- Aug 10
- 5 min read
[Read Genesis 15:1-6; Luke 12:22-34]
Justified and Walking by Faith
Both abundance and need have their temptations.
On our own, facing need – having less today than what I will need tomorrow – makes us anxious and fearful. This fear sometimes leads to rash or shortsighted decisions, not thinking things through calmly or clearly. We fear the worst scenarios our imagination can dream up.
On the other hand, when we have plenty, we may forget we need God at all. Yet our earthly goods never satisfy; we still feel that more will be needed – “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.” [Ecclesiastes 5:10]
Both need and abundance leave us in a similar place: Anxious about the future. I won’t have what is needed for tomorrow. I might lose what I’ve already gained. And it won’t be enough.
Ultimately, the secret to calm and contentment is knowing our standing with God. God is almighty; “the earth is His and everything in it” [Psalm 24:1]; He gives, and He takes away [Job 1:21].
Will God be to me tomorrow a Judge who gives what my deeds, which have fallen short, deserve [Romans 3:23]? Or will He be to me a Father who has compassion on His children when they fall short [Psalm 103:13]?
The Apostle Paul was able to say about himself, “I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” [Philippians 4:11-12].
The Apostle Paul could be content in every circumstance – and face abundance and need – because he knew that he was justified by faith in Christ alone, not by his own works or deeds [Titus 3:5]. He neither feared what he lacked nor trusted in what he gained. His confidence was in God’s steadfast love which He had in Christ.
Justified by faith. That’s your standing with God. Biblically speaking, to be “justified” is “to be counted righteous to God.” We might say, “to be made right with God.” How am I right with God? How is a sinner counted righteous in God’s eyes?
As we saw in our Old Testament reading [Genesis 15:1-6], the man Abraham was justified by faith. God made a promise to Abraham: A son through his old, barren wife, Sarah – both she and Abraham were as good as dead, according to their age.
Yet God promised Abraham a son through her – and many descendants through that son – as many as the stars in the sky, if you could count them.
Most importantly, God promised one specific Offspring through those descends [Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16]. The Christ, the Messiah. The Savior of the world, who would be called “Jesus” [Matthew 1:21].
Abraham believed God’s promise about the coming Christ who would be his offspring. Regarding Abraham’s faith in that promise, our reading says “Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord counted it to him as righteousness” [Genesis 15:6]. Abraham was justified by faith.
The Apostle Paul quotes this verse from Genesis twice in the New Testament where we are taught all the more clearly that we are justified by faith in Christ alone:
“Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith — just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” [Galatians 3:5-7]
“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” To the one who does not rely on his good works “but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” [Romans 4:2-5]
This is our Lutheran teaching – “Furthermore, it is taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our merit, work, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sins and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ’s sake through faith when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and that for His sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness in His sight.” [Augsburg Confession, Article IV]
What’s the point? The point is this: You do not need to doubt that God will fulfill the promises He has made. You can be certain His good promises are for you – because you have been counted righteous to Him through faith.
“He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” [Romans 8:32]. And, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [Romans 5:8].
If God has been so good to you in the biggest things – eternal life and your standing with Him – how would He not also be good to you in earthly things? And because you are deemed righteous in Christ, nothing stands in the way.
So, when you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” you can be certain God intends to give you your daily bread – and when you pray, “Thy will be done,” you can be certain that His will for you is His good will – when you pray, “Thy kingdom come,” you can pray it knowing that it is His good pleasure to bring you His kingdom —
— not based on whether you deserve it — but because you are counted righteous to God through faith in what Jesus has done for you on the cross.
When Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on” – that you are worth more than the birds of the air and grass of the field, for which He cares – and that “Your Father knows” all that you need – you can be certain these words are for you. [Luke 12:22-30]
Because you are justified by faith, you can now walk in faith. In prosperity, you can keep His commandment to give – “…give to the needy” – seek treasure “in the heavens that does not fail…” – trusting that God’s command is good for you.
In times of need – any need, of body or soul – you can be certain you have God as Father who has compassion and provides for you, His child. Though you are still a sinner, you are forgiven in Jesus.
In every circumstance, you can follow Jesus without fear and prioritize His kingdom without anxiety. “Seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” Having been justified by faith, with confidence let us walk in faith. Let us be generous in our prosperity. Let us call upon Him in every time of need. Amen.
- Aug 6
- 6 min read
[Luke 12:13-21] Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
The Parable of the Rich Fool
In a well-crafted story, what the writer puts at the beginning will often show up again at the end. The conclusion comes around full circle. If the story began with a flashback to an event on grandpa’s farm in rural Kansas, then the end of the story will probably relate back to that event.
I.
God’s Ten Commandments are well-crafted. What God commands at the end – “You shall not covet – is related to what God commanded at the beginning – “You shall have no other gods” [Exodus 20:1-17]. The commandments come around full circle.
First, you are not to make or worship any false gods or idols. A man crafts a piece of wood or stone or gold into a statue with his own hands – paints a picture with his own brush – and then prays to it and trusts in it. You shall not do this. You shall worship only the God who really is God, who made heaven and earth.
