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Ephesians 4:17-32
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Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self,which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
(ESV)
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He Gives Honor
Wednesday of Pentecost 2
13 June 2012
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How hard it is to bridle our pride and self-esteem, and seek glory only for the God, who seeks not His own glory, but settles the gift of glory on us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our heavenly Father sees to it that our human reason and expectations are overturned in His gracious care for us. We want to be seen, lauded, honored, and praised. And we work very hard to get to the point where that happens in our life. All that we do according to our sinful nature shouts: "Hey, look at me. Aren't I great?!" In this sense, old Adam is a permanent teenager; always demanding recognition, ever striving to gain the praise of those around us.
How different the second Adam is. If ever there was a person who had every reason to boast of both eternal blessings according to His divine nature and created gifts according to His human nature, it would have been Jesus of Nazareth. He could have come to earth with a bolt of lightning, out-Zeusing Zeus himself, demanding absolute and abject obedience. He could have alighted from the pinnacle of the temple to come suddenly to His house astounding the people with a blaze of glory. He could have. But He did not. He's not a teenager, after all. He is Ancient of Days (Dan 7:9).
The Lord does not stand on His rights, all of which He is the possessor and distributer. Instead, He humbled Himself, was born of a woman, took the form of a servant, so that as a servant He might confer on us all the rights and privileges of the church; the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. He comes not score points, but to receive them into Himself at the end of the lash and under the hammer. He comes not to be recognized by us, but to recognize us as the children of God. He came not to be received, but to receive us as His own.
How much less can those who have received into their care the divine proclamation of Jesus and His work demand from those who hear them recognition and honor. We are but poor servants of the Servant of all. How could we demand to be served? We are but teachers of the Teacher. How could we demand support at the hands of those who support us? We have freely received. We must freely give. We seek not our praise, but the praise of Him who died on the tree. He does not demand honor but gives it to us.
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Martin Luther
"The gospel has not been handed over to us so that we might seek in it our own praise and glory, or so that the people would venerate and praise us as their ministers. Rather through it the blessing and glory of Christ is made clear, that the Father is glorified because of His mercy, which He conveys to us in Christ His Son, who gave Him over to us all and with Him all things. Therefore the gospel is the kind of doctrine through which the last thing we ought to seek is our own glory. It sets before us heavenly and eternal things, which are not our own; things which we neither worked nor merited, but it offers to us things without our being worthy, entirely by the kindness of God.
"Therefore why do we arrogate to ourselves the glory that comes from such things? Thus whoever seeks glory from the gospel, speaks from himself: 'The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood' (Jn 7:18). Paul seriously warns all ministers of the word: 'If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit' (Gal 5:25), that is, let us remain in order, that is, in the true doctrine as it has been handed over to us, in fraternal love and unity of spirit. Let us preach with a sincere heart Christ and the glory of God, that we refer all the things we receive to Him. Let us not consider ourselves superior to anyone else, nor cause divisions and sects. It is not right to act this way; to give up the true order and to institute a new and perverse order."
Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians, 5.25
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Prayer
O Christ, You gave Yourself freely on our behalf. Free our pastors from the desire for earthly glory. Send Your Spirit that they might seek Your glory and honor by preaching Your holy cross. Amen.
For Matthew Jeffers, who was injured in an auto collision, that he would fully recover
For Cliff Scherer, Sr., that the Lord would continue to grant him health and strength
For those who will attend the Southern District Convention of the LCMS, that their travels would be safe and their convention time productive and to the glory of Christ
For those who are driven to crime, that they would reject this way of life and labor, doing honest work with their own hands, so that they may have something to share with anyone in need
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Art: DÜRER, Albrecht The Adoration of the Holy Trinity (1511)
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2011
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