The First Sunday after Trinity – June 22, 2025

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our epistle lesson for today from 1 John chapter 4 verse 16 reads,

1 John 4:16

So we have come to believe the love that God has for us. God is love.

And then verse 21 reads, Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Here ends our text. After we receive the Lord's Supper today,

there will be a prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving for this gift given to us,

the body and blood of our Lord.

Then we pray that God would strengthen both our faith toward Him and our love toward one another.

We want both our faith toward God and our love toward one another to be strengthened and preserved.

I'm going to talk with you this morning about faith and love.

First, there is faith in Christ. Then there is love toward one another.

Faith receives. It receives God's love toward us. Then we love one another.

Faith and love go hand in hand. you cannot have one without the other.

If someone does not have faith in Christ, then there is no true love for the neighbor.

We are saved, we are not saved because of our love toward one another.

Rather, we are saved through faith in Christ, and that faith in Christ shows itself in love.

So we pray that God would strengthen both our faith toward Him and our love toward one another.

First of all, at this time, let us focus faith.

The rich man in our Holy Gospel for today lacked faith in the one true God.

Oh, he knew about God. He even knew Abraham, and he called Abraham father,

but he did not believe in the same God that Abraham believed in.

He did not believe in the coming Savior as prophesied by Moses and the prophets.

He did not believe that God's word has the power to bring his brothers to repentance

and to faith in the forgiveness of sins.

Money was his God. Money was his idol God. The rich man lacked saving faith in the one true God.

He is in hell because he rejected the gospel.

John 3 verse 18 says, He who does not believe in the Son is condemned already

John 3:18

because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And then John 3 verse 36 reads, says that whoever rejects the Son will not see

John 3:36

life, for God's wrath remains on him.

So where there is no faith in Christ, there is no salvation.

The fact that the rich man is in hell is because he has rejected God's love toward him.

Now this is a warning for all of us. Do not reject the gospel.

Rather, by God's grace, hold on to the promises of God in Christ Jesus.

In Christ, there is life and salvation.

The poor beggar, on the other hand, had faith in the one true God.

He believed that God would provide for him. He believed that God would give

him his daily bread, even though it perhaps may be a few crumbs.

He believed in the coming Savior, as prophesied by Moses and the prophets.

And when this poor beggar died, the angels carried him to heaven.

He received salvation through faith in the one true God and in his many promises.

God's promise to send a Savior came true.

Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary.

He lived a perfect life in our place. He died upon the cross as a sacrifice in our place.

He paid for our sins by his precious blood.

He defeated our enemies of death and the devil by his resurrection.

You hear this precious gospel and the Holy Spirit works faith in your heart.

You repent of your sin not because a distant relative rises from the dead and

warns you about hell. Rather, the law shows you your sin and the gospel shows you your Savior.

Salvation is through faith in Christ and in Christ alone.

Jesus said, Moses, surely I say to you,

he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and

shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

And John 3, 36 says, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

So by God's grace, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

Trust in the many promises of God in Christ Jesus.

Rely on the death and resurrection of Jesus as your only source of salvation.

At this point, let us now focus love.

The rich man not only lacked faith in the one true God, he also failed to love

his neighbor, the poor beggar, who God laid at his gate.

The rich man did not give the poor beggar food and clothing.

He did not manage the poor beggar's wounds.

He did not help the poor beggar. He did not care about him.

The rich man lacked any kind of love toward the neighbor.

Our personal lesson for today says, If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

So the rich man claims to love God.

The rich man claims to love God, but he does not.

Because he does not love his neighbor, the poor beggar. The rich man claims

to love God, but it is a lie.

The rich man had no faith in the one true God. He was unrepentant.

He was selfish and self-centered.

Therefore, he did not love his neighbor.

And since the rich man rejected God's love toward him, the rich man was unable

to faithfully love the neighbor.

Our epistle lesson says, God is love.

We love because God first loved us.

God's love came to us first.

For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.

He paid for our sins, and he opened heaven for you and for me and for all who believe.

