Gospel is about Jesus’ desire for you, who are now workers in His vineyard, to get to the end of the day in first place, still trusting in God’s grace, still relying on His promises, still captivated by His generosity, so that you don’t end up like the workers who were hired first in Jesus’ parable, so that you don’t end up last at the end of the day, cast out of God’s vineyard and eternally ashamed.

See, it’s a great blessing, to be called to repentance and faith in Christ, to spend as much of your life as God permits having been rescued from slavery to sin and being made a slave to righteousness, being a worker in God’s vineyard.  There’s nothing better. It’s a great blessing to be no longer deceived by the devil’s lies, to know the truth, and knowing the truth, to be truly set free. It’s pure grace to be surrounded in this vineyard by the Means of Grace, the preached Word, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and Holy Communion. The more time in His vineyard, the better.

But the longer you spend working in God’s vineyard, knowing and receiving His grace, the longer your enemy, the devil, and his ally, your flesh, have to work on you, so that you go back to trusting in your work. “See what a good Christian life you’ve led! See what a decent person you are! Here you are in church. Again! You’re going to give an offering today. Again! See how nicely you’re dressed. See how reverent you are. See how you’ve kept yourself from great shame and vice. See how you adhere to the pure doctrine. See what a hard worker you are!” And then, you start to think—and I know this is true, talking to any number of Christians—you start to think, “I think I might just make it into heaven.”

Uh oh. You see what you’ve done? You’ve turned your hope of heaven from Christ and placed it onto yourself. You’ve turned your faith away from Christ and back toward your work. You’re no longer trusting in God’s grace and generosity, but in His duty to repay you according to your own merits. And so, of course, you get angry with God—your eye becomes evil toward Him—when He goes and gives the latecomer the same forgiveness He gives to you, the same love, the same grace. And if, at the end of the day, you despise God’s grace for others and view eternal salvation as the wages God owes to you, then you have broken away from Christ and will be rebuked by Him at the end of the day.

It’s for this very reason that St. Paul addressed the Corinthians with such seriousness in today’s Epistle. Remember Israel, he pleads with them. Learn from Israel. God called them out of Egypt. They drank from the Rock that was Christ. They were His vineyard, just as you now are! But after just a short while, as the hours of the day got long, they started looking at their work. Here they were, more godly than those wicked Egyptians. Here they were, children of Abraham, out in the wilderness, having to rely on God’s grace to supply them with food and water every day. They started imagining that they deserved something better from God. And when they didn’t get what they thought they deserved, they started grumbling and complaining. “God isn’t good enough to us. We are His people. We deserve better treatment.” And God—God scattered their bodies across the wilderness, dead.

Why? Because the same ones who at first were brought into Christ allowed their flesh to get the better of them. They took their eyes off the prize that is Christ. They turned to idol worship. They turned to self worship. They imagined that they could remain in God’s grace and at the same time despise His grace and live however they wanted, do whatever they wanted, even committing idolatry and leading sexually impure lives. But God will not be mocked. He destroyed them. And He tells us about it, as the Apostle says, so that these things should serve as an example and warning for us. It’s God way of keeping us from falling into the same pride, into the same self-reliance instead of grace-reliance, into the same destruction and death at the end of the day.

Our flesh is naturally twisted against grace. We would all quickly fall away, and maybe some have fallen already. Now what? God’s Spirit constantly calls us back through His Word, calls us to daily repentance and convinces us to trust in Christ, to keep our hope planted in God’s grace alone, to run the race in such a way as to win the prize. Here He is again today, doing this in the Gospel.

Our flesh hates grace, but then there’s that other part of a Christian, the believing part, the part that is being remade into the image of Christ. We’re enthralled by God’s grace, amazed, that He would give His Son into death for the likes of us, that He would repay us, not according to our sins, but according to His great mercy, as we sang today in the Tract from Psalm 130: If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.

Today once again, Jesus tells you this parable of the workers in the vineyard and offers His body and blood in the Sacrament to keep you looking away from your work toward the work of Christ, to claim Him as your only righteousness before God and as your only hope of reward. He is your sure hope, because in Him God’s grace is fully revealed, His desire to give gifts to the unworthy rather than to pay out wages to those who think they’re worthy. May this Gospel and this Sacrament preserve you in faith until the end of your days so that you are still trusting in grace at the end of day, to the praise of God’s glorious grace. Amen.

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The Greatest Epiphany of Epiphany

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the Festival of the Transfiguration of Our Lord

Isaiah 61:10-11  +  2 Peter 1:16-21  +  Matthew 17:1-9

We don’t have time today to discuss the history of why Transfiguration Sunday falls where it does in the Church Year.  It was a couple of Lutherans in the Reformation era who moved it to where we observe it today, on the Last Sunday after Epiphany, as the grand finale of the Epiphany season, as the greatest epiphany of Epiphany, right before we head into the pre-Lenten Gesima season, and then on into the Lenten fast.

