Pious Lutheran

I’ve heard people complain about God before saying that He’s just a mean, wrathful, angry, hateful God because He takes sin so seriously. And while it is true that God does takes sin seriously in such a way that should cause us a bit of fear and trembling, it’s not true that He’s just a mean, angry God. “ He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. ” Our heavenly Father is gracious and is filled with steadfast love for us, His children, showing us compassion and welcoming us home when we return from our reckless lives in humble repentance. In fact the reason God the Father sent His Son, Jesus, into the world wasn’t to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him and His sacrificial death for us. Christ came into the world to redeem sinners, Christ has come to dwell with us sinners so as to rescue us from our sin and depravity. The Pharisees and scribes ...

Have you ever been invited to a party or event that you didn’t want to attend? It happens, I know it does. You get an invitation to someone’s house and you don’t think the food is going to be all that great or the company will be all that engaging. So you either ask them to excuse you or you just don’t go. Or maybe you remember that time when you were asked out on a date by that person you just didn’t want to date, so you gave them age-old excuse: I have to wash my hair.  Today Jesus tells a parable, where “ A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. ” This is a parable that teaches us that the Holy Spirit invites all the world to the great banquet feast in the kingdom of God. This is a banquet that you shouldn’t want to miss, not because of the food or the company, but because of who the host is. Even if the meal were made up of wormy old bread and the other guests were below you, you should still earnestly desire to come to this feast because the host is God Himself who...

 Who’s going to heaven and who’s going to hell? What kind of people go to heaven? What kind of people go to hell? I’m sure you have some sort of picture in your mind of the type of people who go to each place. But today Jesus trains us not to look at external appearances, but instead to look at the Word and faith. For the Word of God alone produces faith which clings to Christ’s love instead of any earthly riches. Today Jesus introduces us to two people, a rich man and a poor man. The rich man“ was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. ” What’s more, when He dies and calls out to Abraham, he calls him Father Abraham. This rich man was an Israelite, he identified himself as a person of the Jewish religion.  What’s more, it appears as if he was a good man who lived a righteous life, since Jesus doesn’t mention anything negative about him. Jesus never hesitates to label people for what they are, be they tax collectors, prostitutes, or thieves. B...