Confessional Lutheran Ministerium

1 John 3:11-24 NKJV

¹¹ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, ¹² not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

¹³ Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. ¹⁵ Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶ By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. ²⁰ For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²² And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

²⁴ Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

John summarizes the whole Christian life at the end of today’s reading: “This is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another.” Faith toward God and love, specifically, toward “one another,” that is, toward our fellow Christians. This love for “one another” does not exclude love for our unbelieving neighbor. But there is a special kind and degree of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, a first priority.

John reminds us of the hatred that Cain had for his biological brother Abel, because, spiritually, unbelieving Cain was not believing Abel’s brother at all. It should be no surprise, then, if the world hates believers. What would be surprising, what would be truly horrifying, is if Christians started hating—or failing to love—their fellow Christians.

This obviously applies most directly to those Christians with whom we interact on a regular basis, those with whom we gather together and receive Holy Communion together. But the command necessarily goes beyond that. If we recognize Christians in many of the Christian denominations around the world, then we must also love them.

What does love look like? St. Paul tells us to “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). Loving our fellow Christians includes telling them the truth, honestly and humbly, if they have fallen into sin or been deceived by false teachings. Yes, love even includes not gathering around the Lord’s Table with brothers who hold to some false teaching, as a witness and as a warning.

Love is shown through words. But it must also be shown through actions. Jesus showed us that most clearly by laying down His life for those whom He loved, setting a pattern for us. We should be ready to die for our brothers and sisters in Christ, too. And if we are ready to die for them, why wouldn’t we also be willing to do something far less drastic, like being kind to them or sharing material goods with them?

Our Father commands His children to believe in the name of Jesus and to love one another. Let us do our Father’s bidding! Let us pray: Father in heaven, stir up true love in our hearts, that we may also show it with our actions. Amen.

1 John 3:1-10 NKJV

3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ³ And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

⁴ Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. ⁶ Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. ⁸ He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

¹⁰ In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

The apostle John refers over and over again in his writings to the astounding truth that we who believe in the Lord Jesus have actually been born again as children of God. And every time he says it, he says it with a sense of awe and gratitude to God, who has shown such grace to poor sinners through His Son, Jesus Christ. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” He makes a sharp contrast throughout his epistle between the children of God and the people of the world, who are not the children of God. Understanding this is the key to understanding his repeated use of the word “brothers.” The “brothers” he is talking about are our fellow children of God, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our fellow Christians. As God’s children, we have the promise that we will one day see Him, and that we will be like Him, we will be fully restored to His image of holiness and perfection—like Father, like son and like daughter.

If we have this hope, to see our Father and to be like our Father after this world passes away, then we will keep ourselves pure now, while we still live in this world. Living righteously, living sinlessly, living as holy children of a holy Father will be our daily and constant purpose in this life.

If that’s not a person’s purpose, then he reveals that he is still a child of this world, not a true child of God. We are first made righteous in the sight of God by faith in Christ, who is our righteousness before God. But someone who has true faith cannot go on sinning without repentance. People are fooling themselves when they claim to believe in God while willfully living in sin. Such faith is certainly not saving faith. Wherever there is genuine faith, there will be daily contrition and repentance, growth in righteousness, and the constant effort to abandon sin. If the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil, it makes no sense for us to cling to the works of the devil. If the Son of God came to take away sin, how could we go on living in it?

Let us pray: Gracious Father, thank You for making us Your children. By Your powerful Spirit, make us more and more like You; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalm 147:1-11 NKJV

147 Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

² The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
³ He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
⁴ He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
⁵ Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.
⁶ The Lord lifts up the humble;
He casts the wicked down to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
Sing praises on the harp to our God,
⁸ Who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who prepares rain for the earth,
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.
⁹ He gives to the beast its food,
And to the young ravens that cry.

¹⁰ He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
¹¹ The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
In those who hope in His mercy.

Psalm 147 is a Psalm of praise. The first word of this Psalm in Hebrew is Hallelujah or Alleluia, which means, “Praise Yah[weh]!” Truly it is good to praise the Lord, Yahweh, the one true God who revealed Himself to Israel. It is good to sing praises to Him and about Him. And, as usual, the Psalmist gives us several reasons why He deserves our songs of praise.

