I'm over it, so I'm good, right?

"In the twelth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the preacher tries to make people believe that they are truly converted as soon as they have become rid of certain vices and engage in certain works of piety and virtuous practices."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 16

"If they really believed, they would be more regular in worship."  "If you want to be a Christian, you have to stop being homosexual."  "If you were really a Christian, you wouldn't curse so much."  "If you were really a Christian, then pornography wouldn't be an issue."  "All you have to do to become Christian is to say this prayer of repentance and ask Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior."

If you have heard any of the above phrases, or anything similar to them, you have heard someone speaking a message of the Good News that simply is not true.  As people, really the only way we can look to see what lies in a person's heart is by looking at their outward actions.  However, that really is a poor display of what someone really believes.  Yes, certain elements of what we believe will reveal themselves in how we live, but we humans are also remarkably good at doing things that don't really fit what we believe.

When we get right down to it, a Christian is a person who believes that Jesus has redeemed them from the sin and fallenness of this world.  In other words, it really is about the One in whom they put their trust and hope.  That means, also, that it isn't necessarily a reflection of their outward actions.  That also means that we cannot tell someone that they are converted to Christ simply because they stop doing sinful actions and start doing faith-related actions.

Yet, that is an untruth that pervades the Christian faith.  After all, the only thing we can really see as humans is another person's outward actions.  We cannot see their heart to know what they believe.  We cannot see their thoughts to know what they are thinking.  We can't see their relationship with God in Christ Jesus.  So we judge based on what we can see with our eyes, which means that we judge based on something that can easily disguise where a person's heart truly is.

Yes, once a person is in Christ, we strive to have them give up sinful habits and practices, and to take on those which reflect God's will and design for life.  However, that is a result of faith.  That is not a condition of faith.  We cannot say a person is more faithful because they ceased some action or habit that is deemed sinful.  We cannot say that a person is more faithful because they suddenly started becoming more engaged in the practices of other Christians. 

In the end, that's why the message of Good News that we bring to the world truly is that God has chosen to redeem them in Jesus.  We simply cannot say that they have only received this when they stop doing certain things and start doing certain other things.  It's good news, not good actions.  May our Christian witness, then, be that others are redeemed, not by the changing of what they do, but by trusting in the one who suffered and died for them.

You Betta Get Right, Now, Ya Hear?

"In the eleventh place, the Word of God is not righly divided when the Gospel is turned into a preaching of repentance."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 15

I cannot recall if I have stated this before in this series on these theses about God's Law and God's Gospel, but the literal meaning of the word "evangel" is Good News.  This is the word that gets translated as Gospel quite frequently.  In other words, the Gospel message is a message of Good News.  When we engage in evangelism, we share the evangel, the good news, with people.

Now, to make it painfully clear, that means that we speak a message which is Good News to people.  We tell them that they do not need to fear God's wrath, since God poured out His wrath on Jesus.  We tell people that God has chosen to spare them and rescue them, doing so through Jesus and what all Jesus' life, death, and resurrection accomplished for us.

Notice in that previous paragraph that there is something that is missing that so often forces its way into our evangelism, our sharing of the Good News.  There is nothing in there about a person changing their ways.  There is nothing in there about conforming to or obeying God's Law.  Yes, that was quite intentionally done.  The message of Good News is not a message about obeying God's Law.  It is a message that someone else has done that fully for them.

So often we get this mixed up.  We may not come right out and say it, but the expectation is often there that people will get their act together to be part of God's forgiven people.  In other words, they have to repent in order to receive God's forgiveness and be part of God's people.  To be quite blunt, that is far from the truth.  All they need to be God's forgiven people is to believe that God has forgiven them in Jesus.  That's the Good News, for us, and for them!

Yes, there is a proper place and role for repentance.  But it is not included in the receiving of the Good News.  Truthfully, it is a journey that comes after we believe in what God has done for us in Jesus, and quite literally consumes the rest of our life.  We never get it right, no matter how much effort we may make. 

So, next time you find yourself wanting to tell someone to get their act together to be part of God's people, or to receive His Good News, keep in mind that the Good News is completely that: Good News for them.  Changing their behavior or attitude comes after they receive that Good News, not as part of the way that they receive the Good News.

Inside Out, or Outside In?

"In the tenth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when faith is required as a condition of justification and salvation, as if a person were righteous in the sight of God and saved, not only by faith, but also on account of his faith, for the sake of his faith, and in view of his faith."  Thesis 14, C. F. W. Walther.

Quick quiz.  When Jesus died on the cross, whose sins did He take away?  You'll find the answer to this after the first paragraph here, but I encourage you to think about how you would answer that right now before reading on.

One essential question that we face in life is a simple one that is not simple to answer.  What is faith?  In a simple way, faith is merely believing something.  I believe that, when I put my key in the ignition and turn it, my car will start.  I believe that, when I twist my key in the door, the lock with either lock or unlock, depending on how I twist it.  I also believe that the door will stay locked or unlocked once my key is removed.  That is demonstrating faith in both my key and in my lock.

So, looking at the answer to our quiz, it's actually very widespread.  Jesus died and took away the sins of the whole world.  Every person who has ever been conceived in this world has had their sin removed by Jesus, carried to the cross, and crucified with Him.  The removal of our sin (which separated us from God) is completely outside of us.  We contribute in no way to the removal of our sin.

