“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 10:25 (Read Luke 10:25-37)

Responding to this question from a man who sought to be justified by his own works, Jesus directed him to God’s law. We are to love God with all our being and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18).

The Jewish lawyer was testing Jesus with the question: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

When Jesus asked him, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” he answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

Jesus responded: “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.”

And, indeed “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12). The problem is as Paul describes in Romans 7:10-11: “the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” And, in Galatians 3:21, he writes: “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”

Therefore, if a person were able to love God and neighbor perfectly in his thoughts, desires, words and deeds, he could earn his way into heaven. The problem is: Who can?

This lawyer, wishing to justify himself but, perhaps, now a little troubled over his own love for his neighbor, questioned just how far this command extended with the question: “And who is my neighbour?”

And with the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches us that our neighbor is not only the person next door, our friends, or even those whom we might consider worthy of our love and respect. Our neighbor includes anyone and everyone with whom we in some way have contact or the ability to help and serve. Our neighbor includes all people.

Like the good Samaritan, we should care for the stranger in need, even if he is our enemy. Cf. Matt. 5:43-48. We should not be as the priest and the Levite in this parable who, probably out of fear for their own safety, passed by the man who had fallen among thieves and was in need of help. They failed to love their neighbor. But the Samaritan risked his own safety and gave of himself even more than most would expect in order to help.

And, if we truly love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we will use every opportunity and do all that we can to help those in need.

But back to the question of what we must do to inherit eternal life, who has such love for God and his neighbor?

The Bible points out the problem: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Eccl. 7:20). No one has such perfect love for God! And while men may think they love their neighbor, this parable reveals our utter failures here, as well!

Yet, for those who have come short of the demands of God’s perfect Law, there is another way to be justified and acceptable to God, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ who had perfect love for God and neighbor and then took our sins (even the sins of the entire word) upon Himself and suffered our punishment. Cf. Romans 5:6-8.

All who look to Jesus and His cross in faith are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24; cf. v. 21-26; 10:4; John 3:14-18).

We cannot justify ourselves with God’s commandments as this Jewish lawyer sought to do; but through faith in Christ Jesus who died for our sins and rose again, we stand forgiven and justified in God’s sight (Rom. 3:28; Eph. 1:6-7). And then, as a fruit of our faith, we seek to love our Lord and Savior above all things and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (1 John 4:9-11, 19.).

“Oh, teach me, Lord, to love Thee truly with soul and body, head and heart, and grant me grace that I may duly practice fore’er love’s sacred art. Grant that my every thought may be directed e’er to Thee. Amen.” (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #399, Verse 5)

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

[The description given below by Dr. Luther sounds like our modern times in which people call themselves Christian but know nothing of Biblical teaching, and pastors do not teach their flocks even the basics of sound Christian doctrine.]

Martin Luther to All Faithful and Godly Pastors and Preachers:

Grace, Mercy, and Peace in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The deplorable, miserable condition which I discovered lately when I, too, was a visitor, has forced and urged me to prepare [publish] this Catechism, or Christian doctrine, in this small, plain, simple form. Mercy! Good God! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable and incompetent to teach [so much so, that one is ashamed to speak of it]. Nevertheless, all maintain that they are Christians, have been baptized and receive the [common] holy Sacraments. Yet they [do not understand and] cannot [even] recite either the Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Commandments; they live like dumb brutes and irrational hogs; and yet, now that the Gospel has come, they have nicely learned to abuse all liberty like experts.

O ye bishops! [to whom this charge has been committed by God,] what will ye ever answer to Christ for having so shamefully neglected the people and never for a moment discharged your office? [You are the persons to whom alone this ruin of the Christian religion is due. You have permitted men to err so shamefully; yours is the guilt; for you have ever done anything rather than what your office required you to do.] May all misfortune flee you! [I do not wish at this place to invoke evil on your heads.] You command the Sacrament in one form [but is not this the highest ungodliness coupled with the greatest impudence that you are insisting on the administration of the Sacrament in one form only, and on your traditions] and insist on your human laws, and yet at the same time you do not care in the least [while you are utterly without scruple and concern] whether the people know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, or any part of the Word of God. Woe, woe, unto you forever!

Therefore I entreat [and adjure] you all for God’s sake, my dear sirs and brethren, who are pastors or preachers, to devote yourselves heartily to your office, to have pity on the people who are entrusted to you, and to help us inculcate the Catechism upon the people, and especially upon the young. And let those of you who cannot do better [If any of you are so unskilled that you have absolutely no knowledge of these matters, let them not be ashamed to] take these tables and forms and impress them, word for word, on the people, as follows:—

In the first place, let the preacher above all be careful to avoid many kinds of or various texts and forms of the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, the Sacraments, etc., but choose one form to which he adheres, and which he inculcates all the time, year after year. For [I give this advice, however, because I know that] young and simple people must be taught by uniform, settled texts and forms, otherwise they easily become confused when the teacher to-day teaches them thus, and in a year some other way, as if he wished to make improvements, and thus all effort and labor [which has been expended in teaching] is lost.