The Lord deserves our praise because He is mighty and powerful, and His understanding knows no limits. He is, after all, the Creator of the stars, who still calls each one by name. But the Lord’s power and might would mean little, if He didn’t also care about us. But He does care, as the Psalmist describes. He built Jerusalem and kept it intact until Christ came and fulfilled the prophecies about His suffering, death, and resurrection. He continues to build the Jerusalem of His New Testament Church, as Jesus promised, “I will build My Church.” What’s more, He also cares for each and every member of His Church, healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds with His forgiveness and with His love. His goodness is seen in His lifting up of the humble, but also in His casting down of the wicked. Neither that lifting up nor that casting down always happens immediately, but it will always happen, because it is the Lord’s way.

Starting in v. 7, the Psalmist again calls on us to praise the LORD, with thanksgiving and with joyful music. Why? In the following verses, he highlights the Lord’s active involvement in the creation, in the formation of the clouds, in the sending of rain, in the growing of crops for man and beast. When you see the clouds in the sky, when you taste the food that has grown from the earth, remember that these benefits are not gifts of “Mother Nature.” Recognize your God’s hand guiding it all, and remember to give thanks to the Lord.

Finally, praise the Lord because He does not favor the strong, as this world does. Instead, He favors and delights in “those who fear Him, who hope in His mercy.” Let us pray: We praise You, O Lord! We fear You and hope, not in ourselves, but in You and in Your great mercy, which You have shown abundantly in Your acts of Creation, Preservation, and Redemption through Christ. Amen.

Psalm 146:1-10 NKJV

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!
² While I live I will praise the Lord;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
⁴ His spirit departs, he returns to his earth;
In that very day his plans perish.

⁵ Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶ Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,
⁷ Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.

⁸ The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

¹⁰ The Lord shall reign forever—
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!

The 146th Psalm is also a psalm of thanks. Especially in this day and age, people are prone to put all of their trust in the leadership running the country. While it may be understandable to desire leadership that is conservative and aims more toward godly values, it still doesn’t mean that all a person’s trust should be poured into that leader. That’s called idolatry. The 3rd verse of Psalm 146 puts a proper understanding in the mind of the reader/prayer: “Put not your trust in princes [leaders], in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.”

Here’s how the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther put it: “This is a Psalm of thanksgiving; and it contains a blessed doctrine; namely, that we ought to trust in God, who alone can defend; and who does defend faithfully all those who trust in him, and all those whom the world hates and casts out. And the Psalm shows, that we ought not to trust in any man, not even in kings or princes, nor in the mighty, nor in the rich, as the world do. For (as the Psalmist saith) “it is God alone that can mightily and gloriously deliver out of affliction,” and all trust in man is deceitful and vain; for (to say nothing about the vanity of such trust in all other particulars) no man knoweth anything certain respecting his own life!”  (Luther’s Manual on the Psalms, pgs. 400-401)

 The psalm prophecies Jesus’ miracles in verses 4-6 — “the blind see; the lame walk; lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (see Matt. 11:5). Through His Word and Sacraments Christ continues to come and be the healer, the restorer, the anointed One through whom alone is salvation. It is He, says Psalm 146, “who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in the, standing guard over truth forever, doing judgment for the oppressed, giving food to the hungry.” Who else would we, believing/baptized Children of God want to turn or trust in?

Let us pray: O Lord, thanks be to You for bringing us to abandon all trust in man and trust alone in the only One through whom salvation comes, Christ Jesus. Amen.

1 John 2:18-29 NKJV

¹⁸ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²² Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

²⁴ Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. ²⁹ If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

Adding to the trouble we’ve already considered (the tugging of the world, sinful flesh and the devil)—mockers, plus the apostate who appear as if they were the Church and lead many astray—St. John now tells of the Antichrist, and that many like him had already come! He warns briefly, but thoroughly enough for us to recognize them.

      What reveals and characterizes the Antichrist, and the antichrists, is that they are deniers of God the Son and His saving work. There are those who, John says, went out from the Church, looking like the Church, but not being the Church. Among these are those who deny that Jesus is God the Son, a distinct Person from God the Father, but of the same Substance. The Athanasian Creed was traditionally confessed on all major festivals of the Church Year to prevent us from falling into the ways of these ancient heretics or their modern counterparts who so blatantly deny the deity of Christ.

More pernicious, though, are those antichrists who are not so blatant, outwardly confessing Jesus to be true God, but confounding His work. These cloaked evil-doers tempt us to look to something other than His atonement for the world’s sins as our salvation—whether directing our faith to our experience of His blessings or miraculous power, to our feelings of holiness or closeness to Him and the Church, or seeking assurance of our election through our works or service. The great Antichrist who enthrones himself over God, though, demands our faith to be in our works (or those of the saints) as supplementing Jesus’ payment for our salvation. He demands allegiance to himself, and condemns salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (2 Thess. 2:3-4,7-10).

