6TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

6TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Text: Luke 7:1-7

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

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus.

As long as there have been people on earth who believed in God, or a Church, so long has it also been the custom to erect small or large, simple or richly decorated edifices for the purposes of joint public worship. Yes, in Holy Writ we expressly read that after the waters of the flood had run off Noah was the first to have built an altar to the Lord. But since we are told that even the first sons of Adam, Cain and Abel, sacrificed, there can be no doubt that they had also erected altars on which they offered their sacrifice, and at which they conducted their worship with prayer and preaching. While up to the time of Enoch only family worship had been customary, we read right after the birth of Adam's first grandson from the pious generation of Seth: "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." Gen 4:26b. Undoubtedly this was to show that public worship, when the members of several families gathered, also began about this time. Then we hear that not only Noah but that also Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob built altars at which they preached the name of the Lord. These first religious altars may have been of very simple construction; their surroundings perhaps may not have been enclosed with walls. Perhaps, as Luther supposes, they were protected from the burning rays of the sun and bad weather by only an awning. Yet we can see this much from these hints of Moses, that even in the early age of the human race believers had their places for religious gatherings.

However, when God later chose a special sanctified people to himself from the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he himself also ordained that it should have a holy place, where religion should be fostered and,above all, the sacrifices brought to him. And at first (as long as the Israelites were still wandering about) his house should be the tabernacle, covered and surrounded with merely a tent, in order that it with all its appurtanences could be carried from place to place. However, after the chosen people had not only entered the promised land of Canaa, but had also achieved complete control and

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rest, they had to erect the great splendid temple at Jerusalem. This temple had a very special use. It should not be merely a religious meeting house as our churches are, but a site more holy than others; here God wanted to reveal himself especially to his people; it was to be a visible type of the holy Christian Church outside of which there is no salvation. This edifice should therefore be the only temple in the whole land, the only site for the sacrifices of God's people and the celebration of the Festivals of Easter, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

Yet the tabernacle and the temple were in no way to be the only places for joint worship. We read, e.g., in the "74th Psalm that even at David's time there were God's " congregations " in addition to the sanctuary of the tabernacle. And in Palestine at the time of Christ there were a great number of such congregations in addition to the temple at Jerusalem. At that time they had the name synagogues, which was translated in the German Bible with the word "schools", really meaning as much as meeting houses. Not only did every city and almost every Jewish community living in foreign countries have such a synagogue or religious meeting place, but the larger cities often had more of them. In order to distinguish them from private dwellings, it was customary to build them in the more elevated sections of the city, give them a more prominent character over the residences, and erect a tall shaft on the peak of the roof visible a great distance. An elevated platform composed the rearmost section of the synagogue. This contained the holy enclosure with the Biblical scrolls and the teacher's chair from which the elder of the synagogue read and explained God's Word, led the prayers and hymns, and finally bestowed the Aaronic benediction upon the people. We, therefore, read that whenever the Lord entered a city, especially on the Sabbath, he as a rule immediately visited the synagogue of the city and read and explained the Bible to the congregation. What the Apostle James says according to Acts 15 agrees with this: "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day." Acts 15:21,

Hence, there can be no doubt: From the very beginning until the time of Christ and the apostles the Church of God had its religious meeting houses or churches.

And since today is the Sunday in which 18 years ago this little church, now almost dilapidated, our Immanuel, was dedicated, and since you, dear brethren, are in the act of laying the cornerstone of a new church, I plan today for your encouragement to answer the question from God's Word: Why should Christians

willingly and joyfully offer their sacrifices, that houses of God be built and pleasingly decorated? I base my remarks on what is recorded in

The text: Luke 7:1-7.

The words just read tell us of a heathen centurion at Capernaum, who had built a school or synagogue for the Jews there; as we have already heard, this must be understood not as a school for children, but rather a church, a house of God, wherein public worship would be held on the Sabbath Day. At the same time we are also told first of all of the pious motives the centurion had in doing this, and, on the other hand, how wrongly the elders of the Jews used his work. Accordingly, permit me today to answer the question

WHY CHRISTIANS WILLINGLY AND JOYFULLY BRING SACRIFICES THAT CHURCHES BE BUILT AND BEAUTIFULLY DECORATED

I will show you two things:

1. What Our Motives Dare Not Be, and

2. What Should Make Us Willing And Joyful.

God, the Lord of heaven and earth, you do not live in temples made with hands; you will not be taken care of by the hands of men as one who needs someone else. We dwellers of dust need a place where together we can serve you, hear your Word, call upon you, praise and glorify you. Therefore, we pray, bestow upon us always in this land of our earthly wanderings such holy and blessed places; but above all, give us the proper understanding whenever we wish to erect an altar to you, that you can come to us there and bless us. Hear us for the sake of your dear Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

I.

There have been and there still are enthusiasts who reject all building and external decorations on a church building. That it is not wrong in itself for Christians of the New Testament times to build churches needs no proof.

