LESSON: ROMANS 1:18‒25

“You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” Matthew 4:10

God allows us to love His creatures; that is why He created them and made them good. The sun is a fine creation of God; gold and silver and everything that is fair and beautiful quite naturally engender love in us. God readily permits us to love these creatures. But to cling to them and equate our love for them with our love for Him, this He neither will nor can tolerate. Indeed, it is His will that I should deny and forsake all if He wants me to do so, and that I should be satisfied even if I never saw the sun, money, or any of my property again.

Love of creatures must always stand a very long distance beneath love of Himself. Even as He is the supreme good, so He wants us to love Him in the highest manner before everything else. If He does not want me to love anything beside Himself, much less does He want anything to be loved above Himself, although both of these alternatives amount to the same thing.

Now, I believe, you can see what it means to love God with your whole heart, and your whole soul, and your whole mind. To love God with your whole heart is to love Him above all creatures. Although many creatures are quite lovable and please me well and I love them, I should still be fully prepared to disregard them and let them go for God’s sake, if God, my Lord, so wills it.

SL 11:1541 (13‒14)

PRAYER: We thank and praise You, heavenly Father, for all the good gifts of Your creation. Grant us the moderation and understanding to use these creatures according to Your will and for our neighbor’s benefit, in Christ’s name and for His sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

LESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 5:6‒8

Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14

The really wicked people in God’s sight are those who are proud of their external performances, who want to justify themselves and be accounted righteous before God because of their works. The lawyer in the Gospel belonged to this class of men. What a proud ass he is! And like a proud ass, he comes to the fore. He imagines that Christ can find no fault in him. He probably even thinks that the Lord will commend and praise his life right here before all the people. It never entered his head that he might have something to learn from the Lord; he was seeking only his personal honor and glory. This coxcomb was expecting a song of praise from the Man to whom the people looked up and about whom everyone wondered.

The Lord does not really do this man a service in shaming him like He does. Christ can really be quite unfriendly and anything but kind, especially when He tells people the plain, unvarnished truth. One can understand why some people became so cross with Him. This pious, holy lawyer is still standing on his head. He has but one aim in view: to cash in on the very high reputation he has won by his holy living. He is quite sure that he has fulfilled all the commandments. He hopes to hear from Christ the commendation, “My good man, you have done everything; all is well with you.” But Christ says: “Do this!” In plain language Christ means to tell him, “You are a complete fake; you have never at any time kept this law, not even a letter of it.” He shows this man his wickedness. The poor simpleton thinks that he should be in one of the upper seats. It would be fine and clean. He would rather take his place among the angels than among these people. At times Christ can certainly be a very strange Christ.

SL 11:1539 (11‒12)

PRAYER: You have made it perfectly clear, O God, that self-righteousness never has any room to spare for Your grace and mercy. Empty our hearts of all false pride and self-righteousness, that Your grace and mercy may enter and abide there, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

LESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10

A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28

I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do.

A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).

If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5).

SL 11:1538 (6‒8)

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

LESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10

A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28

I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do.

A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).

If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5).

SL 11:1538 (6‒8)

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

LESSON: LUKE 10:23‒37

Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Luke 10:23‒24

This seeing and hearing must be understood quite simply as external seeing and hearing, namely, that they saw Christ in His own person and in the office He fulfilled, heard His preaching, and witnessed the miracles which He performed among the Jews. They were all in a position to confess with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Many prophets and kings also saw Christ, but only in spirit. The Lord Himself said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see My day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). On that occasion the Jews thought that Jesus was speaking about a physical seeing; but Jesus was referring to the spiritual seeing whereby all pious Christian hearts saw Jesus before He was born and still see Him today. If Abraham saw Him in this way, there is no doubt that many prophets, in whom the Holy Spirit resided, also saw Him thus. This spiritual seeing brought salvation to the holy fathers and prophets, but they also experienced a heartfelt desire and longing to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is indicated here and there in the prophets.

The Lord here says to His disciples, who both heard and saw Him in the flesh, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!” He means to say, “This is a blessed time, an acceptable year, a time of grace. What is now present before you is so precious that the eyes which see it are quite rightly called blessed. Never before has the Gospel been proclaimed to every man with such publicity and clarity.”

SL 11:1536 (2‒4)

PRAYER: Jesus, Lord and Savior, You pronounced Your disciples blessed for being able to see and hear Your works of grace and Your Gospel of salvation. Help us to a similar experience of blessedness in connection with Your Gospel of salvation, for Your name’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

LESSON: 1 PETER 2:9‒10

“I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father.” John 16:26‒27

I should never rely on your works, and you should not rely on mine. But with my faith, I will pray to God for you to give you a personal faith of your own. John says that Christ has “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Revelation 1:6). Like Christ Himself, we may now step forth on behalf of others and pray that God may bestow a personal faith on them. Hence, if I see that you do not have such a faith, or a weak faith, I go off and pray to God to help you to such a faith. I do not give you my own faith and works, but I pray God to give you your own faith and works. I pray to God that Christ may give you all His works and salvation through faith, as He has given us His blessings through faith.

This is also the point in the passage quoted above from John’s Gospel. Christ means to say here, “I have prayed and had dealings with God on your behalf so that He may give you what is Mine. Therefore, acknowledge My name. Through My prayer for you, He has accepted you and given you faith, so that from now on you may pray for yourselves. I do not have to do it for you, but you should do it for yourselves in My name.”

Here God crowned us, consecrated us, and anointed us with the Holy Spirit so that we are all priests and each one should pray for the other. We are a royal priesthood of believers.

SL 11:1521 (13‒14)

PRAYER: Among our greatest distinctions, Lord Jesus, is this, that You have given us individually the status of being kings and priests before God, our heavenly Father. Grant us at all times a clear understanding of our privileges as priests, especially in intercessions for the needs of our brethren. We pray in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

LESSON: LUKE 12:35‒40

“Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’” Matthew 25:7-9

It is important for you to know how far another man’s faith can help you. The merits of others can prompt you to acquire merits of your own, but that is their limit. Even if all the angels and God’s mercy itself took your part, it would not help you, unless you adhered to that mercy with a faith of your own. One thing another man’s faith can do for you is to help you acquire a personal faith for yourself.

Similarly, even if Christ, after dying for us and giving His body and life, blood and flesh for us, were to intercede for us, it would still not help us, unless we believed in Him. But He can help us by interceding for us with His heavenly Father and saying, “Dear Father, all this I have done for men; give them faith that they may avail themselves of it.” This also helps us after we regard His works and merits as our very own possession. The same thing applies in respect to all the other saints. Their intercession and merits are of no avail at all to us unless we have personal faith.

You see this also from the events set forth in this Gospel (Mark 7:31‒37). The poor man lies there helpless; he cannot speak or hear anything. Those who brought him to the Lord can speak and hear. He does not acquire the ability to speak through their hearing and speaking. Even if they had all come forward and said, “We want to speak and hear for you,” he would have remained speechless and deaf forever and never have acquired the ability to speak.

If you make use of your faith to help me to personal faith for myself, that is helping me. Otherwise, no work or ties of brotherhood are of any avail.

SL 11:1520 (11‒12)

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, make our faith a living power in our lives, not only to believe all that You have promised us, but also to do all You command us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.