Job 14,1-6. The 3rd Last Sunday in the Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠ 

Job 14,1-6

Drittlezter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres  070; 25. S. n. Trinitatis  5612

Martin, Bishop of Tours, † 400 

✠ Armistice, Remembrance and Veterans Day for Christian soldiers who have served the State. ✠

11. November 2012

1.  Stir up, we beseech You, O Lord, the will of Your faithful people; so that they plenteously bringing froth the fruit of good works, may by You be plenteously rewarded.  Amen. 

2. Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. And do You open Your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with You? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with You, and You have appointed his limits so that he cannot pass, look away from him and leave him alone, so that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day. 

3. Our Holy Gospel from today’s Lectionary urges vigilance; yes, vigilance and a resolute focus on Jesus Christ. Job wisely explains why we must be vigilant and focused on Jesus: a person’s life is few of days and full of trouble. 

4. The temptation, however, is to not be vigilant or focused on Jesus. Life in this fallen, corrupt world is difficult and full of suffering. To eke out a bearable existence, we have to work long, taxing hours. We have to weigh our options and make tough choices over the years. The sin occurs when we focus on the wrong person or priority. 

5. Holy Scripture exhorts us to trust in Christ Jesus our Lord and God. We are tempted to trust in every thing and every one but Jesus. We trust in our wealth, our ingenuity, our discipline of hard work and our political leaders. We expect all of these things, and many more, to see us through the sufferings of this age. We elevate our wealth, our abilities and our government to the level of gods. We make them idols in our lives. When the chips are down, we look first to our own resources for resolution to the state we find ourselves in. 

6. Jesus cautions us in today’s Holy Gospel: »False christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.« (Matthew 24,24). This is a real temptation for men and women. People without scruples have used natural calamities, national emergencies, promises of assistance and other circumstances to gain power and prestige for themselves. We have examples of this throughout history in both governments and the Church. Oppressive tyrants patiently wait for such circumstances to arise so they can seize or retain power. The end result is more suffering for their citizenry, and we only have ourselves to blame for turning such men or women into our idols. 

7. Not only must we take care to be wary of people who would take advantage of us in the political realm, but we must also be aware of those who would attempt to seize power in Christ’s Church. Jesus warns us that false christs and false prophets have arisen, and will arise again, to deceive and lead Christians astray from sound, Biblical doctrines. Such false teachers spout the foundational doctrine of all other religions: „You must become just so and so and do such and such works if you wish to go to heaven“ (Walther 71).  Over against this the true teacher proclaims the message of Christianity: „You are a lost and condemned sinner; you cannot be your own Savior. But do not despair on that account. There is One who has acquired salvation for you. Christ has opened the portals of heaven to you and says to you: Come, for all things are ready.“  (Walther 71). 

8. In his lament, Job proclaims: »And do You, O Yahweh, bring me into judgment with You? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.« With his lament, Job wisely focuses our attention upon the chief article of Holy Scripture: justification. 

9. Throughout her long history, the Church has been lead away from the comfort of this blessed doctrine. Time and again, the Holy Spirit has drawn back the Church to the comfort of justification. 

10. Job laments that all people seem to fall under the wrath of Yahweh’s judgment. Human beings are sinners, they are unclean, and who can bring a clean thing from that which is unclean? Certainly not men or women. We are sinners, and we are unable to redeem or justify ourselves before the wrath and judgment of Yahweh. Yet, all is not lost! 

11. Job says: »For then, O Yahweh, You do not keep watch over my sin; my transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You cover over my iniquity« (Job 14,16-17). The Prophet Isaiah proclaims it this way, using Job’s image from verse 4: »We have all become one who is unclean, and all our righteous  deeds are like filthy rags. But now, O Yahweh, do not be so terribly angry, and forget our iniquity forever« (Isaiah 64,6.8-9). So also the psalmist: »Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the one against whom Yahweh counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit« (32, 1-2).

12. God the Father has not rejected us nor has He forgotten us. He knows our sinfulness, and He sent His only-begotten Son to merit our forgiveness. The Apostle John proclaims it this way in his Gospel: »For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but He sent the Son so that the world may be saved through Him« (John 3,17). The holy apostle is proclaiming none other than the doctrine of justification! 

