Devotion

CHILDREN BY FAITH Luke 18:17 — Verily I say unto you. Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. When you enter high school, you are taking one more step into the adult world. You are growing up; you are learning to make decisions and take responsibilities. If there is anything that is embarrassing to you ninth grad ers, it is to be called children. Just imagine, then, how twelfth graders or college freshmen or seminary stu dents would feel to be called children! Yet, we are all children; we, your professors, as much as you students, we are all children of the heavenly Father. It is Jesus Who said in Luke 18:17, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." And the Apostle John, when he wrote to his congregations, addressed them, young and old alike, as children. While it might be embarrassing to have some one call you children, it is an honor and a privilege to be called children of God, to be called children of the heavenly Father. It is an honor and a privilege simply because "child ren" is not only a name applied to us; rather, it is a name with meaning, a name that expresses a blessed relationship between you and me eind our heavenly Father. One of the most beautiful Scripture lessons in the New Testament is that section of Matthew 6 in which the Savior tells us about the birds of the air. He says, "... they don't sow, and they don't reap, and they don't gather in to bams," and yet. He says — and listen carefully to His words — "your heavenly Father feedeth them." And then He asks, "Are you not much better than they?" The birds are not nearly as well taken care of as you and I are be cause we belong to God's family; He is our heavenly Fa ther. It is our Father Who created heaven and earth, our Father Who in creation made the birds and animals and the flowers for our blessing and enjoyment. And our Father takes care of His creation and sees to it that the rain falls and that there is sunshine and food, and all of this so that you and I, His children, the real center of His creation, would be happy and blessed. Our heavenly Father loves us and takes care of us, and that is true in your life and mine. Has not every one of us enjoyed the care and love of a kindly Father? And has it not been an honor and a blessing to be His children? Yet, we do not really appreciate and understand what an honor and privilege it is for us to be children of the heavenly Father until we appreciate what He has done to bring us into His family. We were not born children of God, as the Scriptures say, "... for in sin did my mother conceive me"; and we not only do not deserve any of the kindness and care of the heavenly Father, but by ourselves we do not even want it; as the Apostle Paul writes, "The carnal mind (the one we are born with) hates God and neither is able nor wants to do His will." By nature, as we come into this world, we are not children of God at all, but we are people overcome by sin. Sin separates people from God; sin makes men rebels who op pose God, or it makes us into gods unto ourselves. And then our lives begin to center about the question, not "What does God want me to do?", but "What do want to do?", and we find that as a result of sin, our lives be come totally selfish and self-centered. While we accept His many blessings, sin makes us act as if we deserve them, and makes us blame God for anything that does not go the way we feel it ought to go in our lives. What a dreadful thing sin is, and how it destroys the father-child relationship 'between us and our God! Now, the terrible truth about it is that there is no way out; sin makes slaves of men. Men may think and study and re search, they may spend millions of dollars on schools and libraries and laboratories, and yet will never dis cover our wonderful heavenly Father or become children of God. If men cannot discover this truth, how did we be come children of God? St. Paul answers, "You are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." It is through Jesus Christ that we come into the family. It is Christ Jesus that lived and died and rose again to redeem us from our sins. And it is because of Christ Jesus that we can really understand our heavenly Father, a Father with a heart so big that He would give His only Son into death for us, a Father Who would that no one should perish, but that men everywhere should accept and believe what His Son has done for them. But without Jesus Christ there is no family; without Christ Jesus there is no security and warmth and love of a heavenly Father; there is only sin, and selfishness, and greed, and loneliness, and eternal death. What a blessed thing it is that sin does not separate us from our heavenly Father, but that through Baptism and His holy Word God has made us natural born sinners children of God. Through faith in Christ Jesus we have a new birthright, we are new persons, we have a new spirit, or — to put all of this and more into a single expression — we have become children of the heavenly Father. May all of us begin this school year as children, children who appreciate their heavenly Father; children who are thankful for what their Brother, Jesus, has done for them; children whose grateful intent it is not to let sin destroy this relationship between them and their Father   

https://journaloftheology.org/jtheo_arch/jt-1976-vol-016-num-04.pdf#page=13

Devotion

Luke 15:11-20ESV And [Jesus] said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. ... But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

The Lost Son

Jesus' third parable illustrating the love of God for lost sinners emphasizes the forgiving nature of that love. Remember it was the Pharisees' criticism of Christ that led Jesus to tell the parables in Luke 15. But the actions of Jesus that the Pharisees found so offensive (He reached out to people openly sinful) were in fact God’s compassionate love in action.