What is love? God is love. So love is of God, and love is from God.

Love does not define God, but God defines the true meaning of love.

How did God show his love toward you? God the Father loved you by sending his

only begotten Son to be your Savior, to die upon the cross for your sins.

He laid down his life on the cross for your salvation.

Jesus' death upon the cross was the atoning sacrifice for your sin.

Jesus made the payment for your sin by means of his blood, and he also bore

the wrath of God in your place.

He was the innocent Lamb of God who died for you.

So God's love for you is not an emotion, but it is a love that is an action

that actually died and rose again for you.

His love is self-giving and sacrificial on your behalf.

And out of love and care for you. God did not wait for you to love him first, and then he loved you.

Rather, God took the initiative to love first.

Romans 5 says, God demonstrated his own love toward us, and that while we were

still sinners, Christ died for us.

He died for sinners like you and me.

God loves you. And how do you know God loves you?

He loves you because Jesus died for you and rose from the dead.

And the blessings of the cross and resurrection were given to you in your baptism.

And you hear this wonderful gospel proclaimed and preached to you.

And he also forgives your sin in Christ. He feeds you from this altar,

giving you his own body and blood.

Our crystal lesson says we love because God first loved us.

God's love came to us first, and then we love one another.

God first loved us, then his love enables us to love one another.

We are able to love one another because we have received the love from God.

God's love toward us is a motivating factor of us loving the neighbor.

And so God's love flows to us and then through us toward the neighbor.

We are willing to love and care for one another because of God's love toward us.

And if there is a blockage in God's love coming to us, then it's unable to love one another.

Our love toward a parent, a spouse, a son or daughter, a co-worker,

a neighbor, a fellow member in the church, will not be perfect.

We still have and will always have the sinful flesh hanging around inside of

us and around our neck the day we die.

Deep down inside, we are like the rich man, selfish and self-centered,

making money and idle God.

We say things we should not have said. We do things that we should not have

done. And there are times when our faith is weak.

And there are times when we do not truly love the neighbor.

Our prayer is always, Lord, have mercy upon us.

We pray that the Holy Spirit would bring us to repentance we pray that by God's

grace we may confess our sin to God and to one another saying the words I am sorry.

And in Christ there is the forgiveness of sins we are thankful then for God's

grace and mercy in Christ we are thankful for the gospel which not only strengthens

our faith for God but also this gospel which helps us to love one another.

May God help us to be a good Samaritan, helping out someone who is in need,

to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty,

to welcome the stranger, to clothe the naked, and to visit a family member or

friend in the hospital who is sick or perhaps maybe on their deathbed or perhaps maybe in prison.

May God help us to be a faithful father and mother a faithful spouse,

a faithful co-worker, and a faithful neighbor to those who are in need.

Again, we love one another because God first loved us in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me summarize everything at this point. First, there is faith in Christ,

and then there is love toward one another.

Faith receives God's love toward us, then we love one another.

Faith and love go hand in hand.

You cannot have one without the other.

Love is a result of faith in Christ.

The law does not provide the means to love our neighbor. Rather,

the gospel provides the means to love our neighbor.

Loving others is not done for God as some kind of good work.

Rather, loving others is done for the benefit of a neighbor whom God wants us to love and care for.

So if someone does not have faith in Christ, there is no true love toward the neighbor.

We are not saved because of our love toward the neighbor.

We are saved through faith in Christ, who is a cause of our salvation.

We pray that God would strengthen both our faith toward him and our love toward one another.

We will receive today a holy and sacred meal of our Lord's true body of blood

for the forgiveness of all our sins.

This is love from God that we can touch and taste.

And after we receive the Lord's Supper, we will pray that God would strengthen

us to the same in faith toward him and in fervent love toward one another.

We have faith in Christ and we have love toward one another.

We want both of these to be strengthened and preserved.

May our Lord's precious gospel and sacrament strengthen and nurture our faith

in Christ, and may God help us to show love for one another.

God grant this. Amen.