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Matthew
25:31-46
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"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (ESV)
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Glorious Adornment
Nicolas of Myra
6 December 2012
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What wonderful things God can work through us! The traditions enshrouding the memory of Nicolas of Myra (270-343 A.D.), would be easy to include among those wonderful things. As far as we know, when Nicolas was bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, he settled little gifts, especially coins, in the shoes of needy children. He was the original and true secret Santa; "Santa Claus" being a linguistic (and theological) decay of Saint Nicolas. God promises to work all manner of blessings and good works through His called people, as He has through the saints of all generations. We see this, not just in the saints of the ancient church, like Nicolas, but first and foremost in the great saints of the Bible, including, our forefather of faith, Abraham. Abraham was a great man on account of the glories and beauties that were added to His life by the God who justified Him on account of the Seed who was to come.
Abraham was not justified by God on account of the good works which He did. Instead, Abraham did good works on account of the righteousness that was his by God's accounting him righteous (Gn 15:6). Because he was accounted righteous, he trusted that God would return to him Isaac by raising him from the dead, when required to sacrifice him according to God's Word to him (Gn 22). The Writer to the Hebrews reminds us of this: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, 'Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.' He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back" (Heb 11:17-19). For offering the promised son, God gave Abraham the miracle of the resurrection of the dead. What a glorious adornment to justifying faith God added to Abraham in his radical confidence that God would not permit Isaac to be lost forever! He who justified Abraham then added the promise that all nations would be blessed through the seed that came from his line. God not only raised the dead for Abraham, but through Abraham's Seed would raise all people to Himself and on the last day raise up all the dead for His sake. All this followed upon justifying faith, which had as its support the oath of God upon his own name.
Abraham received all of this as a gift from God. How beautiful his faith was and the good works that God added to it. Justifying faith is ever and will always be a gift of grace from God, therefore all those who are sons of God for the sake of the Seed, Jesus Christ, are so adorned by God as to show forth shining works of praise. The apostle Paul summarized this: "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things" (Rm 8:32)? We receive one gift after another; blessing upon blessing. Let us pray for such glorious adornment. |
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Martin Luther
"Our question is this, if a sinner is able to merit righteousness through good works, either alone or even conjoined with faith, or does faith alone justifies apart from works? From this question a second must be distinguished: if God does miracles on account of those so justified, holy, and constituted heirs of eternal life, concerning which Psalm 17 says: 'Your mercies are wonderful, etc.' (Ps 17:7; Vul). The papists ridicule this statement about the wonderful works of God that He accomplishes in those who have righteousness, the Holy Spirit, and are the sons and heirs of God; and they confuse the works of those who are to be justified with works of those who have been justified.
"Wouldn't they be better to give an answer to this question: 'Was Abraham justified by the sacrifice of his son and on this basis is he an heir of eternal life?' This we deny and the reason is that he was already justified as it says above (Gn 15:6). And here the text said: 'God tested Abraham,' It does not say he was justified. For previously he received the remission of sins and righteousness by faith when Moses said 'Abraham believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness' (Gn 15:6). There it is not written: 'because you did, because you obeyed.'
"Therefore nothing of their argument prevails. This is the meaning of these words: 'You have done a wonderful work, because you are righteous. Likewise, I will do a wonderful work with you. I shall give you the blessing of all the nations through your seed.' By this Abraham was not justified. For how does the blessing of all nations belong to him, except when God said, 'By myself I have sworn' (Gn 22:16).
"Therefore this promise is not made to Abraham, so as to justify him. But it is as a gift or a kind of honor given by God, as God was testifying to the faithful who call on Him the immense blessing which He would bestow. This is a great matter that Abraham is the father of faith, of the blessing, and of Christ. These are incredible gifts; but through these he was not justified, because beforehand he was blessed, even before he was promised the blessing of all nations."
Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis, 22.18
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Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, coming the Lord, grant Your people confidence to believe that You will adorn their faith with good works. Rescue them from self-confidence and self-righteousness that they might ever enjoy Your merciful care. Amen.
For Kelly Pryor, construction manager at Memorial Lutheran Church and the whole construction team, as they push to complete the sanctuary renewal project in a timely fashion, that the Lord would give them joy in their labors
For all those who attended Advent services yesterday, that they may ever be watchful for the coming of our Lord and alert and listening for the Word of God
For Dennis Roberts and the team at IHS Studios, that they would ever find blessing in their calling to adorn churches with light and color |
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Art: DAVID, Gerard Triptych of Jean Des Trompes (1505)
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2012
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