Also, our blessed fathers understood this well; for they all used the same form of the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Therefore we, too, should [imitate their diligence and be at pains to] teach the young and simple people these parts in such a way as not to change a syllable, or set them forth and repeat them one year differently than in another [no matter how often we teach the Catechism].

Hence, choose whatever form you please, and adhere to it forever. But when you preach in the presence of learned and intelligent men, you may exhibit your skill and may present these parts in as varied and intricate ways and give them as masterly turns as you are able. But with the young people stick to one fixed, permanent form and manner, and teach them, first of all, these parts, namely, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, etc., according to the text, word for word, so that they, too, can repeat it in the same manner after you and commit it to memory.

But those who are unwilling to learn it should be told that they deny Christ and are no Christians, neither should they be admitted to the Sacrament, accepted as sponsors at baptism, nor exercise any part of Christian liberty, but should simply be turned back to the Pope and his officials, yea, to the devil himself. Moreover, their parents and employers should refuse them food and drink, and [they would also do well if they were to] notify them that the prince will drive such rude people from the country, etc.

For although we cannot and should not force anyone to believe, yet we should insist and urge the people that they know what is right and wrong with those among whom they dwell and wish to make their living. For whoever desires to reside in a town must know and observe the town laws, the protection of which he wishes to enjoy, no matter whether he is a believer or at heart and in private a rogue or knave.

In the second place, after they have well learned the text, then teach them the sense also, so that they know what it means, and again choose the form of these tables, or some other brief uniform method, whichever you like, and adhere to it, and do not change a single syllable, as was just said regarding the text; and take your time to it. For it is not necessary that you take up all the parts at once, but one after the other. After they understand the First Commandment well, then take up the Second, and so on, otherwise they will be overwhelmed, so as not to be able to retain any well.

In the third place, after you have thus taught them this Short Catechism, then take up the Large Catechism, and give them also a richer and fuller knowledge. Here explain at large every commandment, [article,] petition, and part with its various works, uses, benefits, dangers, and injuries, as you find these abundantly stated in many books written about these matters. And particularly, urge that commandment or part most which suffers the greatest neglect among your people. For instance, the Seventh Commandment, concerning stealing, must be strenuously urged among mechanics and merchants, and even farmers and servants, for among these people many kinds of dishonesty and thieving prevail. So, too, you must urge well the Fourth Commandment among the children and the common people, that they may be quiet and faithful, obedient and peaceable, and you must always adduce many examples from the Scriptures to show how God has punished or blessed such persons.

Especially should you here urge magistrates and parents to rule well and to send their children to school, showing them why it is their duty to do this, and what a damnable sin they are committing if they do not do it. For by such neglect they overthrow and destroy both the kingdom of God and that of the world, acting as the worst enemies both of God and of men. And make it very plain to them what an awful harm they are doing if they will not help to train children to be pastors, preachers, clerks [also for other offices, with which we cannot dispense in this life], etc., and that God will punish them terribly for it. For such preaching is needed. [Verily, I do not know of any other topic that deserves to be treated as much as this.] Parents and magistrates are now sinning unspeakably in this respect. The devil, too, aims at something cruel because of these things [that he may hurl Germany into the greatest distress].

Lastly, since the tyranny of the Pope has been abolished, people are no longer willing to go to the Sacrament and despise it [as something useless and unnecessary]. Here again urging is necessary, however, with this understanding: We are to force no one to believe, or to receive the Sacrament, nor fix any law, nor time, nor place for it, but are to preach in such a manner that of their own accord, without our law, they will urge themselves and, as it were, compel us pastors to administer the Sacrament. This is done by telling them: Whoever does not seek or desire the Sacrament at least some four times a year, it is to be feared that he despises the Sacrament and is no Christian, just as he is no Christian who does not believe or hear the Gospel; for Christ did not say, This omit, or, This despise, but, This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, etc. Verily, He wants it done, and not entirely neglected and despised. This do ye, He says.

Now, whoever does not highly value the Sacrament thereby shows that he has no sin, no flesh, no devil, no world, no death, no danger, no hell; that is, he does not believe any such things, although he is in them over head and ears and is doubly the devil’s own. On the other hand, he needs no grace, life, Paradise, heaven, Christ, God, nor anything good. For if he believed that he had so much that is evil, and needed so much that is good, he would not thus neglect the Sacrament, by which such evil is remedied and so much good is bestowed. Neither will it be necessary to force him to the Sacrament by any law, but he will come running and racing of his own accord, will force himself and urge you that you must give him the Sacrament.

