“For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11 (Read Luke 14:1-11)

It was the Sabbath Day and Jesus was invited to a meal in the home of one of the prominent Pharisees, a sect of the Jews which believed one could please God and be acceptable in His sight by a strict keeping of God’s commandments. However, Jesus was being put to the test in regard to His keeping of the commandment regarding the Sabbath.

The Pharisees and experts in the Jewish law were watching Jesus because a man was there with dropsy, a condition in which fluid would build up in the extremities causing pain and discomfort. We might call it edema today, a condition often caused by congestive heart failure.

Jesus didn’t have to ask because He most certainly already knew the answer, but He wanted His hearers — experts in the Jewish laws — to consider the truth. “And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?” (v. 3).

They didn’t answer Jesus but, quite obviously, they considered it a violation of the commandment for Jesus to heal anyone on the Sabbath because they regarded such acts to be work forbidden by the commandment in Exodus 20:8-11.

What they failed to see and understand in their efforts to outwardly obey God’s commandments so that they might be deserving of God’s favor and eternal life is that “the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God had commanded man to rest from his labors on the Sabbath in order that he might have time to consider God’s Word and God’s ways (cf. Isa. 58:13-14). They were to sanctify and set apart the holy day. It was never God’s intent that the Sabbath be legalistically observed as nothing more than a day in which all work was prohibited.

And, since the Sabbath served as a shadow of things to come, pointing to the fact that we are justified and obtain eternal rest by faith alone in Jesus Christ and not by our own works and merits (cf. Rom. 4:4-5; Heb. 4:1ff.), Christians are no longer required to observe a specific day (cf. Rom. 14:5-6; Col. 2:16-17; Gal. 4:10-11).

Jesus healed this man “and answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things” (v. 5-6).

And how could they answer Jesus or accuse Him? Jesus showed their hypocrisy and guilt in regard to God’s law. None of them would even hesitate to pull one of their animals out of a pit on the Sabbath Day, and yet they considered it wrong to help a human being on the Sabbath and were ready to condemn Jesus for showing love and mercy on the Sabbath! (Cf. Rom. 13:8-10; Hos. 6:6).

Jesus also told the Pharisees and experts in Jewish law a parable when he noted how they chose for themselves the prominent seats at the table, “saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.”

Not only did this parable have a practical application for them to avoid being humiliated if asked to give place to a more-honored guest and to be honored before all if asked to move up; it also has a spiritual application: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (v. 11).

If we exalt ourselves before God and seek to enter into the glories of heaven on the basis of our own works and worthiness, we will be humbled when we are removed from our place and it be given to one counted worthy by the LORD God for the sake of the perfect life and innocent suffering and death of Christ Jesus.

If, on the other hand, we count ourselves unworthy sinners and take the lowest seat and trust in nothing but the merit of Christ Jesus, who gave His life as a ransom for our sins and the sins of the world, we will be exalted when God graciously receives us into His kingdom and glorifies us for Jesus’ sake!

God calls upon us to humbly confess our sins and receive of Him forgiveness and life for the sake of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Think of the parable that Jesus told in Luke 18:9-14. It was the humble tax collector who went to his house justified.

The Bible tells us: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Ps. 34:18); “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 51:17); and “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isa. 57:15; cf. 66:2).

And, St. John writes (1 John 1:8 – 2:2: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Jesus’ point? It will merit us nothing before God to legalistically follow the letter of the commandments when we miss the spirit of the law — love for God and love for neighbor. And, most importantly, rather than depending upon our own works and merits under the law which are far short of what God requires, we would be wise to humble ourselves before the LORD God, confess our utter sinfulness and unworthiness in His sight, and flee to the cross of Jesus, trusting alone in His perfect righteousness in our stead and in His innocent suffering and death for the sins of the entire world!