In that way, the removal of our sin is similar to my door lock example, though not exactly.  A better illustration might be that my wife uses her key to lock the door.  I have done nothing to make it happen, but I believe that the door is locked and will remain locked.  In a similar way, Jesus died and removed my sin.  I have done nothing.  I have not given it to Him.  I have not demanded that He take it.  I have not put it on Him myself.  Jesus did the whole work.

That's where this thesis enters in.  Jesus did the whole work.  My belief that Jesus did the work in no way means that I am now contributing to the work.  It's kind of like what yesterday's post was about.  I cannot make myself believe, and in that same way, my belief does not mean that I am now contributing to God's work in Jesus.  The work is fully Jesus' work.  I simply believe that He did it for me.

When we start talking about faith, it becomes tempting to make faith about something we do.  We tell others to believe, rather than simply sharing what they should believe in with them.  We talk of strengthening our faith, but our faith is strengthened the more we dive into God's Word and see just how deep a hole Jesus rescued us from.  We believe more firmly as we hear God's promises more firmly, not by simply telling ourselves to believe more.

In the end, faith is merely the thing that receives the message of Good News.  It doesn't grab it for itself.  It doesn't figure out the Good News.  It simply hears the Good News and says, "Yes, this is Good News for me."

Just do it.

"In the ninth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when one makes an appeal to believe in a manner as if a person could make himself believe, or at least help toward that end, instead of preaching faith into a person's heart by laying the Gospel promises before him."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 13.

"Just believe."  A person has a question about some matter of the faith.  Not so much a life or death matter, but one in which that person simply cannot see God's hand at work.  That person shares their concern with another Christian who, desiring to help, gives that advice.  "Just believe."  This could apply to many situations, and indeed, I have seen and heard it applied in a variety of situations.  But, as our thesis above indicates, perhaps we should think through what such a statement says.

"Just believe."  If belief were really that simple, it sure would be nice.  The problem is, we simply cannot make ourselves believe something.  If I tell you that the grass is blue and the sky is green, you cannot make yourself believe that.  Yes, part of that is because your eyes quickly reveal that this isn't the truth.  However, this simple exercise shows us something of belief.

Belief comes, not by us convincing ourselves of the truth of something, but when the truth of something is presented to us.  (As an aside, yes, we can choose not to believe it, even if it is very clear, which many people do in a lot of areas of life.)  That's what this thesis makes clear.  We cannot make ourselves believe, otherwise our faith is only in ourselves, and in our ability to convince ourselves of something. 

Belief in God, and especially in God's Gospel message of Jesus, comes when we lay the promises of God in the Gospel before the other person. Let's take our (not so) imaginary situation, and see what that would look like.  So, the person approaches you, let's say, because they are struggling to believe that God is caring for them during a particularly difficult time in life.  Instead of telling them to "just believe,", what if we instead first empathized with them.  "Yes, I can see where that could cause you to wonder about God's care for you."  Then, what if we reminded them, not of the importance of their faith, but instead, the One in whom they put their faith.  "God never promised that life would be easy.  But, He did promise that He would remain with us, even in the difficult times.  That's what Jesus really is all about.  Jesus would endure the worst, so that you could also know that God stays with you through the worst.  While God may not make the situation better. He does promise that this will pass, and that He still cares and has the situation in His hand.  He had Jesus' hands nailed to the cross to show you the distances He would go to make you His, and He put His Spirit in you at your baptism as a deposit, and He will make good on that deposit."

You see, instead of telling someone to just believe, we instead point them to the one that has done great things for them.  It's the difference between a person believing in themselves and believing in God in Christ Jesus.  And that, in the end, is a world of difference.

Do you feel sorry? Do you? Do you really???

"In the eighth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the preacher represents contrition alongside of faith as a cause of the forgiveness of sin."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 12.

The role of repentance is one that quite often gets misplaced when it comes to the hope we have in Jesus.  Sure, we are quick to say that all you have to do is to believe that Jesus died for your sins, but we are also quick to add, but you also have to feel sorrow for the sin you have and change what you are doing.  At its worst, this comes across as though a person has to change their behavior to be in line with God's commands before they can be saved by Jesus' death and resurrection. 

Make no mistake about it.  God wants people to feel sorrow over their sin.  He wants them to realize their sins and faults, and to heartily want to change, whether that sin is adultery, murder, idolatry, lying, pridefulness, or self-reliance.  No matter how big or how small, God wants people to feel sorrow for that, since it separates them from the just, yet compassionate God.

However, there are times where that sorrow needs to be given space to be realized.  In God's way, it really is about realizing that God has rescued us from our sin in Jesus' death and resurrection.  While we may hope and pray for an outward change, the biggest thing is the state of the beliefs of the person.  If they cling to God's word in Jesus' perfect life, death, and resurrection for them, they are rescued, even should they not immediately express godly sorrow over their sin.

That's where one significant part of the word repentance comes into play.  One part of repentance is realizing that you are not trusting in God above all things, and in turning to Him for your hope in life.  Another part is the change of life, of behavior, to be in line with God's commands.  The first part of repentance must take place as God turns the heart of the sinful person to Himself in Jesus.  The second part, to be quite frank, is never fully achieved in this life, and therefore, becomes an unrealistic expectation if we try to put it as a condition of being in the state of salvation.