13. Jesus did not come to judge you but to justify you.  Jesus can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. Only Jesus is righteous, yes, He alone, and He gives us His very righteousness to be our own. »The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, but the righteousness of God  is manifested through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no difference, because all sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified as a free gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation through faith in His blood which shows His righteousness by passing over former sins. In the forbearance of God, to show His righteousness at the present time, to be just and the one who justifies by means of faith in Jesus« (Romans 3,21-26). 

14. This pure gospel soothes consciences burdened by false christs and false prophets who seek to lead Christians away with great signs and wonders (Matthew 25,24). Every generation sees its share of false prophets who peddle a gospel mingled with the law and things we must do to be assured of our salvation. We have those who try to predict and date the return of Christ, and in doing so frighten weaker Christians to doubt their faith. The gospel, however, brings you blessed assurance (seligste Versicherung): Fear not, dear Christians, fear not, for you are saved by Christ alone (solus Christus) and no one and nothing can snatch you out of Christ’s redeeming hands: not your sins, not false teachers, not the tribulations of the world and not even the devil himself. You are free; you are forgiven; you belong to Jesus. Christ’s vicarious and substitutionary death solves your real, deadly problem: (which is your) sin. There is now full and complete peace between God the Father and you. You are righteous and justified on account of Christ’s merits which have now been credited to you. This is the doctrine of justification that Christ Jesus established for you and your salvation. Revel and rejoice in what Jesus has done for you.  Amen. 

15. Let us pray. We give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, we give thanks, for Your Name is near, and where Your Name is, there is salvation so that we are assured of our right standing before God the Father.  Amen.  

To God alone be the Glory 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Walther, C. F. W. The Proper Distinction Between LAW AND GOSPEL. Copyright © 1986 Concordia Publishing House.

Why Does God Allow Natural Disasters?

After seeing the images on TV, and perhaps experiencing the storm yourself, you wonder: “Why did this hurricane devastate the lives of so many people in New Jersey, New York City, and thousands of towns up and down the East Coast?” God’s people have asked such questions since the book of Genesis. We find Job pondering why bad things have happened to a righteous man. Others ask Jesus why some kinsmen were killed when a building fell upon them. 

Natural disasters are part and parcel of our fallen world. In a perfect world, there would be no floods, tornados or tsunamis. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Rather, we live in a world that has been contorted and knocked off kilter by sin − our sin. God cursed the ground on account of Adam. Thorns and thistles will now grow and make our stewardship of the earth much more difficult. Paul talks about creation groaning under the weight of God’s curse. 

So when we wonder why did God allow this hurricane to happen, we discover from Holy Scripture that natural disasters happen because we are sinful people who live in a world that has been cursed by God on account of our sins. 

Does this mean God is punishing us for some unrepented sin? Is He punishing our nation for national sins that we, as a nation, are guilty of? Only insofar as we live on a world whose nature has been cursed by God as a result of our sinfulness. Hurricanes are just one way, among many, that this cursed earth unleashes because of the curse placed upon it. 

Does this mean God is indifferent or uncaring? Certainly not! We should realize that God has protected us from any number of natural disasters throughout the years. When was the last time an asteroid slammed into the earth and extinguished 4 or 5 billion human beings? When was the last time the earth was soaked with flood waters so that only eight people survived? God watches over us and protects us many, many times. 

It’s just this more recent incident when God seems to have taken a break from rescuing His creation. Or has He? Consider what God is doing in the aftermath of this hurricane. He is working through individuals, organizations and State governments to send help, money and supplies. God’s people are praying for the lives and rescue of those unaccounted. 

God is working through men and women to help ease the awful suffering. God is showing His love for the world by working through the actions of the world to offer assistance. 

You see, God can be found where there’s trouble. God is there with the nurse giving help to one injured in the hurricane. God is with the pilot who flies a cargo plane with needed supplies. God is with those who search for the unaccounted. 

God is found in the midst of our greatest heartache and despair. Rather than seeing a hurricane as the angry and contorted face of God, we should instead look at the true God revealed in Christ. For when we see Christ contorted and suffering on the cross, we see God’s friendly heart, a heart so enamored with His people and His creation that He is willing to give up His only Son to redeem us from all our sins. And Paul tells us that God’s redemption in Christ will one day remove the curse imposed upon creation. 

