Sermons
A disciple of Jesus Christ will “bear his own cross” (Luke 14:27) and follow the Lord through death into life. Discipleship is costly because it crucifies the old man with “all that he has” (Luke 14:33), in order to raise up the new man in Christ. The disciple disavows “his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life” (Luke 14:26), in deference to Christ. That way of the cross is impossible, except that Christ Jesus has already paid the cost. His cross is set before you as “life and good, death and evil” (Deut. 30:15). Taking up His cross is to “choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him” (Deut. 30:19–20). To live that life in Christ is also to bear His cross in love, “that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord” (Philemon 14).
Sermons
“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,” Jesus proclaims, but “he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). For your hope is in the name of the Lord, who humbled Himself unto death on the cross and was exalted in His resurrection. So, are you humbled by His cross, and “at the resurrection of the just,” He will say to you, “Friend, move up higher” (Luke 14:10, 13–14)? By His grace, the King will honor you “in the presence of a noble,” where your eyes will gaze upon the Prince, His dearly beloved Son (Prov. 25:7). As He has dealt so graciously with you, “do not neglect to do good and to share what you have” (Heb. 13:16), and “do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (Heb. 13:2). Humble yourself and exalt your neighbor.
Sermons
With the cross of Christ, the time has come “to gather all nations and tongues” (Is. 66:18). The sign of the cross is set forth in the preaching of the Gospel, the declaration of the Lord’s glory “among the nations” (Is. 66:19). Many “will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:29), but only by the narrow way of the cross. Those who refuse to follow Christ crucified will ultimately find only “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28), whereas Christ’s disciples, called from all the nations, will eat and drink with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. They will come into “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22).
Sermons
The Lord Jesus causes fear and trembling and division because His Word is “like fire … and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces” (Jer. 23:29). His Law puts us all to death, whereas only His Gospel can bring us to life. He has fulfilled that Word for us by His cross and in His resurrection from the dead. He undergoes such a distressing baptism, accomplished by His death, in order to open the way for us through our Holy Baptism into His cross and resurrection. So, then, if we are able “to interpret the appearance of earth and sky” (Luke 12:56), let us mark this sign of His cross — recognizing that this world is subject to death, but knowing that Christ Jesus also has conquered death and obtained life everlasting for us. Let us fix our eyes on “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,” and “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1–2).
Sermons
To live for earthly things “is vanity and a striving after wind,” and work that is driven by such vanity “is an unhappy business” (Eccl. 1:13–14). The man who lives like that has nothing to show for “all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun … all his days are full of sorrow” (Eccl. 2:22–23). So, too, your “covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5), makes a god out of that which cannot give you life or happiness. For “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). But “Christ who is your life” (Col. 3:4), in giving you Himself, gives you all the wealth of heaven. Instead of striving to lay up treasures for yourself, be “rich toward God” in Him (Luke 12:21).
Sermons
Jesus catechizes His disciples in the way of faith by teaching them how to pray. He promises us: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, “how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). Thus, father Abraham was bold in his prayer because he believed the gracious promise of the Lord, that he would “surely become a great and mighty nation” (Gen. 18:18). When we pray in Jesus’ name, we also hold “fast to the Head” (Col. 2:19), “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith” (Col. 2:6–7).
