Each Day in the Word, Friday, October 28th

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Tom and Karen Klumb

2 John 1–13 (NKJV)

1 The Elder, To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, 2 because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received a commandment from the Father. 5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. 6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 12 Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.

This small letter of John deals with truth and love. Truth is vital because there are many deceivers in world who teach a different doctrine than Christ’s. Those who follow such teachings do not have God. The one who abides in the doctrine of Christ—the gospel purely taught—“has both the Father and the Son.” This recalls Jesus words from John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” Abiding in the truth of the gospel—believing the gospel and loving God for the salvation He gives in the gospel—means God the Father and God the Son dwell in our hearts by faith.

Having God dwell in our hearts by faith, we love God and our neighbor. John reminds us to of the commandment to love one another because our sinful flesh is selfish and self-serving. The sin that dwells in us does all it can to thwart our love for one another and direct our love to ourselves. We need the continual reminder to love one another.

How do we love one another? “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.” Each of the Ten Commandments show us what love for our neighbor is. We love others by helping them in every bodily need. We love our spouses by being chaste and giving our heart only to them. We love one another by helping others retain their property and income. We love one another by defending them and speaking well of them. We love one another by being content with what God has given us and helping others appreciate what God has given them. Within the Ten Commandments there are countless ways to love one another as they need. When we transgress the law of love, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness, then return to our vocations with renewed love for those around us.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, keep us in Christ’s doctrine and fill us with love for You and others. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Thursday, October 27th

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Tom and Karen Klumb

1 John 5:10–21 (NKJV)

10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. 18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

What does it mean when John writes, “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin.” Does this mean the Christian never sins? Didn’t the same apostle write earlier in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” Which is it?

The answer is that the believer does not willfully sin. Those whom are born of God, regenerated by faith in Christ, who have the Holy Spirit and love God and their neighbor, do not intentionally consent to sin. We have sin. We acknowledge sin in our flesh. St. Paul calls it concupiscence—the inborn desire to sin. St. Paul complains of this inborn sin in Romans 7:18 when he says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.” St. James describes how the inborn sin in our flesh works. “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (James 1:14). The inborn sin remains in us though we are regenerated by faith. It taints our new obedience so that although we have the desire to fulfill God’s law and love our neighbor, we aren’t able to do either perfectly.

When the sin in our flesh entices us, we remember that we are born of God. James writes that “when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (James 1:15). Whoever is born of God does not let his own desires and enticements conceive and bring forth sin. Our goal is to stop temptation so that sin does not reign over us so that we do its will. John speaks so often about living in love because love is the opposite of every sin. Loving God and loving neighbor busies us with good works. We live in the new obedience of faith. Living in love keeps us away from willful sins and the wicked one doesn’t touch us. If we fall to temptation, we go back to 1 John 2:1.

Let us pray: Lord God, give us Your Holy Spirit so that faith and love reign in us today. Amen.

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The power and the will to forgive sins

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 19

Isaiah 44:21-23  +  John 1:35-51

“Who can forgive sins but God alone?” That’s what the scribes wondered in the account from Sunday’s Gospel, when Jesus dared to forgive the sins of the paralytic who was brought to Him in faith. Who can forgive sins but God alone? They were right, of course. God is the One who has been sinned against by the creatures who owed Him our obedience and our love. God is the One who holds the keys of heaven and of hell. Only God can forgive sins.

Of course, first people have to be convinced that they have sins on their record, and that their sins are against God, and that those sins are deathly serious and need forgiving. Most of the time, people go around justifying themselves, thinking that they’re doing all right, that they’re doing their best, and that their best must be good enough, that their beliefs must be right, their opinions must be correct. Even God must agree with them and accept them, in spite of any flaws they may have.

Such were the people of Israel in the Old Testament, most of the time. And so God kept sending His prophets to show them the truth about themselves, that they were sinners, to show them the truth, that God was displeased with them, angry with them, and to warn them about the very real consequences of rebelling against the only true God. Isaiah was one of those prophets, and he spent most of chapter 44 berating the idolaters in Israel, showing them the folly of taking a piece of wood, for example, chopping it up, burning half of it, and then carving the other half into a god for them to pray to and show reverence to.

But then, to the penitent among His people, to those in whom the Law had awakened fear and even panic, God speaks sweetly. Remember these things, O Jacob, He says. Remember your idolatries, remember how foolish it is to worship anything or anyone but God, to fear, love or trust in anyone more than God. Remember these things! Why? For you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant. Now there’s both a warning and comfort in there, isn’t there? The warning: I formed you. I am your Creator. You are My servant. You’re supposed to be serving Me, not any other God. You owe me your obedience, your worship, your love. But there’s comfort, too: I haven’t tossed you away with the trash, even though you’ve treated Me, your God, like trash. I created you, and therefore I do care about you. And I still call you My servant, not My enemy.

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me! An alternate translation, actually, the one that Luther follows, would be, You must not forget Me! You must not forget your Creator. You must not forget the One whose servant you are, to whom you owe obedience.

But look! This is the main reason why you must not forget your God. I have blotted out your transgressions, like a thick cloud; I have blown away your sins like mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

Hear God’s invitation to His people to return to Him. Hear how earnest He is! And why should anyone return to Him? Because He is the God who redeems and forgives.

So when Jesus boldly and publicly forgave the sins of the paralytic in Sunday’s Gospel, the scribes were offended, first, because they didn’t recognize Jesus as the One whose right alone it is to redeem and to forgive, as the God who was sinned against and who, therefore, had the right to forgive—or not forgive.