Hence, you must not make any law in this matter, as the Pope does. Only set forth clearly the benefit and harm, the need and use, the danger and the blessing, connected with this Sacrament, and the people will come of themselves without your compulsion. But if they do not come, let them go and tell them that such belong to the devil as do not regard nor feel their great need and the gracious help of God. But if you do not urge this, or make a law or a bane of it, it is your fault if they despise the Sacrament. How could they be otherwise than slothful if you sleep and are silent? Therefore look to it, ye pastors and preachers. Our office is now become a different thing from what it was under the Pope; it is now become serious and salutary. Accordingly, it now involves much more trouble and labor, danger and trials, and, in addition thereto, little reward and gratitude in the world. But Christ Himself will be our reward if we labor faithfully. To this end may the Father of all grace help us, to whom be praise and thanks forever through Christ, our Lord! Amen.

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Exodus 20:1-2

What right did God have to give these commandments to the people of Israel? Why should they listen to God’s commandments and obey him? God tells us the answer.

He says, “I am the LORD your God.” He is JEHOVAH God, the Creator of all things. He is the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the only true God! He also redeemed His people from bondage in Egypt. In fulfillment of His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God brought the people out of Egypt and was leading them to the land of Canaan, where He would fulfill His promise to send the Seed of Abraham – the promised Messiah and Savior – through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (cf. Genesis 22:18). This is why God had the right to give these commandments to His people. He is the LORD God, their Maker and Redeemer! And this is also why the people should have listened to these commandments and gladly and willingly obeyed them.

God has every right to demand that we, too, obey His commandments; for He is the LORD God, our Maker and Redeemer – we belong to Him! He created and formed each of us in our mother’s womb (Cf. Psalm 139:13-16). He made us for Himself – to live for Him and serve Him.

But instead of loving Him and serving Him, we love and serve ourselves. As fallen sinners, we do not and cannot keep God’s commandments as He requires.

Yet, because of His gracious love and mercy, the LORD God also redeemed us and won salvation for us by sending His only begotten Son into the world to suffer and to die upon the cross for our sins and then rise again on the third day! And God, by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit through His Word, bought us to know and trust in Christ Jesus as our Savior. He rescued us from sin and death and gave to us, for Christ’s sake, forgiveness for all our sins and new life.

And so, we are the LORD’s – and doubly so! He made us, and even though we have come far short of keeping His commandments, He paid the just penalty for our sins, redeemed us and made us His own again! He delivered us from our bondage under sin and is leading us to the promised land of heaven, which is ours, entirely as His gracious gift in Christ!

Therefore, the LORD God has every right to give us His holy commandments and to expect obedience! And, as His redeemed children – having His pardon and forgiveness for all our sins and failures for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ – we have every reason to gladly and willingly obey Him!

O LORD God, our Maker and Redeemer, we give You thanks that You have both made us and, by Christ’s shed blood, redeemed us. Help us to gladly and willingly submit to Your holy commandments. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.” Mark 7:32-35

Why did Jesus take this man aside from the crowd, put His fingers in the man’s ears, spit, touch his tongue, look up to heaven and sigh and then say “ephphatha,” which means “be opened”? Have you thought about this?

Was this some magical incantation which Jesus did to heal this man? Or was Jesus simply communicating through means what it was He was about to do for this deaf and partially mute man?

Think about it. How could Jesus communicate to this man what He was about to do for him? He couldn’t hear, so additional communication was necessary.

Jesus was about to open his ears so he could hear. So, Jesus put His fingers in the man’s ears. He was about to unloose this man’s tongue, so he spit, drawing attention to the mouth and then touched his tongue. By what power was Jesus about to do this miracle? By the power of God in heaven, and so Jesus looked up to heaven. Jesus sighed, indicating He was about to call upon the power of God in prayer. He then said, “ephphatha,” which means, “be opened,” and the man’s ears were opened so that he could hear and his tongue loosed so that he could speak plainly.

And how does God deal with us who are dead in our trespasses and sins (cf. Eph. 2:1ff.), deaf to His Word and blind to the promises of the Gospel? He calls men to preach and apply God’s Word to us, rebuking our sins and sinfulness and offering and assuring to us the blessings of forgiveness of sins and life eternal which Christ won for us when He fulfilled all righteousness and then suffered and died on the cross, making full atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world and rising again in victory (cf. 1 John 1:8-9; 2:1-2; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 1:18ff.; 2:21ff.; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; A.C. V).

And, sometimes, when we are troubled over our sins, this is done in private confession and absolution. We confess our sins to the pastor and the pastor, in the name and stead of Christ, absolves and forgives our sins for Jesus’ sake (cf. James 5:16; John 20:22-23).

