Galatians 5,25-6,10. 15. Trinity

Galatians 5,25-6,10         5220 

15. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 060

Fausta, Virgin, Martyr and Evilasius, Martyr at Cyzicum, 305-11 

20. September 2020

1. O Lord, blessed be Your Name; give us a heartfelt desire to live for You alone, serve and obey You, so that by the working of the Holy Spirit the fruits of faith increase and are preserved in us.  Amen. (Starck 210 ¶ 3) 

2. »If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, then you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, then he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.« 

3. Last week we heard how Jesus healed the 10 lepers. Today we hear His exhortation to seek the righteousness of God.

4. The Apostle Paul gives several pieces of spiritual advice in his epistle. Echoing what Jesus taught, the apostle exhorts us to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit. Jesus taught in His Beatitudes: Just as the Heavenly Father provides for the birds and the grass, so too does He provide for us. Our Lord simply reminds us to trust that God will provide our daily needs. When we pray the petition in the Lord’s Prayer – give us this day our daily bread – we remember that God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving (Small Catechism). 

5. The apostle also exhorts us to beware of temptation. The Devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking to devour us (1. Peter 5,8). The Devil brings about trials, tribulations and persecutions upon men and women. He tempts us to doubt God’s Word, providence and love. He is the spiritual influence behind many of the things people suffer in this world. We cannot fight him by the mere strength of our will or reason, for the Devil is relentless and patient; he knows that „indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts“ (Lewis 24). 

6. »Whatever one sows, that will he also reap.« To seek the things of the world is to reap what the world bears as fruit. The Devil has his hands in the world and the fallen fruit it yields: sin, death and despair. To seek the things of God is to reap what His kingdom bears as fruit. Righteousness is the foremost fruit of the kingdom of God, and God would have us eat of it and receive from it eternal life. 

7. God has His hands in this world too and the fruits of His kingdom are: righteousness, forgiveness and salvation. To seek the righteousness of God is to seek Jesus Christ Himself. Righteousness is justification, and to be righteous is to be justified. »Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness« (Romans 4,3). Jesus’ act of righteousness on the cross leads to justification and life for all people (Romans 5,18). This righteousness is by faith (Romans 9,30), for Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans 4,28). To seek the righteousness of God is to believe on Jesus as the Christ. 

8. „Jesus’ invitation “First seek indeed the reign [of God] and his righteousness” (6:33) is simply another way of saying, “Receive the blessing and calling that Jesus has already brought into the world, and keep looking for the consummation of that reign. Seek Jesus and what he is doing and bringing into the world.” The other needful things will be added to those whom the Father values far more than birds and flowers“ (Gibbs 365). 

9. Jesus exhorts us to go to the places where He is reigning with His gracious presence, to receive His gifts of forgiveness and righteousness, to learn His truth, and to respond to His call (Gibbs 365). „Jesus’ invitation is holistic. To seek the reign of God is to seek the Gospel, which comes to us in the Scriptures and the Sacraments. In seeking that Gospel, we will also experience the sustaining community of fellow disciples, who are our brothers and sisters. With them we are joined at Christ in Holy Baptism, and with them we gather to hear God’s  Word and receive our Lord’s Supper. In those places God’s saving righteousness is found; there God is at work forgiving and making things right. That is what life is for; here is the purpose and goal of the body. Jesus is drawing … his disciples thus to orient their lives and so to be free from worry over life’s other needs. The Father will supply those needs as well“ (Gibbs 366). 

10. When we first seek Christ and His kingdom, the possessions of this world cease to be temptations to be obtained out of envy and greed with force and instead become treasures that we receive with thanksgiving from our Heavenly Father. „And possessions, which would ever seek to become our master, god, and curse, are no longer anything but daily bread that the Father, working through means, will provide, so that we may live, move, and seek the reign of God in Jesus“ (Gibbs 366). As we put Christ first, we will not grow weary of doing good, and as we have opportunity, we do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Next week we will hear how Jesus provides the very thing that we need, life itself, which He has power to give and restore.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You are good and gracious; strengthen us to take refuge in You, so that all the good things of this world may be added unto us to be enjoyed.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Matthew 1:1 – 11:1. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House. 

Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters. Copyright © 2016 Samizdat University Press.

Starck, Johann. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.