Lastly, you, His people, are to be on guard. Be careful that you don’t let the goods, the people, the social status, or the money which your neighbor has become the thing which your heart desires. “You shall not covet.”
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.” “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife (nor your neighbor’s husband) – nor their household – nor their money – nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” [Colossians 3:5].
Coveting breaks the first commandment – because to covet something is to set your hopes for happiness on it or your trust for security – and then this coveting leads to breaking the other commandments as your flesh seeks to get what your heart has put its trust in.
Anything – and especially money – can become a god, as it captures the fear, love, or trust of your heart, which God alone should have.
II.
In our Gospel today, our Lord Jesus Christ encounters a man who has made the family inheritance from his parents the god of his heart. “Lord, tell my brother to split the inheritance with me.”
Jesus responds, “Man, who made Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” – “Man’s concern for his fair share is not what I came for – but instead”, “Be on your guard against all covetousness (which is idolatry), for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Our Lord then tells a parable about a rich man whose land produced abundantly, so much so that his barns could not hold it all. When the man thought to himself about it, he said, “What shall I do? I’ll do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’”
But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” “So is the one”, Jesus says, “who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
The man in the parable – called the Rich Fool – put his hope and trust in the abundance of his goods – the grain he stored and the money it would supply were the god of his heart. With much stored up, he could relax. Be at peace. So he thought.
But, that very night, the man died. The God who is God called him to account for what he did in life with all that God had entrusted to him. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” [Hebrews 9:27].
The rich fool had done what you would perhaps be praised for by others – stored up much relaxation and abundance for himself – but which is not pleasing to God. He was not rich toward God and his neighbor. When the man thought, “What shall I do?”, he did not think of God’s house or his neighbor’s needs.
Jesus said, “Whatever you do for the least of these my brothers, you do to Me” – “And whatever you do not do for them, you have not done for Me” [Matthew 25:31-46]. To be rich toward our neighbor’s need is to be rich toward the Lord. And, “Everyone to whom much is given, of him much will be required.” [Luke 12:48; 2 Corinthians 8:14].
III.
“A person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions.” It is neither right nor wrong to be rich or poor. God did give the man in the parable an abundance. What matters is what you do with what you have.
When my heart is wrong and money and possessions become my god, I handle my money and possessions as an owner. I own them, and I decide how to make myself most happy with them. Maybe I spend. Maybe I keep. Maybe I give. But it’s for me.
When my heart is right and God is my God, I do not count myself as the owner of what I have but as the manager. God is the owner, and He has entrusted to me a certain amount. I’m to manage what I’m entrusted with according to the Owner’s will and goals. What is pleasing to Him.
What is pleasing to Him is that I do focus on my family – and also that I seek to help my neighbor in his or her needs. What I have more of in life is for my neighbor who is in need. God is the owner of it all. This is how He desires to distribute His goods.
What your neighbor needs most is the Word of the Gospel and the love of Christ. Supporting your church with your earthly treasure, big or little – both now and in whatever inheritance you might pass on – supplies for your neighbor the preaching of the Gospel which gives the Father’s grace, the thing most needed.
And participating in the ministry of your church, in some way, giving the treasure of your abilities, talents, and time that God has given you – this also, or even more so, is rich toward God and toward your neighbor and brings the Word of the Gospel to others.
IV.
Most importantly, be confident of this: That you have been made rich with the true riches, “the things that are above” [Colossians 3:1] – and have received redemption, the forgiveness of your sins [Colossians 1:14] – including those sins of coveting and idolatry – because Jesus, who became perfect Man, has been rich toward God and His neighbor for your salvation.
Jesus, the true Rich Man of heaven, the Son of God, was made poor for your sake – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” [2 Corinthians 8:9].
Jesus paid it all on the cross. He gave His life, shed His blood, and suffered God’s wrath for your sins, for your sake. Jesus paid all you owed for your wrongs by His innocent suffering and death. He gave His all to do all that was needed for your salvation and forgiveness. And He succeeded. By His poverty, He has given you the riches of heaven.
Let us have no other God. Since Jesus is our God and Lord, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and has given His all on the cross for us, let’s put our hope and trust in Him alone and not covet the temporary riches of this world. Have only as your god the true God who is your Savior. Amen.
- Jul 27
- 6 min read
[Genesis 18:17-33] …Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” …
Honest and Faithful Prayers
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” [Luke 11:9]. God does hear your prayers. But what kind of prayers does He desire to hear? Prayers that are worded rightly? Reverent enough? Thorough enough? Pious prayers? What prayer is a good prayer to God?
Here’s the first part of the answer I’ll give you: God does desire to hear honest prayers. God wants you to be straightforward and truthful with Him – to say with your lips what is truly going on in your heart.
This is how prayer is in Scripture itself. The book of Psalms is a book of honest prayers, in which the one praying makes his heart made known to God:
“How long, O Lord, will You look on? Rescue me…” [Psalm 35:17]. “Awake! Why are You sleeping, O Lord?” [Psalm 44:23].