Christ our Lord intervened in a disaster hundreds of times worse than the recent Hurricane Sandy. Our Savior went to the cross, suffered and gave up His own life to save us from our sins. The Christ hanging on the cross reveals the heart of God and the great love He has for us. And when we realize how much God loves us and that Christ is where our greatest need is that needs fixing, then we realize that our Christian faith points the way to where Christ needs to be now: in boroughs and with people who have suffered greatly. And where Christ is, there we will be. Perhaps merely in spirit and prayers. Or in the sending of support. Or offering other help. Each time you give an encouraging word to your neighbors, bring them a cup of coffee, offer them some respite from the sufferings of the hurricane’s aftermath, the hands and words of Jesus are working and speaking through you. These are Divine words of love and support. God has given us an opportunity to do acts of charity and mercy for our neighbors, and for each other in the household of God. And reminding people that God loves us through Christ and that not even a hurricane can alter God’s good disposition upon us through Christ our Lord and Savior.

Romans 7,14-25a. The 22. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Romans 7,14-25a   5512

22. Sonntag nach Trinitatis. 067 

Vitalis and Agricola, Martyrs at Bologna, Italy 304 

Robert Preus, Pastor, Theologian, and Seminary President. † 1995

4. November 2012

1. O God the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, renew and sanctify our hearts, enlighten the darkness of our minds and beget in us the saving faith. Lead us into all truth, govern and sanctify us by Your Word and keep us in the same unto the end, so that we may not be overcome by any evil or temptation (Löhe 148).  Amen. 

2. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

3. As the Apostle Paul concludes the 7. chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, he describes the inner conflict waged within the Christian. Paul’s argument is a bit wordy, so let me break it down in a more digestible thesis. There are two laws working in a Christian: 1. a law of the spirit that tells us what is good, right and holy, and 2. a law of sin that rebels against the law of the spirit. Our Christian mind loves the law of the spirit and desires to do what is good and right, however, our flesh is sinful and does what is evil and wrong. So when we sin, it is not our Christian mind that is sinning but it is our sinful flesh that is disobeying our will and acting on its own to do what it pleases, that is, our flesh does what is evil and wrong. Our mind and flesh are locked in a daily struggle as to which one will win out. 

4. Paul then laments that the flesh and its law of sin constantly win out in this struggle. We know what is right, and we desire to do what is right, but we cannot do what is right. Our sinful flesh does not go down easily; even when we do something good and right, our flesh kicks and screams all the while, making such a fuss, like a little child throwing a temper tantrum, so that even when we do what is right, such good deeds are tarnished by our sinful nature. Evil always lies close at hand; our flesh seeks to snatch victory from our Christian grasp. Thus, the Christian life is a life of conflict: the old sinful flesh and the new righteous mind wrestle to determine whose will shall be done. 

5. Martin Luther explained it this way: „Thus it comes about that you fight against yourself and are opposed to yourself. One is willing, and the other is unwilling. And this is the glory of the grace of God; it makes us enemies of ourselves. For this is how it overcomes sin, ... namely, with a most glorious triumph, so that the enemies slaughtered themselves (Judges 7,22). ... So it is with grace; and, as was said above: »the leaven is hidden in three measures until the whole is leavened« (Matthew 13,33)“ (Luther 26, 364). 

6. Our Lectionary, however, leaves Paul’s answer in suspense. The holy apostle proclaims: Jesus Christ our Lord delivers us from our body of death. This is pure gospel and marvelous grace which leavens our body unto righteousness. Paul furthermore proclaims: »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death« (Romans 8,1-2). Paul declares it as a certainty that Christ is our principal, complete and perfect righteousness [1] (Luther 71). 

7. So, the Apostle Paul says Christians »have the law of the spirit and the law of the sin fighting against each other within our being.« Luther described our situation this way: A Christian is saint and sinner at the same time [2]. On November 1. The Western Church remembered the saints on All Saints’ Day. All Christians struggle against the sinful flesh. The saints from ages past also struggled against their flesh just as we do. They have entered the blissful rest in Paradise with Jesus. Their earthly lives serve as examples for us as we live our lives. 