Notice how the father in Jesus’ story was waiting and watching for the possible return of his wayward son. His eyes must have looked down that road hundreds of times. And when he realizes the figure in the distance really is his younger son the father cannot wait to hold him in his arms. He runs to embrace him.

Notice also that it was the father’s big heart that turned the wayward son’s steps homeward. He remembered how his father was more than generous with those who worked for him. Even so, it is our heavenly Father’s compassionate and loving heart that calls us to His warm embrace.

"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)

The young man in this parable of Jesus has often been called The Prodigal Son, for he was “prodigal” with his inheritance. That is, he was “extravagant and lavish”—even “reckless” in distributing it. But as it turned out, his father was even more lavish and extravagant in dispensing his greatest wealth—namely his love and forgiveness. He was: The Prodigal Father.

Friday, October 21, 2022

John 8:31-36 Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, "We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed...."

In Jesus We Have Been Set Free (4)

In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus teaches one of the wrong ideas of freedom. Living at home the son felt his liberty was being restrained, so he decided to escape to a far country. How did that go? He only became enslaved, going farther and farther down the road of bondage to sin—until finally he had to acknowledge he was a broken man. By the grace of God, returning home with a penitent heart he found renewed freedom in a forgiving father.

Beware, dear Christians. Sin with its luring vices can so easily take one captive. Instead, by the grace of God and that alone, countless poor sinners, before Luther and after Luther, have discovered that real and true freedom comes from knowing the truth that sets one truly free-- free to live a life of service for the Savior.

As the Reformer put it in that paradoxical statement from his treatise on Christian liberty (1520): "A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none; a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all." Let us give thanks that God helped Luther stand fast and firm in the truth.

Lord Jesus, our Great Liberator, help us stand fast in the precious truth that "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"-- free to serve God now by faith, and then by His mercy and grace alone to live with You forever in heaven. Amen.

Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word;

Curb those who by deceit or sword

Would wrest the kingdom from Your Son

And bring to naught all He has done.

Lord Jesus Christ, Your pow'r make known,

For You are Lord of lords alone;

Defend Your holy Church that we

May sing Your praise eternally.

O Comforter of priceless worth.

Send peace and unity on earth;

Support us in our final strife

And lead us out of death to life.

(Lutheran Service Book, 655)

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Galatians 3:26 You are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Like Father, Like Son

While Scripture describes God the Father as primary in the Triune God's work of creation, we Christians do not call God our Father because He is our Creator. It was Jesus, the eternal Son of God who taught us to call God "Father," even as He told us that only through Him did we have access to God. However, when we pray in Jesus' name it is not as though Jesus grants a legal permit to come to God, but rather we through faith in Him are restored to God's own family. And we come to our heavenly Father as "dear children asking a dear father."

It is worthy noting that in Galatians 3:26 the word sometimes translated "children" is literally "sons." Why the Apostle was led by the Spirit to use this word becomes clear as we read the verses that follow. Paul is emphasizing the fact that believers become heirs of God with Christ through faith in Jesus—sons, not slaves. In the first century Mediterranean world the sons inherited their father's estate. That's enough to take your breath away! The Father's house toward which we journey—where Jesus has prepared for us a place—that is our eternal inheritance, our own home.

In the meantime let us recall that Jesus, who has made us "children of the heavenly Father," urges us each to be gracious and generous in our dealings with others—that you may be "sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).

"Like Father, like son" describes every Christ-believer, for we are all moved by the same wondrous love that caused Martin Luther to write of God the Father:

A father's heart He turned to me,
Sought my redemption fervently:
He gave His dearest Treasure.

(The Lutheran Hymnal, 387:4)

The lesson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_QCQ5i7NKs

Questions.

Questions about the Lord's Prayer

Jesus called His Father ABBA  Mark 14:36 Romans 8:15 Galatians 4:6

we, too can use that name. Mark 14:36

God told pharaoh Israel was His first born son. (Exodus 4:22-23)

Ask your parents what the first word you said.  Was it a person?  

 Is the Lord's prayer the ONLY way we should pray?

Questions about the Lost Son

The Father had a right to be angry with His son since he had wasted his life and money.

The father gave his son forgiveness, the son didn't earn it.  But he didn't get the forgiveness until he saw he needed it.

The father was able to see the son a long way off because he was waiting for him.

Since a parable is a worldly story with a heavenly meaning, what is the meaning of:

The Father

The lost son

Jesus told the parable because people accused him saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."  

Jesus made the point that He does receive sinners.

The people who are left out are those who don't think they need a Savior.

If Jesus receives sinners and I'm a sinner, then Jesus receives me.

Notes

The diagram illustrates the present state.  We will study each of those listed.