Trinity 14

Luke 17:11-19 - Trinity Fourteen - September 6, 2015
The Ten Lepers

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Jesus was heading to Jerusalem for the last time.  On his way, ten lepers saw him outside a certain village and cried out to him for mercy.  Jesus had mercy by speaking his almighty word and healing all ten of them.  Only one, however, returned to thank him.  He was a Samaritan.  Jesus told him that his faith had made him well.  But weren’t all ten lepers made well?  So then, was it something other than faith by which the other nine were healed?  If not, what kind of faith did they have?  And what kind of faith did this Samaritan have that Jesus commended?  In order to relate the events of our Gospel lesson to ourselves, and examine the kind of faith that we ought to have, I’d like to consider these questions. 

Trinity 14

Luke 17:11-19 - Trinity XIV - September 1, 2013 

Saving Faith is Thanking Faith

It is often unsettling for folks to witness in Lutheran church services our persistent focus on crying out to God for mercy.  Now, rarely will a self-avowed Christian deny his need for divine mercy – oh no – at least he won’t intend to deny it.  It’s not that we don’t need mercy, the argument goes, but don’t we already have mercy?  Why can’t we move beyond this constant plea for what we already have and begin to focus instead on the life of thanking and praising God?  Don’t we have a lot to be thankful for?  

So it goes.  And some of us might feel a bit of sympathy toward this concern.  After all, we do cry out for mercy an awful lot in our liturgy.  But if we are serious about wanting to give thanks to God, we’ve got to go at it a little differently.  The reason we can’t move beyond our cry for mercy is twofold: 1) we are unable to move beyond our sin; we keep needing mercy, and 2), it is precisely when our dear Lord answers this constant cry of ours that we learn again and again what it means to be thankful. 

Trinity 14

Galatians 5:16-24 - Trinity XIV - September 9, 2012
Working Works or Bearing Fruits

The central teaching of Holy Scripture is that a sinner is justified before God by grace alone through faith in Christ.  This is to say that God forgives us our sins and declares us righteous on account of the holy life, the innocent suffering and death, and the glorious resurrection and ascension of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  All this God does by grace alone apart from any of our own merits or works or preparations.  We are saved from sin, death, and hell by faith alone, that is to say, when we believe that for Jesus’ sake God receives us into His favor.  This is the resounding and consistent message of the whole Bible.  St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians is perhaps the clearest of all testimonies in Scripture to this precious doctrine of justification.  

The occasion for which Paul wrote what he wrote was that this doctrine was being challenged and perverted by false teachers in Galatia.  They were teaching that after people came to faith, they had to do something beyond just believing in order to perfect their righteous standing before God.  This was an error that could not be tolerated because it totally contradicted the whole Christian religion.  It denied the very definition of grace by saying that the righteousness faith received in the forgiveness of sins was not good enough.

Trinity 14

Luke 17:11-19- Trinity 14- September 25, 2011 

  Worship: God's Gift to His Church

Is worship our gift to God?  When we gather together here at Trinity Lutheran Church, are we somehow reciprocating some favor to God – like He gives us something, and we give Him something in return?   Of course not!   We are saved by grace alone through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  That means that what we do as Christians – whether here in church or anywhere else – whether serving our neighbor or singing a hymn or teaching our children the Catechism – it is never a compensation for what God gives us.  Rather it is a faithful response to what we receive.  We are not able to give to God anything worthy to be compared to the salvation we have in Christ.  And God neither asks for nor needs any such reimbursement.  He simply bids us to believe His promise that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.  For such mercy, we worship our God. 

The word worship is an old word that comes from worth and ship – like friendship or fellowship.  Worth-ship, or worship, is when we ascribe worth or value to someone.  God commands us to worship Him.  In fact, it is the very first commandment that says that we should have no other gods before Him.  This means we should worship Him alone and none other.  When God requires us to worship Him, He is simply requiring us to have faith.  In this sense worship is not our gift to God at all.  No. WORSHIP IS GOD’S GIFT TO US.