8. The law, in its primary function, condemns sinners. The law does this by first revealing sin to us, then threatening the condemnation of unrepentant sinners and finally curbing the rebellious law of our flesh into submission to the commandments of God. The gospel then comes to us in Christ, who did not merely forgive and forget our sin, but He freed us from our sin and our slavery to sin and the condemnation of the law. The law of God threatens us with condemnation, but the gospel of God promises us with justification. This justification is God renewing us in His very image and likeness. God is holy, and He renews us in holiness. God is loving, and He renews us in Godly love. God is merciful, and He renews us in mercy. The gospel brings our Savior’s righteousness to robe our lives in royal dress; from all our failings it brings release and give the shackled conscience peace (Loy 580,3). 

9. „A Christian’s sin is the same sin and sin as great as that of the unbeliever. To the Christian, however, it is forgiven and not imputed, while to the unbeliever the sin is retained and imputed.... This is not because of a difference between the sins, as though the Christian’s sin were smaller and the unbeliever’s larger, but because of a difference between the persons. For the Christian knows that his sin is forgiven him on account of Christ, who has expiated it by His death. Even though he has sin and commits sin, he remains godly. On the other hand, when the unbeliever commits sin, he remains ungodly. This is the wisdom and the comfort of those who are truly godly, that even if they have sins and commit sins, they know that because of their faith in Christ these sins are not imputed to them“ (Luther 27,76). 

10. Christ Jesus has justified us by His death and resurrection. He has made us righteous and holy. Holy is the root word for saint, thus Jesus saints us. He does so by imputing His holiness upon us. We receive this imputation by faith, and so we believe what Jesus says: We are justified. We are not under God’s wrath and condemnation, for Jesus has has shown us the friendly heart of His Father, a heart overflowing with love and grace. 

11. We are the bearers of the Father’s friendly heart to our world. People often ask: „Why did God allow a destructive hurricane to devastate numerous boroughs in New Jersey and up and down the East Coast?“ or „Where is God in all this suffering?“ Jesus answered this question 2000 years ago: »Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no« (Luke 13,1-3). You see, God is not angry at us, for His anger upon sin was poured out in full upon Christ at Calvary. Natural disasters are the suffering lot we endure as sinners living on a cursed earth. God, however, is not distant or unresponsive. He is in the midst of devastation and destruction. Each time you give an encouraging word to your neighbors, bring them a cup of coffee, offer them some respite from the sufferings of the hurricane’s aftermath, the hands and words of Jesus are working and speaking through you. These are Divine words of love and support. God has given us an opportunity to do acts of charity and mercy for our neighbors, and for each other in the household of God. 

12. „The dominion of the Spirit is so powerful that the law cannot accuse that which is truly sin. For Christ, our Righteousness, whom we grasp by faith, is beyond reproach; therefore He cannot be accused by the law. As long as we cling to Him, we are led by the Spirit and are free from the law.... The remnants of sin cling to our flesh, which, as long as it lives, does not stop having desires against the Spirit. Yet this does not endanger us at all; for we are free of the law, provided that we walk by the Spirit“ (Luther 27,78). 

13. The end result, you see, is the mind’s victory over the flesh. Christ is concerned about the end result and the last day. When He returns, Jesus will remove all sin and corruption that clings to our mind, body and spirit. Now we struggle with sin, but on the last day all struggling will stop. The gospel will reign supreme, and the Holy Spirit daily works in our lives unto that last day arrives.  Amen. 

14. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds, keep us steadfastly in the faith, trusting in You for the forgiveness of our sin, so that we may live each day confident in the truth of our salvation, which will be manifest in full on the last day and the resurrection of our flesh unto life everlasting.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker.

Loy, Matthias. „The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace“. Lutheran Service Book. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 26:  Lectures on Galatians. Jaroslav Pelikan, Ed. Copyright © 1964 Concordia Publishing House. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 27:  Lectures on Galatians. Jaroslav Pelikan, Ed. Copyright © 1964 Concordia Publishing House. 

1 capitalis, rotundus et perfectus

2 simul iustus et peccator. AE 26,232.