4TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

4TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

Text: James 1:16-21

Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus.

Man sinned because he wanted to be like God. When Satan said to man: "Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,, and ye shall be as gods kno w ing good and evil." Gen 3,4.5. Man did not resist this cunning temptation. The thought be being able to be like God and climb so high, that he would be completely free and not even be subject to God himself, was so tempting, so bewitching, that he quickly forgot God's blessings and threats, and greedily grabbed for the forbidden fruit. The thought of becoming gods, of being his own lord and master, and perhaps of being able to topple God from his throne, entered his soul like a two-edged sword and severed the bond which had bound him to God.

Since the first man fell by wanting to be like God, this desire is hidden in every heart. By nature not a person wants to be subject to the divine Law; every one would gladly be free to do or not do what he wishes; every one would like to be absolute lord over everything; and particularly, when man is told of God's wrath and punishment because of his transgression of the divine Law, he would gladly topple God from his throne if he could. And what else is all pride, all haughtiness, all arrogance, all self-reliance, all boasting on man's part but the terrible sin of man making himself God, deifying himself ?

My dear hearers, sad to say, we live in a time when self-deification is not merely hidden in man's heart; today they believe they need not be ashamed of it; it has come to the light of day; nowadays the sin of self-deification is clothed in the garment of knowledge, is impudently exposed and extolled as the fruit of the greatest investigation and the highest wisdom.

About 100 years ago the start was made of wiping out Christianity; so-called Christian preachers and philosophers pretended to believe the Scriptures but they expounded it falsely, explained away the truth it contained, and substituted their errors. It is different today. Those who explained Scripture falsely have been disgraced; their hands are now tied. But others today openly reject Scripture; the lecterns of the universities loudly proclaim that there is no God; the whole world is god and particularly in mankind and its reason do we see this god most beautifully and wondrously.

Behold, man has descended to the lowest step in his fall. In the first age he fell because he wanted to be like God; nowadays he goes so far as to say: There is no God; what is ordinarily called God is really the human

spirit, and man's reason in particular. Man can fall no deeper; he can get no further away from God. We can hardly expect a clearer sign that we now live in the last times and that judgment day can not be far away.

If ever we had reason, we have it now to pray most earnestly;

Lord Jesus Christ with us abide

For round us falls the eventide;

Nor let Thy Word, that heavenly Light,

For us be ever veiled in night.

In these last days of sore distress

Grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness

That pure we keep, till life is spent,

Thy holy Word and Sacrament. (292,1.2.)

Before we continue with our meditation, let us call upon God in silent prayer.

Quote the text here: James 1, 16-21.

"My whole corruption comes from me,

Salvation comes alone from Thee."

So sings a pious poet of our Church in the wonderful evening hymn: "I thank Thee, Lord, Thou loving God." These words express briefly and concisely the contents of today's Epistle. Permit me, therefore, on the basis of this Epistle to present to you:

GOD, THE ONLY SOURCE OF GOOD

We will ponder the truth that

1. God Does Not Send Evil, and then that

2. Only God Sends All the Good.

Oh Lord God, pure eternal Light, the overflowing Fount of all good, give us the grace to recognize that in ourselves we see darkness but in you light, in ourselves sin but in you holiness, in ourselves death, but in you life, in ourselves damnation but in you salvation; may we ascribe all shame to ourselves and all honor to you. Hear us and bless the preaching of your Word in this hour for the sake of Jesus Christ, your dear Son, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

I.

" Do not err, my beloved brethren." V.16. With these words the Apostle James begins our text and points back to what he had just written. There we read the warning: "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Jas 1,13-15. When James then continues in our text; " Do not err, my beloved brethren," he wants to warn against the error of thinking that God tempts one to evil, that God sends evil. This is also confirmed in the following verse, where James says that God is a " Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. " V.17b. In Holy Scripture good and evil

is presented by the words,light and darkness. The apostle means to say: God is a light, but not as the sun,; which in spite of the glory of its light has flaws; he is also not like the moon, whose light is subject to continual variation, which sometimes reflects all its light, sometimes only a part, sometimes none. God is a " Father of lights," that is, a source of only good; no evil can come from him.

We find this truth clearly expressed in many other places of Holy Writ. John writes: "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." 1 Jn 1,5. "For," he adds later, "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 Jn 2,16. And David writes: "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with thee." Ps 5,4.

It does not seem very necessary to impress this truth upon man; can one who' believes in God be so blind as to make God the Author of evil, the cause of sin? Yes, one would think that, but alas it so often happens that man makes God, who is the source of good, the Author of evil, the cause of sin.