To be sure, it is true that we Christians have no express command from God to build churches, as the Jews had the express command to build a temple. The time of the prototype is past; our New Testament temple is the invisible, holy, Christian Church whose walls span the whole world and in which we have free access through the open curtain to Christ, the true throne of grace, in the most holy of the heavens. But even as the believers of the Old Covenant faced not only the necessity but had also the freedom to erect houses of prayer and worship in addition to the tabernacle and the temple, so do we.

Moreover, it is true: Church history teaches that the Christians of the first century had no church, i.e., houses dedicated alone to public worship; they gathered for this purpose partly in private homes, in the larger dining halls and its balconies, partly under the open sky, in remote cemeteries, in woods, caves, yes, e.g., in Rome, even in the gloomy subterranean catacombs. Because the first Christians had no temples like the heathen, they were considered atheists and were persecuted as such.

But the first Christians were not without church buildings because they had considered the erection and building of them a sin, but because the intolerance and cruelty of the tyrants and the fury of the heathenish rabble did not allow it. Whoever called himself a Christian, in him the word of the Lord was fulfilled in the highest sense: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." Mt 10:16. Upon the confession: I am a Christian, usually followed a bloody persecution with a painful death. The greatest grace Christians expected from the heathen world was merely letting them live; how could they, therefore, erect church which shone far and wide? They thanked God if they found merely a corner, where unseen and undisturbed they could hear God's Word together and could sing their hymns of praise to Christ. In the middle of the 3rd century Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria writes of the persecutors of that time: "They had chased us out of the city. But we still held our festival days. Every place of tribulation, the field, the desert, the ships, the stall, the prison had to serve as our gathering places instead of the temple."

That those Christians did not consider the erecting of a church a sin we see from the fact that when in the middle of the 3rd century they were tolerated for almost 40 years, they immediately began to build churches, which in the last, the Diocletian, persecution were again torn down by the persecutors throughout the whole Roman Empire, leveled to the ground, and more than once, even burned with the Christians still gathered inside; but when thereafter Caesar Constantine himself became a Christian, they were again rebuilt the more splendidly.

However, though it is certain that to erect churches and also beautiful and great churches is a matter of the free will and sinless in itself, it

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can also become a sin, yes, an abomination before God, if this is done from false, impure, and ungodly motives.

We have an example of this in our text. The centurion at Capernaum had erected a church for the Jews there; when he now begged that the Lord should heal his sick servant, the elders of the Jews Said to Christ: " He was WORTHY for whom he should do this." v.4; they stated as the reason for his alleged worthiness that out of his own means he had built them a church. Hence, these elders of the church considered the erecting of a church as meritorious, for which sake the centurion was worthy of having Christ hear and help him.

There you have the motive which turns the building of a church from a good thing into an evil work, yes, into an abomination in God's eyes! This absolutely reprehensible motive is self-righteousness. If the centurion of Capernaum had actually built a church for the Jews because he thought that thereby he would be worthy before God of that which he asked, he would have rather become completely unworthy and incapable of any of the grace and benefits of Christ.

Whoever for a self-righteous reason gives for the building of a church, thinking that he merits something in God's eyes, perhaps hoping to make amends for many of his sins, intending as we are accustomed to say, to build a place for for himself in heaven, merely piles up his sins and only builds a place in hell. In so doing he denies Christ who alone has earned the forgiveness of sins and heaven for us.

Moreover, he who for a self-righteous reason gives for the building of a church, seeking praise from God or man, builds as much as is in him, not a church, not a house of God in which God's honor should dwell, but a heathen temple in which he himself is the idol to whom he prays. Only when we give all honor to God alone do we make him our God.

Moreover, he who for a self-righteous reason gives for the building of a church, proposing to show God himself a kindness and therefore considering the building of a house of God as a God-pleasing holy work, makes God himself an idol, who as the gods of the heathen needs a temple as his dwelling, and, therefore, prays not to God but to the self-made idol of his heart. God himself says: "Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool; what house will ye build me? saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hands made all these things?" Acts 7:49.50,

Finally, he who for a self-righteous reason gives for the building of a church rather than to his poor neighbor, and, therefore, lets the poor starve, considering the building of a church as a holier and more meritorious work, for which he expects a greater blessing of God in time and eternity, does not serve God but the devil; for God, who does not need us, wants to have himself served only in our neighbor. He says: "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." Mt 9:13.

Here is the reason why Luther in his day so often reprimanded and condemned the great zeal of that time in building churches. Luther did this not because he considered building itself a sin, but because churches were built without needing them, merely out of self-righteousness, in order to buy indulgences by it, to purchase freedom from that alleged purgatory, to merit heaven for oneself, and therefore, in order to receive these "blessings"; the poor, the living temples of God, were allowed to starve.

Oh my friends, let this not be your intention; pray God that he himself will give you the true understanding for this work in which you are engaged.