Godly sorrow quite often grows out of our experience with the Gospel.  As we see just how wide and deep the love and compassion of our God is, we start to see just how wide and deep is the quagmire of our sin.  We also realize that there is no way we can ever drain that swamp ourselves.  Only God can rescue us from it, which He has happily done in the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus.

The Difference Between Love and Fear

"In the seventh place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when there is a disposition to offer the comfort of the Gospel only to those who have been made contrite by the Law, not from fear of wrath and punishment of God, but from love of God."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 11.

Many, many years ago, in a little booklet of instruction for the common people of Germany to better know God's message in the Bible, Martin Luther put together the basics of the Christian faith in a question and answer format.  Beginning with the commandments, he put forth an important part of the faith, and then would have questions to better explain what they meant.

In the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods," Luther asked the question, "What does this mean?"  He then answered with a simple phrase.  "We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things."  Those three verbs are interesting choices.  Sure, we understand fear.  When we realize that the God who made everything has a reason to look upon us with wrath and anger, we should be fearful.  And that's where the next word truly stands in opposition to fear.  Love.  We are to love God above all things, which would seem impossible if God were only interested in seeing how closely we matched up to His will and design.  Recognizing our shortcomings, faults, and sins, love would seem to be farthest thing from our thinking.

On occasion, I will hear someone say that, to receive the good news of God in Jesus, you have to love God and not be afraid of Him.  And to some degree, I understand that thinking.  If I only fear my wife and any time that I do something that will upset her, that doesn't speak to a very strong relationship.  Of course, I would much rather do things because I love her, not because I am afraid of her, or fear upsetting her or disappointing her.  Yet, there are times when I will do something that she wants, not so much out of love, but simply because not doing it would seem the worse choice.

You'll notice the key to that previous paragraph, though.  That makes no sense unless I have an active, thriving relationship with my wife.  When I have that active relationship with her, then there are times where I am much more concerned with not disappointing her, or not upsetting her, rather than simply doing things out of a motivation of love.  Yes, it would be ideal if I did everything I do for her out of love, but because of my fallen sinfulness, that simply isn't likely (much less, possible). 

That is where this thesis truly speaks to those who are already in relationship with God.  Sometimes we do things because we fear letting God down, disappointing Him, or upsetting Him.  That's okay when we have a living, active relationship with Him.  Now, it would be far different if someone were not in Christ.  Fear there needs to drive them to a relationship with God, not to be a place of refuge.  They need to know that God still cares and to know the comfort of the Gospel.  That is truly what the message of Good News is to do, to comfort.  We cannot tell them at that point that they don't receive God's good news if they are only afraid of God, and can only receive it if they love God.  Perhaps the thing that they first need to hear is that God loves them, which is a great comfort when they start to get to know Him.

That's why the comfort of the Gospel must go out to those who fear God, or who believe their actions call for God's punishment upon them.  We should not tell them that they will only be received when they love God.  In fact, as we reflected on back in Thesis 8, when they find themselves fearful or terrified, the very thing they need to hear is the Gospel, not that God's good news is theirs when they love God.

What is faith, and what does it do?

"In the sixth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the preacher describes faith in a manner as if the mere inert acceptance of truths, even while a person is living in mortal sins, renders that person righteous in the sight of God and saves him; or as if faith makes a person righteous and saves him for the reason that it produces in him love and reformation of his mode of living."C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 10.

I will admit, this thesis is a rather challenging one to touch on with people.  In a lot of ways, what the thesis says are truly matters of the heart, which are not easily discernable from outward appearances.  Just because you "know" that Jesus died on the cross, and that His death was a sacrifice for sin, does not immediately mean that such knowledge brings salvation.  Instead, it is when the head and heart together grasp this knowledge and cling to it as the firm foundation of life.  It isn't merely head knowledge, but instead happens when head and heart are both turned to Jesus.

That's the same essential thing in the second part of this thesis.  A person may hear of what Jesus did for them, and then may change their maner of life to live like God outlines as the new life in Jesus.  However, that still may or may not reflect what that person is clinging to as the truth that defines their life.  That person may be changing out of reasons other than that God has rescued them in Jesus. 

Thus, the preacher simply cannot make a simple statement such as, "Know that Jesus died for you, and that is enough."  Just knowing that isn't enough.  Yes, the knowledge of what Jesus did is essential, but it is also insufficient by itself.  That is why the preacher has to emphasize belief in what Jesus has done, and that it was done for that person.

By the same token, the preacher cannot say that you have proper faith simply because there has been a change in how you live your life.  People change parts of their lives for many different reasons.  Yes, a change in life to become more caring, compassionate, and loving could be an indication of faith, but could also be brought about for other reasons.  Faith still is what clings to Jesus, and because it is a matter of where someone puts their trust, it is not easily discerned as to its presence or absence.

In case you ever wonder why preachers often spend a decent amount of time on what they preach, these matters are some of the reason.  If I were to simply point someone to knowing what the Bible says, and indicating that such knowledge is sufficient for salvation, I am pointing someone in a wrong direction.  Sure, we preachers can become too fine with our words, but we also take care to make sure our words are not careless, not directing people to the wrong place for their trust.  Anywhere other than Jesus means that the preacher does exactly what this thesis speaks to.