All who deny that man has fallen and sees the light of day burdened with original sin do this. Do not they who say, that God created man as he is with all his evil inclinations, which reveal themselves in even the smallest child, say that God is the Author of sin? All who maintain that death and evil did not enter the world through the fall into sin, but that God arranged it this way do that. Do they not say that God is the source of evil, the creator of death, all misery, and all trouble? Yes, even those who believe that man fell into sin, and thus into misery and death, and brought all this upon their descendants, but who say: Why did God plant the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Why did he permit Satan to tempt man? Could he not have hindered that? Do not such and similar questions show that they want to place the blame for the fall into sin upon God?

They do that who live in vice or anger and say, that they cannot give up vice or anger because God has given them such a nature:; they naturally have a great inclination toward anger, lust, and the like. How can they help it? Do not they throw the blame for their vice and rage upon God?

And even those whom one can not count as being the godless do that. It happens at times that a person is roused out of his security through the Word, in great concern he asks: What must 1 do to be saved? He turns to God in prayer, pleading for forgiveness of sins, peace of conscience, and a new heart. If they do not immediately feel that their prayer is heard, if they not perceive the Holy Spirit working, if it seems as though their heart were not only as dark and hard as before but even darker and harder, they begin to murmur against God; they say in their heart: Alas, God will not take pity on me; he won't hear me even if I pray most earnestly; he does not want to deliver me from my sins; he is hardening me instead of being gracious to me. Such thoughts often make themselves felt in the true Christian's heart during great spiritual temptation. It happens that, when face to face with great temporal distress, Christians are often powerfully assailed with secret wrath against God. What else is that but making God the cause, the Author of evil?

So we see that every person is far from having a horror of these blasphemous thoughts. All are assailed and more or less moved by them. ft is absolutely necessary for every Christian to arm himself against these thoughts and become ever firmer in this truth: No evil comes from God.

Bear in mind, my friends, this sin is nothing else but falling from

God, resisting his holy will, transgressing his Law, enmity against God, a being alienated from him. How can God possibly be the cause of sin? Would he not be fighting against himself?

It is therefore absolutely certain that sin, misery, and death do not come from God, but came only as a result of having fallen from God.

Yes, it is true, that if God had created man as the animals, so that he could not fall into sin, sin and misery would not have come into the world. But then man would never have been able to see God face to face in eternity. Would it not be terrible to attempt to make God the Author of the world's sin and misery just because he destined us to salvation, because he created us in such a way that we could receive both: life and death, misery and blessedness ?

At this point many are sure to say: Do not the Scriptures say: "Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" Amos 3,6. "I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; 1 make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things." Is 45,6b.7. In order to understand these expressions correctly, we must know that there were people who believed that there were two kinds of gods, good and evil. These passages are directed against this false belief. They should teach us, that nothing can take place without God's permission, that God is and remains the Supreme Being and no creature can compel him to do something against his will, that even the evil is under God's control, that even evil can not take place against God's will, that God permits it to happen in order to bring good out of it. God lets the evil happen, partly to punish the godless and reveal his judgments upon them, partly to test the godly and exalt his grace and love in him.

Yes, still more; God has created everything, not only the good, but also the evil; but that it is evil is man's fault. God created the tainted air, but that it is tainted is the fault of sin. God created the sickly body, but that it is sickly is the fault of sin. God created poison and everything which causes death, but that it kills is the fault of sin. God has created the fire which destroys our homes, the deluges which destroy our fields; he has created and given strength to the arm of the murderer. And God even created Satan who seeks to bring about our fall. But that all these things bring death and destruction is the result of our sins. And so it is and remains true that nothing evil comes from God; everyone must confess:

"My whole corruption comes from me;"

but he must also add;

"Salvation comes alone from Thee."

That is why we read in Hosea: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help." Hosea 13,9.

II.

This leads us to the second part in which we ponder: All good comes from God. James says at the very beginning of our text: " Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights." V.17a. All gifts, everything which a person has, the apostle divides into two classes, first, into good gifts, second, into perfect gifts. By good gifts he means gifts for the body and this life, and by the perfect, gifts for the spirit and heaven.