But remember, as we discussed on Sunday, they also must have thought Jesus’ actions were blasphemous because God’s pattern of forgiving sins, plastered throughout the Old Testament, required a sacrifice to redeem or to buy back the life of the sinner. And where was that sacrifice?

John the Baptist pointed to it in the second lesson you heard this evening. As he pointed some of his own disciples over to the recently baptized Jesus, he points and says to Andrew and (probably) John, “Look! The Lamb of God!” By calling Him “the Lamb of God,” John was affirming that Jesus was the sacrifice by which the sins of the world would be paid for, that He Himself would be the redemption price. So, yes, as the Redeemer, who would give His life as that redemption price, Jesus had the power to forgive.

But that’s not all we learn about Jesus in that reading. Jesus demonstrated to Nathanael that He had divine knowledge—in this case, knowledge of who Nathanael was on the inside, an Israelite in whom is no deceit, and even where he was sitting when Philip called him. Yes, Jesus was the Son of God, as Nathanael confessed, so He is the One who was offended by our sins, and yet came to earth to save us from them, to forgive us for them.

But I want you to catch one more thing in that lesson before we close this evening. Remember what we said on Sunday that God required in order to forgive someone, based on what He taught in the Old Testament? You needed a life for a life, a sacrifice for sin. But you also needed a Mediator—the priest—to go between God and man, to offer the sacrifice. What was it Jesus promised Nathanael that he would see before it was all done? Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

Angels ascending and descending. Where have we seen that before? Oh, that’s right. Jacob’s dream of the ladder or the staircase with one end touching the earth and the other reaching up to heaven. Except here, Jesus identifies Himself as the ladder, as the staircase going between earth and heaven. True God and true man and the one Mediator between God and Man.

So, again, there it is, everything needed for God to forgive sinners. He gave His Son to be the redeeming Sacrifice, His life for the lives of all men. And Christ is also the High Priest who offers this sacrifice as the Mediator. So He truly has the power to forgive sins. But just as importantly, or maybe most important of all, God has the desire to forgive sinners. He invites all sinners, He invites you, to use Jesus continually as your Mediator, that is, to have faith in Him for the forgiveness of sins, to approach God the Father holding up Jesus as the reason—the only reason—why He should accept you, and He will. In fact, He rejoices to receive you and calls upon all creation to rejoice with Him: Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Wednesday, October 26th

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Tom and Karen Klumb

1 John 5:1–3 (NKJV)

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

St. John continues to teach us faith and love. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, that He is our Advocate and the propitiation for the sins of the world, that one is born of God. Faith regenerates us. Faith in Christ rebirths us as sons of God. John wrote in his gospel, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). Faith in Christ makes us new men and women since we are justified by faith alone.

When the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts He creates new hearts in us as well, with new movements and motivations. This is why John can say that God’s commandments aren’t burdensome. Believing the Gospel makes living according to God’s will in the Ten Commandments a joy. Those who are reborn through faith in the Gospel can say with the psalmist, “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). We delight in the Law of the Lord and look for ways to love God and our neighbors. Philip Melanchthon writes in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, “Therefore, when we have been justified by faith, and regenerated, we begin to fear God, to pray to him, to expect from him aid, to give thanks and praise him, and to obey him in afflictions. We begin also to love our neighbors” (Ap Ch. III.4). God’s commandments aren’t burdensome because faith regenerates us as God’s children. As children of God, justified and fully forgiven, we begin to keep His commandments in love.

We also love God’s law because it continues to show us our sins. It shows us our sins that we may repent them, rejoice in in the gospel, and work to amend our lives so that we keep His commandments more each day.

Let us pray: Lord God, we give You thanks for rebirthing us through faith in Your gospel and creating in us clean hearts with pure desires. Increase our faith so that we love Your law and rejoice to live in it. Amen.

 

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Each Day in the Word, Tuesday, October 25th

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Tom and Karen Klumb

1 John 2:1–17 (NKJV)

1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 7 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. 9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 12 I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. 13 I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one. 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Knowing that we have sin in us—the sinful nature—may lead us to assume that we will give in to every temptation that comes to mind. St. John writes that since we have fellowship with God and walk in the light, we are to fight temptation with the Holy Spirit’s aid. He writes, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.” Christians fight the sinful flesh’s desires, the world’s wicked influence, and the devil’s fiery darts. We should do all we can to avoid sinning when tempted from within ourselves or from an external enticement. Jesus taught this very thing in Matthew 5:29-30 when He taught us to pluck out and cut off the temptation when we feel it. We avoid sin by recognizing the devil’s fiery darts and immediately removing them from our heart. We cut off the temptation with the power of the Holy Spirit. We recall who we are in Christ and that we have died to the sin with which we are being tempted.

There are times we fall to temptation. When we do consent to temptation and sin, St. John would not have us despair. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is the atoning sacrifice for all the world’s sins. If we sin we’re not to let the sin rule in our conscience, imagining that it’s too big, grievous, or vile to be forgiven. Nor are we to let the sin continue to rule in our body and mind, so that we treasure it, hold hands with it, and use our fall as an excuse to keep sinning. John points us to Christ, the Advocate who died for our sins and promises to forgive our sins when we repent of them and flee to Him for mercy.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, give us Your Holy Spirit that we may not sin today and so that if we do, we may immediately rise again in repentance, flee to Christ our Advocate, and rejoice in His holy gospel. Amen.

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