Where do You Turn?

"In the fifth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when sinners who have been struck down and terrified by the Law are directed, not to the Word and the Sacraments, but to their own prayers and wrestlings with God in order that they may win their way into a state of grace; in other words, when they are told to keep on praying and struggling until they feel that God has received them into grace."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 9.

At first glance, this thesis from the first president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) seems fairly obvious.  Once someone realizes that the parts of their life that are contrary to God's Law mean condemnation, they are terrified of what that means, and want to know how to be right with God.  It seems fairly obvious that we would direct them to hear what God says, and to come to the places where God delivers His grace to us human beings.

Yet, it is sad that I have seen the obvious not practiced.  When someone reveals that they are having a troublesome time with some particular sin, one response I have heard quite often is, "Go and pray about it."  Another response that is quick to be said is, "Well, just believe and God will get you through it."  The reason I say that these are sad responses is that they don't turn the person to the places where God says He works, namely in the Word and the Sacraments.  The first turns the person, not to God's Word, but to their prayer life.  That seems to be a rather small point, but in effect, such a statement turns a person to the faithfulness of their prayers and prayer life instead of turning them to God's faithfulness in what He has done and spoken to them.

The second statement does something similar.  It turns a person, not to God and His Word, but to the strength of their faith.  And think about that for a moment.  This is a person who has admited that they are terrified or struggling because they have broken God's Law or are struggling with something that puts them outside of God's design.  Turning them to their own faith is hardly going to help such a situation.  Whose faithfulness is more reliable, ours or God's?  So why would we turn them to their own unreliable faith life?  Why not turn them to the God who says that He is faithful always?

God wants us to know that there are places where we can know for sure that He has promised to be present and active.  Those places are His Word and His Sacraments.  This is why Lutherans in particular are so particular on the Word of God, baptism, and the Lord's Supper.  In these places we are told for use, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God is doing His work and bringing His grace to us.  Sure, there are times when He may choose to work through other means, but we have these with His sure promise.  Why would we direct someone to some other place, then?  Why not direct them to those places where God promises to work and to be present, bringing His grace? 

The Wrong Medicine Kills

"In the fourth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Law is preached to those who are already in terror on account of their sins, or the Gospel to those who live securely in their sins."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 8.

Jesus tells lots of stories.  One of His stories includes two people.  One is a person who is a leader in the religious establishment, who thanks God that he is not like other people, murderers, swindlers, etc, or even the poor tax collector that he also sees in the place of worship.  It seems pretty clear that this man's heart looks at his life and doesn't really see much wrong.  He doesn't see himself as a sinful person who needs God's redeeming, but instead, as someone who is do all right for himself.

The other person in the story is a despised tax collector.  While we know practically no details of this man, it's likely that he knew that he had cheated others for his income, and that he had supported the work of the foreign government who held power of his people.  He couldn't even look up to God, but instead, simply asked God's forgiveness for a poor, miserable sinner like himself.

Quite the contrast with these two.  And quite the challenge for administering the law and the gospel.  It's likely that we would look at the religious leader and not see much in his life for which he would need the law. He would seem a prime candidate to whom to focus a Gospel message.  Yet, as Jesus sees it, that's the wrong thing this man needs.  He needs the reminder that he has wandered far from God, and that any sin, no matter how big or small, separates him from God.  The Gospel has little meaning, as he doesn't see himself as a really sinful person in need of God's redeeming.

We might make the opposite mistake with the tax collector.  Here, we see a man who is knowingly doing things that God has said is wrong.  Our inclination is likely to point out how he is breaking God's law, and calling for him to repent and mend his ways.  Yet, as Jesus sees it, this man's heart has already been crushed by the law.  He instead needs the reminder that he is valued by God, and that God would seek to redeem him.

It's very rare that an outward look at someone's life will show you if they need the Law or the Gospel declared to them.  In fact, I would even go so far as to say that we all have parts of our lives where we need a Law message, and other parts where we need a comforting Gospel message.  In many ways, it's very interesting that God seems most harsh on His people, but when we think about it, it makes sense.  They should know their sin, and they should know what their sin calls for.  They should be the most humble, appreciative people in the world.  And yet, we tend to see that our hearts far too often are like those of the religious leader.

At the same time, we see the many around us who are blatantly living in violation of God's Law, and we want to see a stern Law message delivered to them.  Yet, how often could that stubbornness that we see in them really be hiding the fact that they are broken down, beaten up people who are desperately looking for some reason to have hope.  They may need a Gospel message more than many others.

What it boils down to is relationships.  The better we know a person, the more we know if they need a Law message or a Gospel message.  If we give the wrong one, we either cause a self-righteous person to think even more highly of themselves, or we beat down someone with God's law when they are already beaten down.  The wrong medicine isn't just problematic, it kills.

Who, or What, is on First?

"In the third place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is preached first and then the Law; sanctification first and then justification; faith first and then repentance; good works first and then grace."  Thesis 7, C. F. W. Walther

Okay, this one seems pretty straight foward, doesn't it?  But perhaps the clarity of this thesis is not as apparent as it may first seem.  When you look at it, it looks like a basic formula for the preacher to follow, right?  Start off with the law and hit them between the eyes, then bring in the good news and bring healing to them. 