In the waters of Baptism, God assures us that our sins have indeed been washed away and that we have become children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (cf. Titus 3:3-7; Col. 2:11ff., Eph. 5:25ff.; Acts 22:16; Gal. 3:26ff.).

In the Lord’s Supper, Christ gives us to eat and drink of His very body and blood which were given and shed for us upon the cross for our salvation (cf. Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 11:23ff.). And He does so that we might be assured that, as partakers of His atoning sacrifice, we also are partakers of the blessings He won for us with His atoning sacrifice.

Thus, Jesus doesn’t just choose to save us and put His hand over us from heaven and make us clean; He reaches out to us with the Gospel and Sacraments, using preachers He has sent to share with us individually and personally, as well as corporately, the blessings of forgiveness of sins and eternal life He won for us when He died on the cross for all sins and rose again.

Why? He desires that we grasp in faith what He has done for us and still does for us by the gracious working of His Holy Spirit. He desires that we truly believe and take comfort in the Gospel, being assured that indeed our sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus and that He will not condemn us in the final judgment but give to us the everlasting joys of heaven (cf. John 5:24).

Our Lord Jesus uses the preaching of the Gospel and the right administration of His Sacraments that we might be assured that, no matter how great our sins have been, we have in Christ a Savior. Through faith in Christ Jesus, we sinners are acceptable in God’s sight; in Him “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:6,7).

God, grant to us such faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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

Many, even among those who call themselves Christians, will be shocked on the Last Day to find out that they were practicing idolatry and worshiping and serving a god of their own imagination and making and not the God of the Bible, who created the heavens and the earth.

Right after God said, “I am the LORD thy God … Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2,3), God also said, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth….” (Exodus 20:4).

And, of course, when we read on in Exodus (chapter 32:1ff.), we find that before Moses even made it down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments inscribed on the two tablets of stone, the people had fallen into idolatry and were worshiping a golden calf and calling it by the name of the LORD (or Jehovah).

We are quick to criticize the ancient Israelites, but so often we are guilty of the same thing. We worship and serve — with our own worship forms based on our culture and likings — a god made in our own image.

No, I’m not saying we carve an image out of wood or stone or make it out of molten metals like gold; but we make our god in our own image and likeness by assuming that God thinks as we think, that our opinions and views are those of God, and that our likes in worship forms are what God desires of us (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9).

Think about it. How often don’t we hear people say that they don’t accept this part or that teaching of the Bible because it is not in agreement with the views of our “modern” culture and society? Even though the Bible clearly teaches that God is righteous and holy and will judge all who break His commandments with eternal death and damnation, we imagine a god who grades on the curve and who will admit into heaven all who at least try to do good. Even though God, in His Word, plainly says we are all guilty and stand condemned under His law and that the only way one can be spared in God’s judgment and receive instead of death and damnation His mercy and pardon and eternal life in heaven is by clinging in faith to Jesus Christ and His holy life and innocent sufferings and death in our stead, people imagine a god who accepts all regardless of whether they repent and trust in Jesus.

Even though the God who says, “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6), judged the world in the great flood (Genesis 6-8), rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), and decreed the death and utter destruction of the Canaanites (Leviticus 18), people imagine a god who will tolerate every form of evil and sexual perversion and who will not judge our own land and people for their abortions and evil.

When people gather in their churches on Sundays and preach only love and tolerance for what the Bible calls sin and wickedness or when they preach that people can be saved if they are good and show love toward others, how is this any different than the Israelites in the wilderness calling a feast to the LORD when, in fact, they were gathering to worship a god of their own making?

So, what’s my point? Why do I point out the idolatry of “Christians” and “churches” today? I point it out in the hope that we all examine ourselves and our churches and preachers with the Word of God and determine if we are worshiping and serving the true God or a god of our own imagination and making. I’d rather you be spared the shock of learning the truth on the day of Christ’s return when He will say to so many who claimed to have worshiped and served Him, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).

God has not changed! His commandments have not changed! He still is a God who punishes sin and wickedness! He has never judged based on a curve and He never will! Trying your best at being a good person won’t cut it. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23); and “the wages of sin is death” — spiritual, physical and eternal — (Romans 6:23)!

There is only one way to be spared in God’s judgment, and that is to cling in faith to Christ Jesus and His cross (cf. John 8:24; 14:6; Rom. 3:24-26)! “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2). He took the punishment and paid the price for all and rose again on the third day in order that we might repent of our sinful ways and look to Him in faith for pardon, forgiveness and eternal salvation.

Instead of deceiving ourselves and making a god after our own image, let’s accept what God says of Himself in the Bible and worship and serve the true God by repenting of our evil ways and clinging to Christ and His cross for God’s pardon and eternal peace!