In the second place permit me to show you the correct idea, which should make us Christians willing and glad to bring sacrifices so that churches are built and beautifully decorated.

I I.

An example is the pious centurion at Capernaum who is mentioned in our text. However, he did not suppose that through the offering which he had brought for the erection of a church in the city of Capernaum, he had made himself worthy of Christ's grace and help. The Jewish elders had said to Christ: " He was worthy for whom he should do this." v.4; but he himself says to Christ: " Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am NOT worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof; wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee." V.6.7.

Now what had moved him to build a synagogue for the Jews? The elders of the Jews themselves had mentioned it; they said: " He loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue." V.5. We see from this that this heathen centurion was not one of those heathen who at that time usually were filled with hatred and proud contempt over against the Jews. When he had been sent by Caesar with his garrison to Capernaum, God had provided him with the opportunity of learning to know the true religion from the writings of Moses and the prophets. And the centurion did not neglect this opportunity. Through the Word of God, which he learned to know here, he had come to a living faith and as soon as this happened, his heart was also filled with an inner love toward his new religious friends. With sorrow he, therefore, saw that the inhabitants of Capernaum either had no synagogue, or an almost dilapidated one, so that God's Word even on the Sabbath did not have full course. And since the inhabitants of Capernaum were too greedy or too indifferent to build a synagogue for themselves, this newly converted heathen in the fire of his first love interested himself in this matter and sacrificed perhaps all his possessions to build it.

There you see the proper motives for such a work! It is above all love toward one's neighbor, which has sprung from a living faith. Yes, my friends, as long as a person is still without faith and love, as long as he is still unconverted, so long are all his offerings for the building of a church, and if it were thousands and hundreds of thousands, not good works but sin. Only they are true builders of churches who, because they themselves had experienced the saving and converting power of the Gospel in their hearts, now think:

Oh that all men would have the opportunity to hear the precious Word of God! How many would come to the knowledge of his misery and the grace of God as I, a poor sinner, did! Well, then, I will gladly give that a church may be built, in which the pure Word of God which alone saves will be preached and the unadulterated, gracious, most holy Sacraments administered.

Oh my friends, he who for this reason willing and joyfully brings a gift, that a church can be built, does a precious blessed work. Now when we hear almost daily that here and there a new church is built, we suppose that outwardly this is merely a little thing. But there is no church in which God's Word is preached in its truth and purity and the holy Sacraments truly administered, which does not each Sunday become a gate to heaven for some soul. The Word according to God's promise does not return completely void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which God sent it. Therefore, whenever a church is built for this purpose, the kingdom of grace and glory opens again to hundreds and thousands. And there are always several who enter through these open gates, find grace, become true Christians, and are saved. The dedication of each in which the means of grace are correctly dispensed is, therefore, always a matter of

great importance, of eternal blessed meaning.

Therefore, blessed are all who in love to their neighbor contribute for this purpose. Their gifts, little though they may be, God writes in his book, and because they have done it freely out of love without asking for any reward, they will some day receive an unexpected, glorious reward of grace. And what they loaned God, they will again receive with inexpressible, rich interest in eternal life. They say with the centurion of Capernaum from their hearts: " Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof," v.6b, but Christ sees their faith active through love end considers it so precious and worthy that he does not only enter under the roof of their hearts here on this world, but they will also be received some day out of grace under the roof of his heavenly mansions. Then the pious and generous rich will see what a great blessing of God also their earthly riches were for them.

However, my friends, when the elders of the Jews gave the testimonial of the centurion in our text, that he had built them a synagogue because he loved their people, they showed, that not only the love of his neighbor but also love of God's Word was the motive for this work of love. The centurion had become so fond of the Jewish people, because he had found the Word of God among them; this he treasured more highly than all the treasures of the world.

There you have the second correct reason why we Christians should willingly and joyfully bring offerings that churches can be built, and not only built but also beautifully decorated. It is, namely, the love of God's Word.

It is true: If beautiful, great, and magnificent churches are built out öf pride, it is not the beautifying of a church, but the abomination of desolation in holy places. But if churches are more beautifully decorated than one's houses, because one wishes to indicate that one is not only not ashamed of God's Word before the world, but also considers it his greatest treasure on earth and the church where this Word resounds his dearest place on earth, such a beautiful, great church is a shining memorial in the city, which announces to all the world, that here live people who still believe in God and his Word, and who still serve him joyfully. Yes, as It brings shame upon Christians when their dwellings are palaces but their churches are merely dilapidated, shabby huts, so it, on the other hand, brings honor upon Christians when as their dearest place the house dedicated by them for God towers majestically toward heaven.above all their earthly huts.

So my dear friends, joyfully continue the building of your new church. Let love toward your neighbor be the reason for which this edifice is erected, and the love of God's Word decorate it in the most beautiful manner. The Lord be friendly and further the work of your hands; yes, the work of your hands may he prosper. Amen.