Yet, I would dare say that, while the preaching task is something to which this thesis speaks, it speaks much more to the application of the Law and the Gospel into the lives of God's people.  Let me explain this a bit.  If a person thinks that he is a really great guy, and that there is nothing wrong with him, sharing the good news of the Gospel isn't really going to hit home with him, more than likely.  In his eyes, he has nothing wrong, for which God would need to pay a price.  The Gospel has no meaning when he thinks he has done nothing wrong. 

That's when the law has to come first. The law has to first show this man that, despite what he thinks, he is not perfect as God calls him to be.  He has to see that his sin, as small as it may be, still eternally separates him from God.  He needs to see that any imperfection creates a rift between him and God, one that he cannot cross himself.  Only then will the good news of the Gospel bring any kind of meaning to him.

This dynamic presents itself in the rest of the thesis.  You don't start with sanctification and then move to justification. because such a move would sound something like this: here is what you have to do to get your life together, and now that you have your life together, you are acceptable to God.  It places the emphasis back on the work of the person, not of Jesus.  The order of it makes it as though we have to become pleasing to God before He will accept us, rather than that God receives us and then makes us into something pleasing in His sight. 

That's why this thesis is about much more than preaching.  Yet, it also shows us how often we Christians mess up God's Law and Gospel.  How often have we been guilty of telling someone to get their lives straightened out first, and then they can become part of the people of God?  It's like telling the liar, stop lying, and then God will accept you, or telling the homosexual, stop being homosexual, and then God will accept you.  The change follows the time when the Gospel message hits home, which happens after we realize our need for God's good news in the first place.

How Extreme is God?

"In the second place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Law is not preached in its full sternness and the Gospel not in its full sweetness, when, on the contrary, Gospel elements are mingled with the Law and Law elements with the Gospel."  Thesis 6, C. F. W. Walter.

There are times, when we read God's Word, that we are sort of uncomfortable with just how stern God can be.  Whether it be a careless word spoken, a lustful thought, an intention to hurt or harm our neighbor, or even harboring anger against another, God says that the price to pay for each of them is condemnation.  That sternness is something that we have a tough time with.  After all, a little white lie calling for the same result as murder just doesn't seem right.  And yet, that is the price to pay when it comes to breaking God's Law.

By that same token, the word of forgiveness in the Gospel is also one that we sometimes have a tough time with.  God relentlessly pursues the worst of sinners and those whose lives aren't all that sinful.  God wants to pour out His grace on all, and so He says that even the most hardened murderer, the most perverse adulterer, and the biggest thief can all be redeemed simply be believing that Jesus died to restore them to God.  We want to add things to that, to require something of them to "prove" that they are sorry for what they have done.  But God's gracious attitude toward them is something that, at times, also makes us uncomfortable.

God is more extreme than we tend to think, I would say.  He is unbending in what His Law calls for.  Even a single thought contrary to what He desires and designs is worthy of condemnation.  Yet, God is also far more gracious than we could ever imagine.  Simply calling upon His name and asking for forgiveness is enough for God to open the doors to eternity and welcome them home.  God is stern in the extreme when it comes to keeping His Law, and He is inviting in the extreme when it comes to His eternal kingdom.

That's the point here in this thesis.  We can never be as strict as God in His Law, and we can never be as gracious as God in His Gospel.  So, as we seek to communicate both the Law and the Gospel in our proclamation of God and of Jesus, we want to strive to make sure that the Law is heard in its utter strictness, and that the Gospel is heard in its utter sweetness. 

How Do We Mess This Up, Part 1

The first manner of confounding Law and Gospel is one most easily recognized--and the grossest.  It is adopted, for instance, by the Papists, Socinians, and Rationalists and consists in this, that Christ is represented as a new Moses, or Lawgiver, and the Gospel turned into a doctrine of meritorious works, while at the same time those who teach that the Gospel is the message of the free grace of God in Christ are condemned and anathematized, as is done by the papists.  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 5

At this point in our ongoing discussion of these theses, we get to the point where Walther begins to point out the many varied ways that we humans tend to misuse God's Law and Gospel in our application of it.  Now, in this first point of that here, you probably see some names in that thesis and may wonder, who are those people, and what did they do?

The essence of the thesis is this: If you turn what God has done in Jesus into anything other than a message of good news, you have distorted God's law and the gospel.  Jesus came into the world to rescue sinful human beings and to restore them to the Father.  His perfect life was lived so that His perfection could cover us.  He died with our sin to take away our sin.  He rose to new life so that we would have the assurance of new life.  In other words, all that Jesus did was to make us right with God.  To take what He did and to make it somehow into something that we still have to do is just plain turning the good news into another kind of work.

There are many different ways that we can confuse this teaching.  When we say that someone has to "get right with God" before they are part of God's people, we are confusing the law and the gospel.  The gospel message is that Jesus, and Jesus alone, makes them right with God.  A change in their actions or behavior does not get them right with God.  Yes, we hope and pray that, as a redeemed child of God, that repentance would take hold in their heart and bring about change, but that isn't a requirement.  All that is required is to believe that Jesus has redeemed you and made you God's own child.  So if we say that someone has to give up a sinful behavior before being one of God's children, no matter how small or large, we turn the good news into a law, and in doing so, take away from what Jesus has done for us.