If one still believes in a God, it seems impossible that people do not recognise that all gifts of the body and this life come from God. is it not God who has created everything, the skies with its sun, moon, and stars, and the earth with everything which lives on it? Is it not God who has given everyone his body and soul, all his members, powers, and gifts, his reason and all his senses, and still preserves them? Of what value is the policing of the watchman, the labor of the worker, the plowing and sowing of the farmer, the planting and watering of the gardener, if God does not guard and protect, if God does not give success to one's labors, if God does not command the sun, the wind, and the rain to warm and water our fields and gardens? Has not God given our reason its keenness and our hand its skill? Does not God rule everything? Is not the execution of all our plans, all our wisdom, lost without his blessing? Does not he alone give success? Does not he alone make us rich and bring us honor? Do we not see every day that so often two do the very same things and only one attains his goal? Yes, the one is honored and becomes wealthy while seemingly asleep; the other is little esteemed and remains poor in spite of all his striving day and night for wealth and honor.

Yes, what do most do if they become rich and honored? What do they do if they achieve greater knowledge, wisdom, and skill than others? What: do they do if those things succeed which prove a failure for others;? Do they give the honor to God? Do they recognize and confess that they have nothing, nothing of themselves, that everything is God's gift? Are they humbled through these gifts and do they cry out; "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory"? Ps 115,1. Do the majority become humbler because of the gifts they received from above? Do they remain as humble as they once were? Alas, no! That is one of the wonders of the world' The world has made that into a proverb. It says; ''Nothing succeeds like success/that is, the more God gives a person, the more proud and conceited and arrogant he becomes. He desires that he be honored the more because of the prosperity God showers upon him.

Oh my friends, let us therefore listen to the word of the apostle in our text: " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." V.17a. St. Paul expresses the same thought: "And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor 4,7.

James also says that " every perfect ", that is, every spiritual, heavenly " gift is from above."

If it is amazing that many do not really know or actually deny that all gifts of their body and life come from God, it is even more amazing that they do not want to admit that this is true of the spiritual, heavenly gifts. Yes, who would think that while many ascribe their earthly gifts to God, they would ascribe the spiritual to themselves?

Is not truth a spiritual blessing? But do not most want to discover the truth by themselves instead of humbly accepting it as revealed in God's Word? Are not virtues and good works spiritual gifts? But -do they not ascribe their supposed virtues and good works to themselves and hope to merit God's favor with them? Are not repentance and conversion spiritual gifts? But do not most wish to repent by their own powers and convert themselves? Are noL the peace of God, a quiet conscience, the grace of God, forgiveness of sins, and righteousness before God purely spiritual gifts? But do not most want to acquire: them by themselves? Are not heaven and salvation the greatest of spiritual gifts? But do not most wish to earn heaven and salvation by themselves and merit them by their virtues and piety, by their good works, by their repentance, by

their improvement, and the like?

Oh, what frightful blindness! They can perceive that man cannot advance himself in this earthly life; and then they want to carry themselves into heaven! They do not deny that man can not provide for the support of his body himself; and then they want to nourish their souls! They can perceive that man cannot deliver himself from death; and then they want to redeem themselves from sin which is the cause of death! Thousands of experiences teach man that he can not make himself happy on earth; and then he wants to make himself blessed in heaven!

James cries loudly in our text: " Every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights." Whoever tries to find perfect, spiritual, heavenly gifts in himself and acquire them by himself will never receive them; if he supposes that he has received them by himself, he is merely deceiving himself. Of all the spiritual gifts James mentions only one as an example; he continues in our text; " Of his own will begat he," that is, God, " us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." V.18. The apostle means to say: Bear in mind, you blind people, that the beginning of all spiritual gifts is the rebirth. As little as a person can cause himself to be born, so little can he be reborn by himself. If the beginning of all spiritual gifts are beyond your power, then the continuance and completion are much less! All, every good gift and every perfect gift, comes from God. Give him therefore all honor !

And then the apostle closes with the admonition: " Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." Vv.19.20. The apostle means to say: Since man is nourished only through the Word of Truth, so that he can do good, a person must hear more than speak; and since everything which comes from God is good, it is foolish to become angry when men do evil to him. Nothing happens without God's permission and God turns the evil into good.

" Wherefore," so the apostle concludes, " lay apart all filthiness and s uperfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls." V.21. Well now, my friends, let this concluding admonition be said also to us. If we.are nourished by God through the Word of Truth, let us lay aside every ungodly behavior; above all, let us receive the Word, which is preached to us, the Law as well as the Gospel, with a cheerful spirit, even if the Law reprimands us, for the Gospel is a power of God unto salvation to every one who believes. May the Father of lights, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let us all experience that, through the working of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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This sermon was delivered in 1849.