It fits perfectly in this place, because it really is the ultimate revelation, the greatest epiphany of Jesus’ ministry.  And it comes right on the heels of the second-greatest epiphany of Jesus’ ministry, which doesn’t even come up in a regular Sunday Gospel, but it’s alluded to at the beginning of today’s Gospel, which took place “after six days.”

Six days before the Transfiguration, Matthew tells us about this second-greatest epiphany or revelation of Jesus. Peter had just confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.  That’s not the epiphany. That truth had been revealed by the angels since the night of Jesus birth. No, the second-greatest Epiphany was this bombshell of a truth: From that time, Matthew tells us, Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Oh, that truth was there in the OT, in pictures and prophetic speech.  But this was the first time anyone had ever spoken so simply and plainly about this truth, that the Christ had to suffer and die and rise again. What a revelation! What an epiphany!

It was so shocking to Jesus’ disciples that Peter actually tried to tell Jesus He was wrong, that this shouldn’t happen to Him, to which Jesus replied, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” And then that epiphany reached its climax, because Jesus then revealed to His disciples that not only would He suffer and face the cross, but so would they, so would anyone, Jesus says, who desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

So there’s the epiphany: Christ, the Son of God, must suffer and die at the hands of sinful men, and His Church, which will prevail against the very gates of hell, will only prevail against the gates of hell as her members, one by one, deny themselves, take up their torture-sticks and follow Jesus into death.

That’s the epiphany. But that’s a hard truth.  Who can bear it? Only the one whose eyes have been spiritually opened, whose faith has been divinely fed and nourished and strengthened.

And so up the mountain they go, six days later. Jesus, Peter, James and John. Notice that He doesn’t even take all the disciples with Him for this great transfiguration, this great epiphany, teaching us once again that you don’t have to see it with your own eyes in order to believe it.  God’s Word recorded by those who did see it is perfectly sufficient and just as good—no, even better! —for your faith than seeing it with your eyes.

So Jesus takes these three disciples up a high mountain, and, it says, He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.  For the first and only time, from His birth until His Ascension, Jesus looked like God.  He looked like we think God is supposed to look, like brilliant light, wearing a dazzling white robe. For the first and only time in His life on earth, Jesus looked glorious, with the glory of the only-begotten Son, glory that He shared with God His Father before the world was made.

That wasn’t the only glory on the mountain.  The prophets Moses and Elijah appeared in this vision, too, talking with Jesus.  These great Old Testament men of God aren’t described as shining like the sun, only Jesus.  He is infinitely greater than the greatest prophets who ever lived.  Now, there is plenty of significance we could point to in the appearance of these two men beside Jesus, but chiefly, they represent the Law and the Prophets, the whole Old Testament that pointed to this moment, this time of the Christ, to the dreadful defeat of the cross that Jesus had prophesied to His disciples just six days earlier when the Son of Man would be killed, when the heel of the Seed of the woman would be bruised by the serpent, going all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, the first book that Moses wrote.

But things wouldn’t end in defeat for the Messiah.  Think again of Moses and Elijah.  Both prophets foreshadowed Christ.  One of them, Moses, died.  The other, Elijah, didn’t.  Moses died in the wilderness; Elijah was taken up into heaven with a fiery chariot, very much alive! How can you have both in the Person of Christ?  One who died, and one who lives forever?  There it is, just as Jesus had predicted six days earlier.  Death and resurrection from the dead.

You see, the Transfiguration prepares us for the defeat of the cross. The Transfiguration reveals this epiphany: It’s going to be OK. Yes, Jesus will suffer and die.  But He will rise.  Yes, you Christians will suffer at the hands of wicked people, and worse, you will suffer and die every day as you deny yourself, deny your sinful flesh, deny your carnal craving to live for this life.  Every day you will die to sin, and it won’t be painless. But as you deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus, it’s going to be OK.  Whoever loses his life for My sake, Jesus says, will find it.

Jesus revealed that truth in living color to His disciples on the Mt. of Transfiguration.  Here is Jesus, the glorious Son of God. Here are Moses and Elijah. They finished their earthly race, and it turned out OK for them. Things will be OK for Jesus, even though He will die, and things will be OK for Jesus’ followers, even though they die.

Now, Peter naturally wanted to prolong this vision of glory as long as possible. Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. But God the Father burst onto the scene as a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came from the cloud, interrupting Peter’s proposal. You want to stay up here, Peter?  You want to bask in the glory of Jesus? Peter, you’re doing the same thing you did six days ago when you tried to tell Jesus He didn’t have to suffer and die. What did Jesus say to you then? “Get behind Me, Satan!” No, Peter, stop it! Here’s what you need to do.  Not build shelters. Not keep Jesus up here in safety on this mountain. Here’s what you need to do if you want this glory one day. Here’s what you need to do if you want everything to turn out OK: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!