The other thing that Walther points out here is that, when someone then says that the true proclamation of the good news isn't what makes us right with God, this is also messing up the teaching of the law and the gospel.  So, for example, if someone were to look at the previous paragraph and say that this is wrong, that the person has to change before they can be a Christian, and that I am wrong in what I wrote, they are also confusing the law and the gospel.  The gospel is simply good news.  The law points out where we fall short, and the gospel tells us what God has done for us.  It really is that simple.  But we humans have this unfortunate tendency to take simple things and make them complicated.  That's why we need to revisit things like this from time to time.

Making it Make Sense

"The true knowledge of the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is not only a glorious light, affording the correct understanding of the entire Holy Scriptures, but without this knowledge Scripture is and remains a sealed book."  C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 4 in "Law and Gospel"

I remember it very vividly.  The young man was leading the student Bible study, and he was looking at one of the stories where Jesus warns against money.  He started off talking about how money was a bad thing, and that God's people should be poor and not have money, as money would inevitably lead people away from God.  I remember the challenge of not embarrasing the young man for a wrongful understanding of what Jesus was really saying, while at the same time wanting to show that there were other things at work with what Jesus was getting at there.

On another occasion, I remember talking with another young man about what Jesus and His crucifixion meant.  This young man was driven by guilt to try to do right in everything that he did.  After all, he reasoned, Jesus paid such a high price for me, and that now meant, in his mind, that he had to do everything right, not so much to repay Jesus, but out of fear that his failure to live right would mean he would be cast away from God.  In other words, the sacrifice of Jesus actually inspired guilt in him, instead of the comfort of knowing that God had paid his price for him in Jesus.

It seems that our human nature, when we engage God's Word, so often is to misunderstand it.  We read something that is intended to be good news, and we take it as a club to bludgeon ourselves or others with it.  Or, we read something that is a strict reminder of just how righteous and holy God is, and when we look at ourselves, we think we aren't doing too badly, and so it really doesn't seem to apply to us.  (For example, how many of us really, really think that we are the chief of sinners, as Paul would write?  We see so many other examples that seem worse than us, and so a word of law actually comforts us, which is the very point of this thesis.)

This is why the previous thesis, the one about rightly applying the Law and the Gospel, is so vital, and why this thesis draws directly from it.  If you make the Law into a comfort, the intent behind it is sealed from you.  If you take the good news and make it something you or others have to do as a requirement, the intent of the good news is sealed from you.  Now, I will say, not a single one of us will nail this every time, which is again why we cling to firmly to God's forgiveness in Jesus.  Yet, as we grow in God's Word, hopefully we start to realize that correctly applying the Law and the Gospel is a much tougher task than what we may have thought, and we see how it is the key to understanding so much of what God has said.

As a final point on this, this is where the role of the Church overall comes in.  On our own, we will quite often misunderstand what God is saying.  But when God's people come together and talk through what God says, God's Spirit quite often guides us to a deeper, and perhaps even better, underestanding of what God is trying to communicate.  My misunderstanding may be corrected as I hear how someone else reads the same passsage, and my knowledge and understanding may help someone else who is misunderstanding.  This in particular is why gathering in study and in worship is so vital for God's people, for there, the iron sharpens iron, one of God's people sharpening another.

WARNING! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

"Rightly distinguishing the Law and the Gospel is the most difficult and the highest art of Christians in general and of theologians in particular.  It is taught only by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience."  C. F. W. Walther's Thesis 3

In some respects, figuring out the difference between God's laws and God's good news would not seem to be all that difficult.  When it comes to simply reading what God says in His Word, and then figuring out if the statement is a statement of Law or Gospel, one may not find it too difficult to decide.  When one reads, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," very few of us would shout out, "That's Good News!"

The lecturer C. F. W. Walther would even go so far as to say, in his lectures on this thesis, that the doctrine of the Law and the Gospel is rather easy to learn, so easy that even children can learn it.  It is when it comes to the application and the use of these teachings that they become rather difficult to distinguish.  Perhaps an example best helps to illustrate this.

A young lady within the congregation becomes pregnant.  She, and her family, have been very faithful in learning God's Word and in attending worship and living out their faith.  But now, she and her boyfriend have tried out a few things, and she now discovers that she is pregnant.  What is the proper response of the pastor or the Christian to whom she makes this confession?

Hopefully, right now, you are saying that you don't have enough information to really know what would be proper to say.  That means that you can already see that, to properly know when to speak law or Gospel, one needs to know more about the situation than its simple presentation.  You have to know the person.  You have to know their background.  You have to know what led to the situation. 

Looking at our example, we could see the application of the law or the gospel in a few different ways.  If we knew this girl, and we knew she was starting to rebel against her upbringing and her faith, and we knew that she was intentionally doing things to irritate her parents, we might take one approach, likely that of the law.  However, let's say that she has been a very faithful girl to faith and family, who just happened to be out with her boyfriend one night, and hadn't thought through her "warning signs", who made a mistake, who feels very sorrowful about it, and knows that it is going to impact the rest of her life.  Wouldn't that call for a bit of a different approach?  Perhaps one that still reminds her of God's law, but one that shares good news and forgiveness with her, while at the same time offering support for the difficult journey ahead. 

