Luther for the Busy Man

Martin Luther
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  • Christianity
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Luther for the Busy Man is a new project brought to you by the Free Lutheran Bible College and Seminary, in cooperation with Ambassador Publications, the publishing arm of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations. Listen to daily meditations by Martin Luther himself, following the church calendar and read to you by Dave Ryerson.

  1. 23h ago

    Week of Trinity XIII - Saturday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - SATURDAYLESSON: PHILIPPIANS 2:1‒4 “And who is my neighbor?”. . . “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:29, 37 The lawyer does not ask, “Who is my God?” It seems that he feels that he owes God nothing. As far as God is concerned, he is quite sure that there is nothing amiss. Nor is he conscious of any shortcomings as far as his neighbor is concerned. But he still comes up with the question, “And who is my neighbor?” The Lord answered him by telling him a parable which shows that we are all neighbors one of another, both the man who does a good deed to another man, and the man who needs that act of kindness. In this parable, however, Christ more particularly presents the man who does an act of kindness to another as a neighbor. But Scripture uses the term “neighbor” in both senses: it calls the man who does the act of kindness a neighbor, and at times it speaks of the recipient of such an act as a neighbor. From this parable Jesus draws the conclusion, “Go and do likewise.” This lawyer had not only sinned against God but also against his neighbor. He failed not only in his love to God but also in his love to his neighbor. He did not do good to his neighbor. We can imagine how the poor man began to sweat at the suggestion that there was nothing but evil in him from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. How could he have been so remiss, this highly learned and pious man? This is how he came to overlook important duties: he led a pharisaical, dissembling, hypocritical life. In this sort of life he never stooped to consider the interests or welfare of his neighbor. He never even thought of helping others with his life. He thought only of his personal honor and glory before his fellowmen, and so he always kept gaping at heaven. He led the very opposite of a God-pleasing life. SL 11:1543 (22‒24) PRAYER: Grant us Your grace, heavenly Father, that we always keep our priorities in correct perspective, loving You with a pure heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves, in Christ’s name and to His glory. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

    Week of Trinity XIII - Saturday

  2. 1d ago

    Week of Trinity XIII - Friday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - FRIDAYLESSON: COLOSSIANS 1:9‒12 “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 We have seen in our consideration of this Gospel (Luke 10:23‒37) what God means when He says, “You shall love the Lord your God.” He means you, the whole you, not only your hands, your mouth, or your knees. When we love God with such a fullness of our being, we fulfill this law.    But there is not a single person on this earth who fulfills it in this manner. Indeed, we all do the very opposite. This law makes sinners of all of us, so that not even the smallest letter of this commandment is fulfilled, not even by the greatest saint in the world. No one adheres to God with his whole heart in such a way that he could forsake everything for God’s sake. We have, praise God, advanced so far that we cannot endure giving up even one little word, yes, not even a farthing, for God’s sake!  How is it possible to love God if His will is not pleasing to us? If I love God, I also love His will. When Gods sends us sickness, poverty, disgrace, and shame, that is His will. But what do we do? We rampage, snort and groan, and accept matters with much impatience. This is the least of our problems. What would we do if we had to give up body and life for God and Christ’s sake? Then I suppose we would show quite another front! In the meantime I act like this Pharisee and lawyer. I lead a fine life outwardly, honor God and serve Him, fast, pray, and always put on a very pious and holy front. But God does not look for this. He wants His will to be accepted joyfully and in love. In this respect we continue to drag our feet.  SL 11:1542 (18) PRAYER: O God, make us ready and willing at all times to obey Your holy will, not grudgingly and impatiently, but wholeheartedly, feely and openly, for Christ our Savior’s sake. Amen.  Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

    Week of Trinity XIII - Friday

  3. 2d ago

    The Week of Trinity XIII - Thursday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - THURSDAYLESSON: ROMANS 1:18‒25 “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” Matthew 4:10 God allows us to love His creatures; that is why He created them and made them good. The sun is a fine creation of God; gold and silver and everything that is fair and beautiful quite naturally engender love in us. God readily permits us to love these creatures. But to cling to them and equate our love for them with our love for Him, this He neither will nor can tolerate. Indeed, it is His will that I should deny and forsake all if He wants me to do so, and that I should be satisfied even if I never saw the sun, money, or any of my property again. Love of creatures must always stand a very long distance beneath love of Himself. Even as He is the supreme good, so He wants us to love Him in the highest manner before everything else. If He does not want me to love anything beside Himself, much less does He want anything to be loved above Himself, although both of these alternatives amount to the same thing. Now, I believe, you can see what it means to love God with your whole heart, and your whole soul, and your whole mind. To love God with your whole heart is to love Him above all creatures. Although many creatures are quite lovable and please me well and I love them, I should still be fully prepared to disregard them and let them go for God’s sake, if God, my Lord, so wills it. SL 11:1541 (13‒14) PRAYER: We thank and praise You, heavenly Father, for all the good gifts of Your creation. Grant us the moderation and understanding to use these creatures according to Your will and for our neighbor’s benefit, in Christ’s name and for His sake. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