Rejoice, dear confessional Lutherans! Thanks to God working through Luther you have God’s preserved truth and are free from the Antichrist and the antichrists! Let us pray: O Holy Spirit, sanctify and keep us in the true faith, transforming us by and conforming us to Your holy Word!

1 John 2:11-17 NKJV

¹¹ But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹² I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
¹³ I write to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
Because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write to you, little children,
Because you have known the Father.
¹⁴ I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
And you have overcome the wicked one.

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For 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. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

While much in the world has changed with the passage of time, much remains now than it was then. As Holy Scripture proclaims: “There’s nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc. 1:9) As it did then, much threatens now to deceive and destroy. Therefore, much of John’s response to his circumstances back then speaks just as well now as it did then. The blessings, the challenges, the exhortation, all are as timely now as ever.

While St. John frames his message in terms that are natural enough, there is at the same time no real difference in what he offers as assurances to all who abide. In no way does he differentiate between the blessings of some verses those of others. Not some but all are strong in the power of Christ’s victory over evil, which makes us “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37).

In our day Christians still need to beware of the temptation to accommodate their faith to current cultural viewpoints and practices. We must not be taken in by the temptation to adjust biblical teaching ti fit the value systems of the pest world; to rationalize a materialistic lifestyle; to adjust moral standards subtly so they are not radically out of step with the times; to revamp our statement of theology so it will be more widely accepted; to employ methods of biblical critics in order to make conservative scholarship respected in the scholarly circles.

The temptations are many, and the urge to cave in is immense — all for the sake of comfort for the self. But Scripture calls it ‘worldliness.’  Any attitude that or action that makes the individual—and not God—the center and measure of the universe smacks of worldliness. Through faith in Christ’s fully atoning merits for you for the forgiveness of your sins, God brings you to do His will — namely, live and love sacrificially for the sake of your neighbor.

Let us pray: Thanks be to You, O Lord, for bringing us to forego the way of selfish worldliness and live sacrificially because of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus for us. Amen.

1 John 2:1-10 NKJV

2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

⁷ Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. ⁸ Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

⁹ He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. ¹⁰ He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

People, mistakenly, think that there’s freedom in vagueness. But in reality freedom comes when stark contrasts are drawn  out and a firm conviction is taken. Within these few verses of John’s Epistle, he is fighting against the philosophies of his day, so he is inspired to take on the validity of one’s religion — that is, knowing that your belief is the true belief.

Who is to say, after all, that ours is a certainty superior to that of others? Meaning, are we Christians merely because we are born into Christian families? If we had been born Jews or Mohammedans, would we not feel just as certain and believe that we are just as right in feeling that we know God? Is the whole of the religious confession an entirely subjective consideration, unproved, unprovable, especially to those of a more objective “scientific” persuasion?

We may feel that ours is an awareness of, a connectedness to, God. But how are we to know whether feeling corresponds to reality? Feelings, after all, are fleeting and untrustworthy! No amount of clearness or strength in the experience itself can guarantee its validity, any more than the extreme vividness of a dream leads us to suppose that it is anything but a dream.

No experience of God is valid apart from what we know from the light of His Word, from His love, which becomes our love. John crushes those who made a specialty of knowledge, as men today in a different way boast of their ‘science.’ There are no shades of gray. There is only light or darkness, love or hatred. Some may find this absolutism discomforting; but it, at least, has the virtue of putting the issues in the most basic and starkest possible terms — and it brings one to actually be free through faith in Christ’s fully atoning merits for them.

When we confess that God makes Himself known in the person and work of Christ, then we have known and know Him according to His revelation. God, through His Word, is the One who gives the certainty — and He gets all of the glory!

Let us pray: Lord, thank you for the certainty from Your Word. Amen.

1 John 1:1-10 NKJV

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³ that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

⁵ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

In the culture of John’s day, which was oriented toward the reciting and hearing of texts, opening words were everything. When one pauses to reflect upon the phrasing of John’s opening, then a discerned hearing would reveal a single sentence, four verses long and full of repetition, yielding a  distinctive mixture of profound, compelling affirmations.               

The prologues patterning accomplishes well the three functions of a literary introduction: (1) capturing the attention and interest of the listener; (2) stating the purpose of the writing; and (3) divulging the essential plan or scheme of the writing. The prologue begins with an attention-grabbing, comprehensive reference to faith’s object, to a who and a what that has existed from the beginning. In other words, John plunges into the heart of his subject with an introduction much like the one in his Gospel — fixing eyes of faith on Christ.

