Saturday of Trinity IV - Devotion in semi-Exile
Lection for Saturday after Trinity IV
Judges 6:25-40 Acts 15:6-21
It is my hope and prayer that you will enjoy this excursion into Luther’s Large Catechism. Today we continue the “first part” on the Ten Commandments, specifically, the “Appendix to the First Commandment,” what is referred to in Luther’s Small Catechism as the “Conclusion” of the Commandments.
Judges 6:25-40 Acts 15:6-21
It is my hope and prayer that you will enjoy this excursion into Luther’s Large Catechism. Today we continue the “first part” on the Ten Commandments, specifically, the “Appendix to the First Commandment,” what is referred to in Luther’s Small Catechism as the “Conclusion” of the Commandments.
[First Part:] The Ten Commandments
The First Commandment
[Explanation of the Appendix to the
First Commandment]
30
“For I am the Lord your God, mighty and jealous, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate
me, and showing mercy to many thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments.”
31
Although these words apply to all the commandments (as we shall hear later),
yet they are attached precisely to this one which stands at the head of the
list because it is of the utmost importance for a man to have the right head.
For where the head is right, the whole life must be right, and vice versa. 32
Learn from these words, then, how angry God is with those who rely on anything
but himself, and again, how kind and gracious he is to those who trust and
believe him alone with their whole heart. His wrath does not abate until the
fourth generation. 33 On the other hand, his kindness and goodness extend to
many thousands, lest men live in security and commit themselves to luck, like
brutes who think that it makes no great difference how they live. 34 He is a
God who takes vengeance upon men who turn away from him, and his anger
continues to the fourth generation, until they are utterly exterminated.
Therefore he wills to be feared and not to be despised.
35
This he has witnessed in all the records of history, as Scripture amply shows
and as daily experience can still teach us. From the beginning he has
completely rooted out all idolatry, and on that account he has destroyed both
heathen and Jews; just so in our day he overthrows all false worship so that
all who persist in it must ultimately perish. 36 Even now there are proud,
powerful, and rich pot-bellies who, not caring whether God frowns or smiles,
boast defiantly of their mammon and believe that they can withstand his wrath.
But they will not succeed. Before they know it they will be wrecked, along with
all they have trusted in, just as all others have perished who thought
themselves to be so high and mighty.
37
Just because such blockheads imagine, when God refrains from disturbing their
security, that he is unconcerned or uninterested in such matters, he must
strike and punish them so severely that he will not forget his anger down to
their children’s children. He intends that everyone shall be impressed and see
that this is no laughing matter with him. 38 These are also the people he means
when he says, “who hate me,” that is, those who persist in their stubbornness
and pride. They refuse to hear what is preached or spoken to them. When they
are rebuked, to bring them to their senses and cause them to mend their ways
before punishment descends, they become so mad and foolish that they justly
merit the wrath they receive. We observe this every day in the case of bishops
and princes.
39
Terrible as these threats are, much mightier is the comfort in the promise that
assures mercy to those who cling to God alone — sheer goodness and blessing,
not only for themselves but also for their children to a thousand and even many
thousands of generations. 40 Certainly, if we desire all good things in time
and eternity, this ought to move and impel us to fix our hearts upon God with
perfect confidence since the divine Majesty comes to us with so gracious an
offer, so cordial an invitation, and so rich a promise.
41
Therefore let everyone be careful not to regard this as if it were spoken by
man. For it brings you either eternal blessing, happiness, and salvation, or
eternal wrath, misery, and woe. What more could you ask or desire than God’s
gracious promise that he will be yours with every blessing and will protect and
help you in every need? 42 The trouble is that the world does not believe this
at all, and does not recognize it as God’s Word. For the world sees that those
who trust God and not mammon suffer grief and want and are opposed and attacked
by the devil. They have neither money, prestige, nor honor, and can scarcely
even keep alive; meanwhile, those who serve mammon have power, prestige, honor,
wealth, and every comfort in the eyes of the world. Accordingly, we must grasp
these words, even in the face of this apparent contradiction, and learn that
they neither lie nor deceive but will yet prove to be true.
43
Reflect on the past, search it out, and tell me, When men have devoted all
their care and diligence to scraping together great wealth and money, what have
they gained in the end? You will find that they have wasted their effort and
toil or, if they have amassed great treasures, that these have turned to dust
and vanished. They themselves have never found happiness in their wealth, nor
has it ever lasted to the third generation. 44 Examples of this you will find
aplenty in all histories and in the recollections of elderly and experienced
people. Just ponder and heed them. 45 Saul was a great king, chosen by God, and
an upright man; but once he was secure on his throne and he let his heart
depart from God, placing his confidence in his crown and power, he inevitably
perished with all that he had; not one of his children remained. 46 David, on
the other hand, was a poor, despised man, hunted down and persecuted, his life
nowhere secure, yet inevitably he remained safe from Saul and became king.
These words must stand and prove to be true since God cannot lie or deceive;
just leave it to the devil and the world to deceive you with their appearance,
which indeed endures for a time but in the end is nothing!
47
Let us therefore learn the first commandment well and realize that God will
tolerate no presumption and no trust in any other object; he makes no greater
demand of us than a hearty trust in him for all blessings. Then we shall be on
the right path and walk straight ahead, using all of God’s gifts exactly as a
cobbler uses his needle, awl, and thread (for work, eventually to lay them
aside) or as a traveler avails himself of an inn, food, and bed (only for his
temporal need). Let each person be in his station in life according to God’s
order, allowing none of these good things to be his lord or idol.
48
Let this suffice for the First Commandment. We had to explain it at length
since it is the most important. For, as I said before, where the heart is right
with God and this commandment is kept, fulfillment of all the others will
follow of its own accord.
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