That is why Walther can say that the application of Law and Gospel is one that is truly learned from the Holy Spirit in the realm of experience.  Rightly knowing if we need to apply law or gospel means we have to know the person.  It means we have to know the situation.  The trouble is, quite often, we humans seek to hide those things that paint us in a negative light, which often means that we are applying law or gospel to a situation without knowing the half of the situation. 

In the end, we realize that only God alone can truly rightly apply Law and Gospel to our lives.  We still are called to speak that word to each other, and to be wise in speaking it.  But we are also called to remember that we will fail in the proper application more often than we get it right, and because of that, we are to cling to the forgiveness of God in Jesus all the more.

Applying the Correct Medicine

"Only he is an orthodox teacher who not only presents all the articles of faith in accordance with Scripture, but also rightly distinguishes from each other the Law and the Gospel."  C. F. W. Walther's Thesis 2.

When you get sick, one of the more important things that a doctor can do is give you the proper medication for what ails you.  If he/she were to give you a treatment plan that didn't match what the problem was, the situation could actually be made worse.  Imagine being told that you were going to need surgery for a cold, or being told that your broken bone would be fine if you took cough syrup.  It would make no sense, and could actually end up doing far more damage.

As we look at this thesis, there are a couple of things at work here.  The first one corresponds with the first phrase, that an orthodox teacher presents all the articles of faith in accordance with the Scriptures.  This is an important point to make.  God speaks many things in His Word.  While different parts of what God says apply to our lives at different times, we still need to hear everything that God teaches us.  From how we have been made, to what God has done for us in redeeming us, to what our interactions are to look like with each other, and the importance of reaching out to those who don't know the good news, God teaches us a lot of different things.  A true teacher of God's Word will make sure to teach on all of these, not leaving any of them out.

However, as yesterday's blog discussed, the whole realm of Scripture finds two major teachings at work, that of God's Law and that of God's Gospel.  This same teacher of God's Word not only strives to teach everything that God teaches in His Word, but strives to do so by rightly figuring out if something is God's command to us, or if it is God's good news to be proclaimed to us.  If he were to speak, say, of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and instead of making it good news, were to make it come across as though you now had to live up to that sacrifice in order to be pleasing to God, he would be failing to distinguish the good news from God's commands. 

We will touch on these things much more in this series.  These various theses will hone us in on how exactly we do this, why it is important, and what all is at stake as we apply the Law/Gospel dynamic to God's Word.  So keep reading and commenting as we think through these matters.

Your Bible is Full of This

"The doctrinal contents of the entire Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and the New Testament, are made up of two doctrines differing fundamentally from each other, viz., the Law and the Gospel."  Thesis 1 of C. F. W. Walther's, Law and Gospel.

Sometimes God seems mean, angry, and vindictive.  Yet, at other times, God seems deeply caring, compassionate, and merciful.  Why is this?  Well, to some degree, that is explained by the thesis I listed above.  God created the world and human beings to live and operate in specific ways.  That design was broken very early on, and that brokenness now fills everything in creation.  God's Law was broken, and that means that all people now live outside of God's will and design.  In other words, even at our best, we are still lawbreakers, and God takes His law so seriously that such a state puts us under His fury and wrath.

On the other hand, we see that God truly cares deeply for His creation, and especially for us human beings, created in His image as we are.  He wants us to be right with Him.  He wants us to know how deep is His care and devotion for us, that He would even surrender up His own Son to rescue us from the pit of our own devising.  He searches far and wide, calling out to us, restoring us, and giving us hope of renewal.  In other words, even at our worst, God still wants to rescue us and redeem us, no matter how far we may have fallen.

We see God's law at work in many ways throughout the Bible.  God tells us what our lives are to look like as His people.  He tells us what He expects, what He looks for, and what is pleasing in His sight.  He tells us how He created things to operate, and how our relationships with each other are to look.  All of these fall under His Law.

We also see God's great care at work throughout the Bible.  He looks for the lost sheep.  He cares for the poor and the sojourner.  For those who have wandered, He cries out, calling them to return.  It doesn't matter how far away they are, or how slight their missteps are, He wants them to hear Him and return to Him.  He even goes so far as to take the necessary action to make sure they can return to Him for good. 

When you read through your Bible, you will see elements of one or the other of these on pretty much every single page, whether it is history, teaching, songs, or laments.  These two teachings, the law and the gospel, fill the pages of the Bible.  Now, what that means for us is something we will continue to ponder in future posts.

A very Lutheran Thing: The Law and the Gospel

My apologies to those of you who have missed my postings on here.  While I could offer up the excuse of much going on, that is all it would be: an excuse.  However, I want to pick this back up, and over the coming days and weeks, I will be doing a series of posts on something that is often seen as very Lutheran: the distinction of God's Law and the good news of God's Gospel.

Before I begin, though, I should probably start off with an explanation of what these two things really are.  Defining terms is a vitally important thing, especially as our language tends to rub the rough edges off of the meanings of words.  When we say a word, there is a reason that there are different words that say roughly the same thing.  In our day and age, much of those distinctions seem to be lost from time to time.