“For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.” — The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn 370

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8

In Luther’s Small Catechism, under the third commandment, we read: “Thou shalt sanctify the holy day. What does this mean? Answer: We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”

The Lord God required His people (under the old covenant) to set aside the seventh day as a day of rest from their labors and as a day to consider Him and His ways. Since God Himself created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested upon the seventh, so also His people were to refrain from their labors on the Sabbath, hear His life-giving Word and honor Him (cf. Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15; Isa. 58:13-14).

We are no longer required to rest from all our labors on the seventh day, or on any particular day of the week (cf. Col. 2:16-17; Rom. 14:5-6). But, as God required the children of Israel to rest on the Sabbath Day that they might have time to hear His Word and worship Him, so He requires that we set aside time from our earthly labors that we also might hear and consider His Word and glorify His holy name (cf. Isa. 58:13-14; Heb. 10:24-25; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; Lk. 11:28; Acts 2:42; Ps. 95:1; Ps. 111:1; etc.). For this reason, we have set aside Sunday as a time for worship and meditation upon God’s Word and ought to take time each day for Bible reading and prayer.

To despise preaching and His Word does not necessarily mean to hate it, but it is to count it as unnecessary or of such little importance that we neglect it and put it off. Instead of it being first and foremost in our lives, other interests and things always seem to get in the way and crowd it out.

To neglect the services of God’s house, and not to take the time for Bible reading and prayer in our homes, is a sin against God’s commandment. When we neglect to hear and carefully consider the teaching of God’s Word and partake of the Sacraments, we endanger our own souls; for it is through the Word of God and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper that the Holy Spirit makes known to us our Savior and what He has done for us and assures us of forgiveness for all our sins and eternal life through faith in Jesus’ name.

Hearing God’s will and commandment regarding the Sabbath should move us to repent of our erring ways and turn back to Him for mercy and forgiveness in Messiah Jesus, God’s Son. It ought, then, also guide us as we then seek to amend our ways and live for Him, so that we regularly attend the services of God’s house and set aside a portion of the time God has given us to meditate upon His Word and to offer Him our worship and praise.

Dear LORD God, forgive us for neglecting to set aside time to hear Your saving Word, to partake of Your Sacraments, and to worship You. Give us true love for You and Your Word, that we may continue to learn of the salvation You have provided for us in Christ Jesus, our Savior, and receive Your mercy and forgiveness which are offered and given to us through Word and Sacrament. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

Why do I continue to be a Lutheran in a place where most are Baptists or hold to some other flavor of Reformed or Arminian theology and at a time when so many who use the name Lutheran have departed entirely or, at least in part, from the Lutheran Faith?

The historic Lutheran Faith is Biblical. It teaches the truth about my sinfulness and God’s judgment upon sin and it teaches the truth about God’s eternal plan of salvation (John 3:14-18; Gal. 4:4-5; Eph. 1:3-14; etc.) — His love for us lost sinners and His desire to save us from the condemnation of His holy law which we justly deserve; His sending His only-begotten Son to redeem us by becoming true man, fulfilling the righteous demands of the law for us and then bearing on the cross the full punishment for the sins of the entire world. It teaches the truth about God’s working to save us — sending men to preach the Law, which points out our sinfulness, and His Gospel, which reveals to us how to receive mercy and forgiveness and be counted righteous and holy in God’s eyes through faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. And it teaches the truth about the working of God’s Holy Spirit through His Word (and His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper) to create and preserve in us saving faith in Christ Jesus (cf. Eph. 2:1-10).

Yes, I’ve studied and compared, at great length. I’ve listened to the arguments of Calvinists, Arminians, and just about every Christian denomination and non-denomination out there. Sad to say, in the end, the teaching of these other churches just does not agree fully with the Bible, leaving me no choice but to regard such teachings as “good words and fair speeches” which “deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom. 16:17-18).

And, I have to say that other faiths and churches do not meet my needs. How is that so? Well, as the Bible teaches (Eccl. 7:20; Ezek. 18:20; Matt. 5:20, 48; Rom. 3:23; 6:23; Gal. 3:10), I am a sinner and cannot measure up to God’s holy commandments, and the just punishment for sinners is death — temporal and eternal. To go to a church which only urges me to try harder and be more committed to Jesus and tells me how to live my life as a Christian, or worse yet, tells me that Christ only died for the elect and that I may or may not be among the elect, leaves me in despair over my sins and failures to live up to what God expects and requires of me.

