Author: Higher Things

By Rev. Eric Brown

“Whose likeness and inscription is this?”

It was another attempt at trapping Jesus. Let’s make Jesus talk about taxes in front the Herodians (who liked them) and all the rest of the Jewish folks in the temple who hated them. Either way, Jesus should upset people. But Jesus dodges – He asks them to show Him the coin used to pay the tax – and what do you know? There’s a picture of Caesar and a bunch of Latin on it.

Now, Jesus might have hammered them for bringing the pagan money into the temple, or called them on their greed and love of money – but instead He simply gives the famous line: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” The coin is Caesar’s money – if you want to use it, you play by Caesar’s rules, and when he wants some of it back in tax, you play ball. However, we are in the temple, and we ought to be thinking about the things that belong to God instead of Caesar.

So what belongs to God? Well, everything, I suppose – does that mean you are supposed to render all your stuff to God? Does this mean I get to give a “give until it hurts” fund raising stewardship sermon? Well, possibly, but our money doesn’t have the likeness of God on it, nor the Word of God upon it (“in God we trust” isn’t a quote from the bible, folks). But you do.

Consider: you were made in the image and likeness of God. Indeed, you have God’s Word inscribed upon you – that’s what your Baptism was. You received the Word of God upon you to mark you, to identify you as one who belongs to Christ Jesus. And Christ Jesus would have you be with Him for all eternity, so He came down from heaven and became man to win you forgiveness and life and salvation because you are His, not Satan’s. It doesn’t matter that Satan stole mankind away from God – that doesn’t stop Jesus. See there, Satan – that’s My image, that My Word – they belong to Me, and I will crush sin and death to have them back again.

You belong to Jesus, and He renders you back unto Himself. He purchases and wins you from all sin, not with silver or gold, not with a Denarius with Caesar’s picture, but with His own precious blood. You are baptized; you belong to Jesus.

Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois and the co-host of the HT Gospeled Boldly Podcast.

By Rev. Eric Brown

Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?

The question Peter asks Jesus seems quite reasonable. Really, it is, at least from a simple, worldly perspective. How many times do I forgive someone before it’s better to just cut them off out of my life? How many times to I have to delete a comment before I just block them? How many times do I have to roll eyes before I can just walk away? In the world this is a very reasonable and practical question – and Peter gives what, from the world’s perspective is a generous answer. 7 times? We have “three strikes and you’re out.” We have “once bitten, twice shy.” Peter, from the world’s perspective, is really generous.

However, forgiveness isn’t a worldly thing. Forgiveness isn’t just putting up with someone or ignoring them. Forgiveness is a God thing to do, and when God does something, God does it with over the top abundance. Not 7 times, but 70 time 7. And to show how over abundant God is with mercy, Jesus tells a story.

There’s a fellow who owes his king 10,000 talents. That would be like owing someone $5 Billion dollars. And the fellow begs, promises to pay the king back – he can’t, not in this lifetime. And the king forgives him. Now, some might find this surprising, but it’s clear that the king is already stupidly generous – he kept loaning and loaning money to this fellow already. So the king stays generous – it’s not surprising.

The same fellow whose debt was canceled then shakes down a fellow servant who owes him 100 Denarii – say $12,000. $12,000 that was probably the king’s cash in the first place that was then reloaned out. And things get nasty and mean, the second guy is thrown into jail. And that’s when the king’s patience runs out. That’s when the king throws the jerk into jail – not because of what he owed the king, but because he refused to be merciful as the king was merciful to him.

The point is this. God is merciful. Incredibly merciful. So merciful to us we can’t even really see how deep and rich His mercy is. And so we need to be very careful in this life not to start putting limits on mercy. Once we start doing that, we can forget that God shows us continual and abundant mercy. We step away from that mercy. So no, instead remember at all times the great and overflowing love and mercy that God has for you in Christ. He’s not taking a count to see when He can cut you off from forgiveness; instead He is faithful and His steadfast love for you endures forever.

Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois and the co-host of the HT Gospeled Boldly Podcast.

By Rev. Eric Brown

“For wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I among them.” – Matthew 18:20

Wait, why a Reformation article today? Did you miss it? Didn’t you get the memo? We celebrated the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation this past weekend, this past Halloween. It’s November now – that Reformation stuff is done with? We talked all about how we are right and the other folks are wrong and now we go on with life, right?

Well, no, not right at all. You see, the Reformation wasn’t a one time historical event. It’s not just something of the past to be dusted off and celebrated every so often. The true point of the Reformation was something that ought to hold front and center in our lives no matter what day of the year it happens to be. Salvation is in Christ Alone. 

When Martin Luther got the ball rolling (rather unintentionally) 500 year ago, it was because he was questioning where Jesus was to be found in all that hub-bub over indulgences. When Luther looked at them, he didn’t see Jesus for sinners. He saw money and arrogance and fear mongering, but not Jesus. And then he started looking elsewhere at the Church of his day, and in so many places he didn’t see Jesus. He didn’t see Jesus in relics, the pilgrimages, the pomp and power of the men running things. So the real question of the Reformation was this: where is Jesus to be found? Where is Jesus going to be present to give us poor sinners forgiveness and life? 