That’s it.   Hear Him!  His very Word is life and health—a life so strong that it will survive death. Hear Him! Yes, He speaks of suffering and self-denial and death.  But hear Him speak also of resurrection from the dead, that He will rise from the dead on the third day.  Don’t miss that part! That you will rise, too, on the Last Day. Death will be unable to touch you.  You can face defeat.  You can face confronting your sin and confessing it. You can face the hard work of denying yourself and taking up your cross. But there’s only one way: Hear Him!

God wants to be known in no other way than through His Son. God does not want to be found in any other way than by you hearing His beloved Son. Hearing Him, not seeing Him. Hearing Him, not feeling Him in your heart.

And what does He say? What are the first words out of His divine mouth after the Father says, “Hear Him!”? Arise, and do not be afraid.  Like the powerful word that Jesus spoke to Peter that enabled him to walk on the water of the Sea of Galilee, this word of Jesus has the same power.  Arise, do not be afraid.  Do you hear Him? You may have been very afraid, with a genuine fear of God’s righteous anger and the punishment you have deserved from Him because of your sins. You’re right to be afraid of that, until the Son of God says, “Do not be afraid.” That’s what the absolution is, that’s what Baptism is, that’s what the Lord’s Supper is, a divine Word from Jesus to the sinner saying, “Do not be afraid. Your sins are forgiven.” And there may be many scary things ahead of you in your life. But here is the Son of God, saying, “Do not be afraid,” and here is the Father saying, “Hear Him!”

And the fearful disciples of Jesus were comforted by Jesus’ words and encouraged to look up.  And it says that they saw no one but Jesus only. What a comforting sight—more comforting, notice, than the vision of glory and the appearance of the bright cloud.  Ah, it’s Jesus only. That’s what it takes to be saved from God’s wrath, to endure the cross, to suffer death and defeat and come out victorious on the other side. Not your strength. Not your reason. Not your comfort.  Not anybody else’s help.  But Jesus only, who has given you his Word, given you His Sacraments, given you this ministry of the Word. We don’t know what’s coming tomorrow, but Him we know from His Gospel. He will be faithful to us. He will not disappoint us or forsake us.  It’s Jesus only who makes everything OK between you and God, and if everything is OK with God, then what do you have to fear from the cross?

When the disciples were coming down from the mountain with Jesus, He commanded them, Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. Well, now that time has come.  And what the Transfiguration reveals to us about Jesus’ glory is that it was there all along. As for His suffering and death—He meant to do that, for you and for all, to redeem you from sin and death, so that, by faith in Him, you can stand before God in righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as He is risen from death and lives and rules to all eternity. This is the greatest epiphany of Epiphany. And this is most certainly true. Amen.

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Sermon on the Augsburg Confession, Article V

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Preached during the week of Epiphany 4, 2014

Romans 4:16-25  +  Matthew 14:22-32

Let’s begin this evening by talking about faith for a moment, as St. Paul did in the first reading you heard from Romans 4 and as the Gospel paints for us a beautiful picture in the second reading.

Abraham had faith in God; he believed that God would do what God said He would do, namely, that He would give Abraham a son, even though, humanly speaking, it was impossible for his wife Sarah to conceive.  Faith in God meant not relying on his sight or on his reason or on the probability of Sarah conceiving.  Faith in God, instead, meant being assured in his heart that he would have a son.

Where did that faith come from?  It came, not from Abraham, but from God.  It came from the Word of God, who spoke to Abraham, had him look up at the stars in the sky and said, “So shall your offspring be.” Those words of God caused Abraham to believe that what they promised would surely take place.

Or take Peter, whose faith led him to step out of his boat, onto the stormy sea, and begin walking toward Jesus, who was walking toward him—something that’s impossible according to the laws of nature.  And yet faith meant being convinced he could do it.

Where did that faith come from?  It came, not from Peter, but from God.  It came from the Word of Jesus, who spoke to Peter that one word, “Come!” That Word was like a hand reaching out from God, and faith was like Peter’s hand, holding onto God’s hand.  The Word of Jesus, “Come!”, was the hand that held Peter up above the water.  It held him up and would have held him up until he had walked all the way to Jesus.  But then Peter took his faith off of Jesus’ word and placed it back on his eyesight, back on his human reason that told him the wind and the waves and gravity itself must surely cause him to sink.  And he began to sink, until faith found Jesus again, causing Peter to cry out, “Lord, save me!”  And Jesus did, of course, but not without a rebuke.  “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Faith is important.  Faith is essential.  Faith is a necessary component of salvation.  Faith, as we confessed in Article IV of the Augsburg Confession, is that which God counts for righteousness in His sight, because faith is the hand that lays hold of Christ, who is our righteousness before God.  So the very relevant and very important question that we’re addressing this evening is, Where does faith come from? As we saw in the example of Abraham, as we saw in the example of Peter, Scripture reveals one and only one source of faith: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

And that’s exactly what we confess in Article V of the Augsburg Confession:

That we may obtain this faith (the faith that saves, the faith that justifies), the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ’s sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake.

They condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that the Holy Ghost comes to men without the external Word, through their own preparations and works. 

Article V is a very important article, because it’s so rare to find this teaching in modern Christian churches.  The idea that God works through instruments, through means—what we call the Means of Grace—is completely foreign to American Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism, which may speak very highly of the Bible as being the inspired Word of God, but then they come right out and deny that God uses preaching and the Sacraments as His chosen instruments to create faith in men’s hearts.  And yet, this is an integral part of the doctrine of Christ.  The Holy Ghost works through the instruments, the means of preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments.  This is how He stirs up faith in the hearts of men.  This is how He nourishes and strengthens and sustains faith in the hearts of men.  Everything depends on the Word.

This is the same thing Jesus taught His apostles when He told them the Parable of the Sower and the Seed.  The seed that sprouts into faith in men’s hearts is the Word of God, according to Jesus.  And when Jesus gave His apostles the great commission, He said, Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.  Or, Go and make disciples of all nations.  How?  By what means?  By reasoning with them?  By doing miracles?  No.  Baptizing them…and teaching them.

Paul says to the Romans in chapter 1, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

How does the Holy Spirit regenerate a person and give new birth? Jesus says that a person must be born again of water and the Spirit.  Peter says, Love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.  Or as James says, Of His own will God brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

The Holy Spirit uses instruments.  He has bound Himself to those instruments, at least as far as He has revealed His will to us, so that we should not imagine that God creates or sustains faith in any other way but by the ministry of His Word.

He works faith where and when it pleases God in them that hear the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ’s sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake. The simple but powerful Gospel is just this, that we cannot justify ourselves before God or earn our justification, but that for Christ’s sake and only for Christ’s sake, God justifies those who believe that He does what He says, that He receives sinners into His grace when they believe in Christ.  It’s the Word of justification by faith alone in Christ alone.  Nothing else can bring a person to faith.  This simple Gospel is the Holy Spirit’s only tool.  When people come and visit our church, they hear this Word of God every time.  Sometimes they come back to hear more.  Sometimes they don’t.  If they come back, it’s because the Holy Spirit used His Word to create faith in their hearts, and faith keeps them coming back to Jesus’ Word like a newborn baby to his mother.  If they don’t come back, it’s because they resisted the working of the Holy Spirit in the Word.  It’s just that simple.

Because this teaching of the ministry of the Word, the Means of Grace, is so vital to Christianity, our Lutheran Church does not hesitate to condemn those who reject this Christian doctrine: They condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that the Holy Ghost comes to men without the external Word, through their own preparations and works.  The Anabaptists at the time of the Reformation and most Evangelicals today think that the Holy Spirit comes to men without the external Word, that He moves around and puts burdens on their hearts without the Word, that He brings people to faith without the Word, in some other way, through their own prayers, through their feelings and emotions.  We condemn those false teachings and those who teach them, because God’s Word condemns them.

Why?  Because false doctrine kills.  To teach that the Holy Spirit is given apart from the Word, would be like telling Peter as he is sitting in the boat, before Jesus tells him to come, “Peter, go ahead and jump out.  God’s Holy Spirit will hold you up!”  You will cause Peter to drown if he listens to you.  It’s only the Word of Jesus that sustains his faith and holds him on top of the water. Or it would be like telling Peter as he is walking on the water, trusting in Jesus’ word to him to “Come!”, “Hey, Peter!  Can’t you feel the Spirit in your heart?  That’s what’s keeping you up, Peter!  The Spirit in your heart! Feel the Spirit, Peter!”  You will cause Peter to drown if he listens to you, because you will be taking his faith off of Jesus’ Word and placing it in his own heart.  Instead, this is what Peter needs to hear, if you would tell him anything.  “Peter, Jesus said, ‘Come!’ Listen to Him! He will not lie to you. ‘Come!’, He said. He will not let you fall.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, Peter. His Word will sustain you!”

Instead, Jesus allowed Peter to sink for a moment to teach him and us how faith and His Word go hand in hand, and to warn us and encourage us to use the instruments of the Holy Spirit, to abide in His Word and to find comfort and strength in it.  God requires only faith in order for sinners to be justified in His sight.  And through the preaching ministry, God the Holy Spirit continually provides the very faith He requires, so that it’s never about us doing something for God, but always about us receiving everything from God as a free gift, even faith itself. This is what we confess in the Fifth Article of the Augsburg Confession. Amen.

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