Verses 5-10 reveal how there’s no fence-riding with God. A believing/baptized child of God cannot dwell in both the darkness and the light. Dwelling would indicate a purposeful continuance in darkness (or sin). Yet  John is quick to point out that walking in the light does not mean that those who do so never sin, but that they do not seek to hide that fact from God.”

Oh, how we confessional Lutherans can rejoice that our liturgy — every single week — brings us to directly confess the truth of God’s Holy Scripture! We confess that we have sin; that we are not deceived; and that God’s truth is in us! We confess God’s faithfulness and justness to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness! Which, then, also means that we are confessing that we’re not already declared righteous with the rest of the world at Christ’s resurrection — this is an anti-scriptural teaching, very sadly, held by the other major Lutheran church bodies. Through our confession, we do not make Him a liar!  Why? Because His Word is in us!

Let us pray: Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word.  Amen.

2 Peter 3:11-18 NKJV

¹¹ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? ¹³ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; ¹⁵ and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, ¹⁶ as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; ¹⁸ but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

The reading for today continues off of the heels of the preceding verses that speak about the events that will take place when nearing the Last Day — namely, that this world is being “reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (vs. 8)  That judgment, undoubtedly, coming at any time (“as a thief in the night”, vs. 9) begs the question within verse 11: “what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness…?”

Attaining such holy conduct and godliness can be thought of as living perfectly — crossing every “t” and dotting every “i” — just shiny and without any errors in life. As confessional Lutherans, does anyone seriously believe that they live in such a way? There’s actually danger in such thinking.

Luther, in his Heidelberg Disputation of 1518 wrote in thesis 7: “The good works of the righteous [believers] would be mortal sins if they [the good works] would not be feared as mortal sins by the righteous themselves out of pious fear of God.” In other words, fear, even, your good works! Give the glory back to God. This keeps the old Adam from taking credit and stealing God’s glory (which would be a moral sin).

Rather than drum up man-made guesses at the meaning of “holy conduct and godliness” that our flesh may try to cling to— God’s Holy Scripture reveals Scripture. As it proclaims in Titus 2:11-14: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” The Christian life is one of constantly dying (old man) and rising (New man) through faith in Christ.

Let us pray: O Lord, keep us ever-fixed on Your grace through Christ — for it brings about good works for Your glory. And as the Last Day approaches, also bring us to hasten it though the words You have given “Thy kingdom come” and “Come Lord Jesus!”  Amen.

Psalm 145:10-21 NKJV Psalm

¹⁰ All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
¹² To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
²⁰ The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹ My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.

As many other psalms, this is a psalm of thanksgiving as well. This one gives thanks for the kingdom of Christ, which was to come. God works through paradoxes that defy human reason and keep faith reliant upon God creating it through the power of His Word — not the strength or smartness of man!

One of the paradoxes that God works through is how He reveals Himself through hidden things. Fallen man, according to his finite reason expects God to reveal Himself through mighty powerful acts, so if He is going to save man, then it’s going to be in an impressive way. Yet, God works through the weak, unimpressive way of Christ’s cross reveal His love!

Luther writes this about Psalm 145: “The power and kingdom of Christ lies hidden under the outward appearance of the cross and of weakness; and the word of the gospel is a contemptible doctrine with the wise and powerful of the world; for “the gospel,” as Paul saith, “is the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery.” And again, saith he, “Christ crucified, is, unto the Jews, a stumbling-block, unto the Greeks foolishness.” But when this kingdom is, by the preaching of the word, and by the teaching and confession of the saints, made known before the world, it is proved to be the kingdom of God and the power of God.” (Luther’s Manual on the Psalms, pg. 399)

To reveal a Christian’s reliance upon and confession of God’s providential care, Luther pulled verses 16 and 17 into his ‘Ask a Blessing’ meal time prayer: “The eyes of all look to You, O Lord, and You give them their food in the proper time.  You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” Praying according to God’s Word, and acknowledging such a reliance upon God, the remainder of the mealtime prayer is practically answered already as it continues: “Lord, God, heavenly Father, bless us and these Your gifts which we receive from Your bountiful goodness.” And He does!

Let us pray: O Lord, as You create and sustain faith through Your Christ-crucified-focused Word and Sacraments, keep us rejoicing in Your eternal, and temporal, hidden works.  Amen.