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me?…I cry by day, but You do not answer…” [Psalm 22:1-2].
“O Lord, rebuke me not in Your anger, nor discipline me in Your wrath… Your arrows have sunk into me, and Your hand has come down upon me… for my iniquities have gone over my head…” [Psalm 38:1-2,4].
“Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to You; yet I would plead my case before You. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” [Jeremiah 12:1].
And Abraham, in today’s reading from Genesis 18:17-33, who drew near to the Lord and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? … Far be that from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
Let’s note that Abraham’s complaint isn’t that God is bringing His justice against the wicked. In fact, in that regard, we men and women tend to be much quicker to call for judgment and destruction than God is.
God’s justice comes when, after every attempt and much time – both through discipline and troubles sent, and through God’s kindness and messengers of the Gospel sent – hearts are, nevertheless, hardened and will not repent and believe.
Such was the case in these five cities in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sins went beyond nature, and their hearts were thoroughly hardened against God their creator [Romans 1:18-32].
But, Abraham lived next door to these cities. He did business with them. He was once, not long before, the leader of a plot to deliver them from four other kings who had taken them captive. And, Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family lived in one of those cities.
“Certainly there are still some righteous among the wicked, Lord. Would you destroy their whole life and livelihood over the sins of others? Turn their homes to rubble? Would you sweep even them away? If there are fifty who still look to You – or forty-five – or ten – wouldn’t You spare the place for them? Or will You be unjust, O Lord?”
“Won’t You please do what is right, God?” An honest prayer.
And, in fact, God already had in place His plan for how He would deliver from Sodom and Gomorrah those who still turned to Him – which, like in the days of Noah, was a number reduced to one family. In this case, Lot and his two daughters.
God is just and never was going to sweep away the righteous with the wicked. And, if Abraham had no faith that God was good, Abraham wouldn’t have appealed from his heart to God’s righteousness. God would be just and true to His promises.
Yet it is God’s desire to work His goodness through our honest and fervent prayers. Abraham’s honest prayers were answered for Lot’s sake – and that was God’s will, to save Lot through Abraham’s honest and fervent prayer.
The prayer God likes to hear is honest prayer – and faithful prayer. Faithful prayer is prayer that believes. Abraham didn’t disbelieve God’s righteousness but believed it and therefore called upon it.
And those who prayed in the Psalms let out their honest complaints, but did so to the One whom they believed was hearing and answering:
“I will thank You in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise You” [Psalm 35:18]. “Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of Your steadfast love!” [Psalm 44:26]. “You who fear the Lord, praise Him! … For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and He has not hidden His face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him” [Psalm 22:23-24].
“But for You, O Lord, do I wait; it is You, O Lord my God, who will answer… O Lord, my salvation!” [Psalm 38:15,22]. “But You know me, O Lord. You see me…” “I utter my complaint and moan, and He hears my voice.” [Jeremiah 12:3; Psalm 55:17]
Our honest prayers are God pleasing prayers because they are prayers of faith – prayers which complain to Him because He will hear and answer.
Abraham was not disrespectful to God for praying as he did. He prayed with humility, “I am but dust and ashes” [Genesis 18:27]. And the honest cries and complaints of our heart are spoken in faith as children who call out to their Father who hears.
Above all, our Lord Jesus is the perfect Man of honest and faithful prayer. Without sin, and without doubt, He nevertheless suffered perfectly and fully what it is to be trapped in our lowly, sin-fallen condition.
When Jesus carried the sins of the world in His flesh on the cross, He carried fully in Himself our cries and complaints. He knows what it is to be you. Jesus prayed Psalm 22 on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And He did so in perfect faith, trusting in the resurrection of the body, believing that His Father would raise Him to life.
My prayers are not perfect. I do sin with hypocrisy, making my prayers to God come out more pious than what is really going on in here. Not trusting fully that I can speak fully honestly to my God. And not with perfect faith, but with faith always tainted by a thread of doubt.
But I am baptized into Jesus Christ. You are baptized into Jesus Christ. Your prayers are spoken not in your name, not in Abraham’s name, but in Christ’s holy name.
Your prayers are offered in the perfect relationship of the Son and the Father, clothed by baptism in the perfect, honest cries of Jesus on the cross – who prayed for us all, under our sins and suffering – offered in the perfect faith of His lips who is our intercessor.
And, along with this, you and I who are sinners – like Abraham and Lot – are also the righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. You are justified – counted righteous to God, because of Jesus’ all-atoning death on the cross – by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Abraham, “the man of faith” [Galatians 3:9], “believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness” [Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6]. You also who have believed what Jesus has done for you are counted righteous by faith – until that day when we are made righteous in heaven. Until then, God hears the honest and faithful prayers of the righteous-by-faith on earth.
For patience in your waiting, in your struggles with how God handles this sin-fallen world, and for needed relief and forgiveness from your own sins and faults, give to God – your Father and Friend – the honest words of your heart, with faith that believes He hears you. Amen.