In a truly Lutheran church (and there aren’t many of them left because Satan fights hard against them), the first thing I do in the church service is to confess my sins and sinfulness and look to God for mercy for the sake of the perfect righteousness and innocent sufferings and death of His Son, Jesus Christ. I’m like the tax collector in Luke 18:9ff. who would not even lift up his eyes toward heaven but beat upon his breast and said, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” And then the minister of God assures me, in the name of Christ, that my sins are forgiven because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world (cf. John 20:21-23; Matt. 16:19; 18:18; Luke 24:46-47).

It is then that we come before the holy God as His forgiven people with our prayers and praises. God ministers to us and teaches us through the reading of the Holy Scriptures and through the exposition and application of those Scriptures by His called minister of the Gospel. We hear and learn the truth of our lost and sinful condition, but we are comforted in hearing that Christ died for all our sins and rose again on the third day that we might have God’s pardon and forgiveness and everlasting life — all through faith alone in Christ Jesus.

We offer up to God our gifts of thanksgiving and bring our prayers before Him. And then, before we go, God serves us yet again in the Lord’s Supper, the Sacrament of the Altar, by giving us to partake of the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. As the children of Israel partook of the Passover lamb, whose blood had been shed and was smeared on the doorposts and lintels of their homes in Egypt that the angel of judgment who struck down the firstborn among the Egyptians might pass over their homes (Exodus 12), so we are given to partake of Christ’s very body and blood which were given and shed for us on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins that God’s judgment upon this sinful world might pass over us and that we might be assured of eternal life through faith in our Savior who died for us and rose again (Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 11:23-29).

And while I neglected to mention it earlier, it is in the Lutheran Church where Baptism is administered in accord with the teaching of God’s Word. As St. Paul teaches in Romans 6, in Baptism we are joined to Christ in His death and in His resurrection and are brought under God’s new covenant which was established by the shedding of Christ’s blood for the sins of the world (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8-10). All our sins are laid upon Jesus, the Lamb of God who atoned for the sins of all; and, as Jesus was raised up again on the third day, we are raised up to new life in Christ Jesus as a new creation of God. Our sins are washed away and forgiven in Jesus’ shed blood, and we are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Acts. 22:16; Gal. 3:26ff.).

Jesus commanded His disciples to make disciples for Him by going out into world, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to observe all that He taught and commanded (Matt. 28:18-20; cf. Mark 16:15-16). Since baptism is done in the name of the Triune God, it is God’s work and not ours. He works through Baptism to wash away our sins and to make us His redeemed children (Eph. 5:25-27; Tit. 3:4-7).

And, since little children are certainly included in the words “all nations,” “every one of you,” and “unto you, and to your children” (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38-39), as well as in the whole households which were baptized, and since Baptism is called “the circumcision made without hands” (Col. 2:11-15), the Lutheran Church does not exclude little children from Baptism and the covenant blessings of forgiveness of sins and eternal life won for them by Christ Jesus but welcomes them as did Jesus, who even spoke of infants with the words, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16; cf. v. 15-17).

But, getting back to the Lutheran Church service, it concludes with the blessing God commanded Moses to speak over His people, recorded in Numbers 6:24-26 : “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: the LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” And the blessing includes the promise: “And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them” (v. 27).

We leave the service with God’s blessing upon us. And, indeed, we are blessed, for we have forgiveness for all our sins in Christ Jesus and we have the certainty of eternal life for Jesus’ sake! God’s face shines upon us in grace and mercy. He looks upon us in favor as His redeemed children and sends us forth in the peace of sins forgiven! We are sent out into the world — to our jobs, our schools, our stations in life — with God’s blessings and we cannot help but show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of the darkness of our sin and into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9)!

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]