Collect of the Week
O Lord, Father of all mercy and God of all comfort, You
always go before and follow after us. Grant that we may rejoice in Your
gracious presence and continually be given to all good works; through Jesus
Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Galatians 1:11-12 (Part of
Last Sunday’s Epistle Reading)
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel
that was preached by me is not man's gospel.1 12 For I did not receive it from
any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus
Christ.
Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.
The Gospel always comes to us from outside of us. That is to say, the Good News that our sin is
paid for by Jesus’ death on the cross, is a message which does not find its
source in the mind of man, not does it flow from anywhere within the heart of
man. That God would take on flesh; that
He who knew no sin would become sin; that our LORD would humble himself to the
point of death; and that He would do it all while
we were yet sinners, is the work of the mind of God alone. And because it flows from the mind of God,
whose ways are higher than ours (Is 55:9), it must come to us from outside of
us.
Paul calls it a revelation of Jesus Christ and, of course,
his experience of receiving the Gospel—being forgiven and baptized—is quite
unique. You can read that story in Acts
9. And yet, he also says that the gospel
he preached, which is also the gospel he received, is not man’s gospel. And so, while the circumstances of his
conversion are unique, the means by which he was converted are not. His conversion came through the Gospel
itself, when he—a zealous persecutor of Christians—was forgiven his sins and
baptized.
If the Gospel is the power of salvation for all who believe
(and it is!). And the Gospel only comes
from outside of ourselves (and it does!).
Then regardless of the circumstances of your conversion to faith in
Christ, it is always the work of God. It
is always a gift of grace (Eph. 2:8-9).
And that is what makes it the Gospel—something God freely gives to you
because of Jesus—and not a work of the Law—something you do to please Him.
But since most of you who are reading this have already been
converted to faith in Christ, consider also that the source of your conversion also
happens to be the source of your sustenance.
That is to say, the very means by which you first believed—the Gospel
itself—is also the means by which you will continue to believe. In the meaning of the 3rd Article
of the Apostles’ Creed, we confess not only that, “the Holy Spirit has called
me by the Gospel,” but then we also confess that, “IN the same way He calls,
gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps
it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith” (emphasis added). Do you see that? The same way the Holy Spirit
converts you to faith, He also keeps you in the faith.
You don’t have to convince yourself of the forgiveness of
sins, or that salvation will be your eternal reward. That is what the Gospel is for. For wherever the Gospel is preached; where it
is taught; where it is administered in Holy Baptism; wherever it is received in
bread and wine, it comes to us from outside of us, so that we might hear of
Christ, believe the Gospel, and be saved by faith.
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Prayer
The Gospel shows the Father’s grace, Who sent His Son to
save our race, Proclaims how Jesus lived and died That we might thus be
justified. It is the pow’r of God to save From sin and Satan and the grave; It
works the faith which firmly clings To all the treasures which it brings. May
we in faith its message learn Nor thanklessly its blessings spurn; May we in
faith its truth confess And praise the Lord, our righteousness (LSB 580, 1,4
&6).
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