The answer was precisely where Jesus promised to be. In His Word, in His proclamation of forgiveness, in His Baptism, in His Supper. In the very things that He calls and gathers us into His Church to receive. That is where Jesus comes to us.

Luther saw the problems of his day, and he responded to them clearly. That’s a great thing. We can learn a lot from reading and studying Luther – He pointed to Christ Jesus so clearly. But here’s the thing. We don’t live in Luther’s day. We live today, over 500 years after the 95^th Thesis were posted. And we today have our own things that would distract us from Christ. Maybe not so much indulgences or relics, but there are plenty of other things that would separate us from Christ. Money and power still do, to say nothing of our wants and desires, our foolish hopes, our desires to make things be about us rather than Christ Jesus for us. You can see all these things – they swirl around the world, the Church at large, our own congregations, and they most certainly swirl around our hearts.

And yet, what continues on? Once again Christ Jesus will call us to His Church to be present for us in His Word and in His Supper. Once again He will call us to repentance and restore us to who we are in His Baptism. Once again, He will reform us. The Reformation was not a one time event of History, but it is precisely what Jesus does for us constantly through His Word whenever He pulls our eyes off of all the sinful distractions and makes us to see Him and Him alone.

Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word! That is Jesus’ Reformation for you.

Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois and the co-host of the HT Gospeled Boldly Podcast.

By Rev. Eric Brown

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” – Matthew 5:3

Jesus seems a bit off His rocker when He starts the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. He begins with the verses that today we call the “Beattitudes” – the “Blessed are the….” sayings. And frankly, none of these seem to be blessings at all. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn? What in the world is Jesus talking about?

Jesus is talking about real and true blessings, about eternal blessings in Him. So often, when we talk about blessings or being blessed, we end up talking about temporary, first article gifts. Health and wealth and money and stuff like that. Those are all good things, great gifts from God, but they are temporary. They are what Jesus calls daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer – stuff that is here today and gone tomorrow. And we spend so much time worrying about these daily blessings that we forget the greater truth. You have eternal and everlasting blessings in Christ Jesus.

Consider just the first “blessed” – blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Are there times when you are utterly run down? Are there times when your spirit is low, when you see your sin, or even when you have tons of stuff going on around you? Are there times when your life stinks? Sure – but even then, even in that moment, the truth is you are blessed in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus doesn’t run away from you when things in your life are lousy – instead He is with you still for you are His baptized child. Even in those lowly moments, the kingdom of heaven is yours, and your lowliness, your being poor in spirit isn’t going to take it away. It can’t – because Jesus is still faithful to you.

All the beatitudes are really talking about how Jesus is faithful to you and gives you eternal blessings in Himself. Whether it’s a good day or a lousy day, whether it is rough or leisurely, Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He is the same for you, for your good. He remains your Savior, He remains the God who has won you forgiveness for you upon the Cross and continually gives you this forgiveness in His Word, in His Supper. That’s who He is and that’s who He still is, no matter what twists or turns your day takes today.

Whatever the day holds, you are blessed, for you face this day as a Baptized child of God, joined to Christ. Christ Jesus is with you, and you belong to Him, so no matter what, you are truly blessed with blessings far beyond the ability of the world to understand. You have the peace and love of Christ Jesus.

Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois and the co-host of the HT Gospeled Boldly Podcast.

By Rev. Eric Brown

“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.”

It was an interesting reaction. Jesus said that being in His Word would set people free, and their response was to get all huffy and offended. We’re good Jewish people, and we’ve never been enslaved to anyone! Say the people who are conquered citizens of the Roman Empire. Say the people who celebrate the Passover every year; the meal celebrating the night when God rescued them from slavery in Egypt.

Before we shake our heads at how silly they are, we should pause and take stock of our own situation. After all, that’s what Reformation is about. It’s not the time where we celebrate that we’re right and always have been. It’s the time where we acknowledge that as human beings we are prone to sin, prone to wander. It’s the time where we acknowledge that God must continually reform His Church (and His people!) by the power of His Word and Spirit.

Jesus understood the fact that “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” Sin warps and twists us; it blinds us to where we can’t see our own hypocrisy. This is why the Holy Spirit shows us our sin with the Law of God: to make us see our own sin and know where we’ve spun up false stories about how great we are. The Spirit’s Law makes us to understand the shape of our sin. Now, what shape your sin takes, I don’t know – but I do know that it’s there. We all have our blind spots and cherished lies that we cling to; and the Spirit will hammer those with the Law and repent us.

And whenever the Spirit brings us to repentance, what does Jesus do? He keeps coming to you again and again in His Gospel. He keeps giving you His forgiveness over and over. He returns you to your Baptism. He declares you forgiven. He gives you Himself in His Supper so that you grow in faith in love, so that you are free indeed.

Understand the spiritual battle going around you. Satan will constantly try to blind you with your own self-righteousness. And if left on our own – well, with might of ours could naught be done. But for you fights the Valiant One, Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. And He sends forth His Spirit to bring you to repentance and to forgive you. He is by your side with His good gifts and Spirit, and this is how He reforms you. Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word!

Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois and the co-host of the HT Gospeled Boldly Podcast.