    The Week of Trinity XIII - Thursday

  4. 3d ago

    The Week of Trinity XIII - Wednesday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - WEDNESDAYLESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 5:6‒8 Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14 The really wicked people in God’s sight are those who are proud of their external performances, who want to justify themselves and be accounted righteous before God because of their works. The lawyer in the Gospel belonged to this class of men. What a proud ass he is! And like a proud ass, he comes to the fore. He imagines that Christ can find no fault in him. He probably even thinks that the Lord will commend and praise his life right here before all the people. It never entered his head that he might have something to learn from the Lord; he was seeking only his personal honor and glory. This coxcomb was expecting a song of praise from the Man to whom the people looked up and about whom everyone wondered. The Lord does not really do this man a service in shaming him like He does. Christ can really be quite unfriendly and anything but kind, especially when He tells people the plain, unvarnished truth. One can understand why some people became so cross with Him. This pious, holy lawyer is still standing on his head. He has but one aim in view: to cash in on the very high reputation he has won by his holy living. He is quite sure that he has fulfilled all the commandments. He hopes to hear from Christ the commendation, “My good man, you have done everything; all is well with you.” But Christ says: “Do this!” In plain language Christ means to tell him, “You are a complete fake; you have never at any time kept this law, not even a letter of it.” He shows this man his wickedness. The poor simpleton thinks that he should be in one of the upper seats. It would be fine and clean. He would rather take his place among the angels than among these people. At times Christ can certainly be a very strange Christ. SL 11:1539 (11‒12) PRAYER: You have made it perfectly clear, O God, that self-righteousness never has any room to spare for Your grace and mercy. Empty our hearts of all false pride and self-righteousness, that Your grace and mercy may enter and abide there, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

    The Week of Trinity XIII - Wednesday

  5. 4d ago

    Week of Trinity XIII - Tuesday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - MONDAYLESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10 A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28 I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do. A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5). SL 11:1538 (6‒8) PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

    Week of Trinity XIII - Tuesday

  6. 5d ago

    Week of Trinity XIII - Monday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - MONDAYLESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10 A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28 I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do. A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5). SL 11:1538 (6‒8) PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

    Week of Trinity XIII - Monday

  7. 6d ago

    Week of Trinity XIII - Sunday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - SUNDAYLESSON: LUKE 10:23‒37 Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Luke 10:23‒24 This seeing and hearing must be understood quite simply as external seeing and hearing, namely, that they saw Christ in His own person and in the office He fulfilled, heard His preaching, and witnessed the miracles which He performed among the Jews. They were all in a position to confess with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Many prophets and kings also saw Christ, but only in spirit. The Lord Himself said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see My day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). On that occasion the Jews thought that Jesus was speaking about a physical seeing; but Jesus was referring to the spiritual seeing whereby all pious Christian hearts saw Jesus before He was born and still see Him today. If Abraham saw Him in this way, there is no doubt that many prophets, in whom the Holy Spirit resided, also saw Him thus. This spiritual seeing brought salvation to the holy fathers and prophets, but they also experienced a heartfelt desire and longing to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is indicated here and there in the prophets. The Lord here says to His disciples, who both heard and saw Him in the flesh, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!” He means to say, “This is a blessed time, an acceptable year, a time of grace. What is now present before you is so precious that the eyes which see it are quite rightly called blessed. Never before has the Gospel been proclaimed to every man with such publicity and clarity.” SL 11:1536 (2‒4) PRAYER: Jesus, Lord and Savior, You pronounced Your disciples blessed for being able to see and hear Your works of grace and Your Gospel of salvation. Help us to a similar experience of blessedness in connection with Your Gospel of salvation, for Your name’s sake. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

    Week of Trinity XIII - Sunday

  8. Aug 29

    Week of Trinity XII - Saturday

    THE WEEK OF TRINITY XII - SATURDAYLESSON: 1 JOHN 5:9‒15 “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22 As Christians who are priests before God, we should say, “Christ was certainly a priest in the fact that He prayed for me and acquired personal faith and the gift of the Spirit for me. Hence, I also am a priest who should continue to pray to God that He should give faith to this man or that man.” We should have the firm persuasion that we shall receive what we pray for boldly in faith, in accordance with Christ’s promise, “Ask, and you will receive” (John 16:24). To pray boldly is not always in our power. The Spirit does not always give the ability to pray boldly. Paul prayed to God for Israel that they might be saved (Romans 10:1). Why was his prayer not successful? It was a matter of faith. The Holy Spirit withheld it. Had Paul been able to pray for this with boldness, it would most certainly have happened. Had Paul said, “I pray for the whole of Israel,” and had he believed boldly and said, “Lord, I am certain that You will do it,” it would certainly have happened. It was certainly his heart’s desire and one which he often expressed, but the Holy Spirit never enabled him to believe it with confidence. It is not within our power to pray with bold confidence; the Holy Spirit must give us this confidence. When we pray for anyone with the confident addition, “It will certainly happen,” it will certainly happen. But normally we Christians must pray with the addition, “Your will be done!” If I must leave it to His will, then I cannot prescribe person, time, or manner to Him, but leave it to His good pleasure. This gives me adequate certainty. This is also what Christ did. He prayed in the garden, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). SL 11:1522 (15‒16) PRAYER: Heavenly Father, give us a full measure of Your Holy Spirit, enabling us to pray at all times in faith and confidence, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

    Week of Trinity XII - Saturday
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About

Luther for the Busy Man is a new project brought to you by the Free Lutheran Bible College and Seminary, in cooperation with Ambassador Publications, the publishing arm of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations. Listen to daily meditations by Martin Luther himself, following the church calendar and read to you by Dave Ryerson.

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  • Creator
    Martin Luther
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    378
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2020 - Luther For the Busy Man
  • Show Website
    Luther for the Busy Man

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