So, to start off, what is God's Law?  Well, there are various ways of answering that question, and I won't pretend to be the final authority on it.  Some would see it as everything that God says in such places as the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses.  Often in the Scriptures, that is what is spoken of when God's Law is mentioned.  However, looking through those five books, we see different types of law.  Some are moral, some are ceremonial, and some deal with the life of God's people, the Israelites, in how they were to interact as a society.  Three different applications, yet one word, law, used to represent them all.

For my purposes here, we will be using the word Law to mean the way that God designed His people to live, and thus, find that represented best in the moral law, which God spoke and expanded upon in the Ten Commandments.  So, while God may mention in the Old Testament that the eating of shellfish and pigs are not according to His law, those are more for His people of that time.  They are not moral law.  What we see in the commandments, and the different ways that God expands upon that, are what the focus of the word "law" is, as I will be using it.

Likewise, the Gospel, in its truest translation, is the good news.  It is the announcement of God's gracious interactions toward His people, especially in Jesus' work of His perfect life, His sacrificial and substitutionary death, and His victorious rising to new life, and now giving that new life to us through the announcement of His good news to the people of the world.  Like the word law, you can find other elements than this at work in the whole of the Bible, but for our purposes, this paragraph explains how I will be using the word.

There you have it.  The Law and the Gospel.  Last point for today.  The things I will be writing about over the next few weeks will be drawn from a book entitled "Law and Gospel", taken from lectures given by the first president of my particular church body well over a century and half ago, a man by the name of C. F. W. Walther.  I will take time to examine the various theses that he lectured on, hoping that these strike you in profound ways as we consider God's good news to us in Jesus.

The Maturity of the Christian, Part Three

So far in this series, I have been emphasizing the need for continued learning as part of the overall growth and maturation of the Christian.  In the last post, I also emphasized that even the most immature Christian is still in Christ, and thus, is in a state of salvation.  Further growth in maturity is not completely necessary (in terms of salvation and being a child of God) but is something that we do see as highly desirable.

Today, though, I want to move into a different arena of learning.  I would say that it still involves learning, but it is a different type of learning than that of mere knowledge.  This learning is the learning by experience.  In some respects, this is seen as the best kind of learning (a direction that I tend to lean in).  We humans really do seem to learn best when we try something.  As an example, you can read a book about how to ride a bicycle.  You can understand the dynamics of it all, the importance of balance, the need for pushing the petals forward, the use of the brakes, and all the other related parts.  However, we best learn how to ride a bike by getting up on it and trying it out.

There are challenges with this kind of learning.  Perhaps the largest one is that, when we actually try something the first time, we (more often than not) fail at it.  We get on the bike, start pushing the petals forward, and since we haven't mastered the balance and the coordination that goes with it, we end up falling over.  Hopefully we aren't too injured (body or pride), and we take what we have learned for the next time we get up there on the seat again.

Now, I am going to admit that there are two different ways that this applies to Christian maturation, and it doesn't really fit one very well.  This falls in the area of belief.  Believing something is not a thing that you can simply practice.  I can't practice believing that grass is green, or that the sky is blue.  Neither can I practice believing that God cares for me, that Jesus died on the cross for me, and that His sacrifice makes me right with God.  In some ways, I either believe that (through the gift of God) or I don't.  No amount of practice, or even learning, will further mature me in that.

However, there are ways that I can mature in the practice of my faith by actually practicing the things of the faith.  I can practice forgiving another, and then reminding myself often that I should not hold their past action against them when I interact with them.  I can practice giving of myself sacrificially for the good of another, and seeing how God works through that to bear fruit.  I can practice loving my spouse and placing her needs above my own, and thus, growing in that God-created and God-given relationship.  In areas like this, I can practice and (hopefully) see maturation and growth.

It isn't always easy, though.  I may not succeed the first time I try something.  I may try something that I consider loving toward my spouse, and it just may not resonate with her.  I may try to tell another about what I believe about God, and why I believe in what Jesus did for me, and I may come across as a bumbling idiot who can't speak well.  However, I learn from such experiences.  Failure in this regard is both forgiven by God and is a learning tool for further maturation.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.  Maturation, though, often comes through practice, and quite often, through failure.

The Maturity of the Christian, Part 2

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I have a great interest in the formation of faith within God's people.  This naturally leads me to be interested in the field of education, where we learn.  While education is only one part of faith formation, and thus of maturity, it is an important part.  Not to mention that it seems that God created me with a teaching instinct.  I find it more natural to teach than many other things, something that likely comes across in many different ways in my life.

Maturity finds its root in learning.  As a child begins to learn words, he or she learns that those words are not merely sounds that daddy and mommy and others make, but they carry meaning with them.  They learn that the word mommy means this person who cares for me, and that daddy is another person who cares for me, but who is different from mommy.  The child matures not only in learning the words, but inn learning that there is meaning in the words, and then, in applying the words.  If the words are misapplied (calling mommy "daddy", for example), then further maturity is still needed.

This means that teaching is the first step of maturity.  We must learn what something is, and we must learn the meaning of that something, whatever it may be.  A further step is to learn the purpose of that something (here is where the "why" question comes in, one that children are so fond of), and the application of that something in one's life.  This reflects a deepening maturity as the different stages are reached.

So part of maturity in the Christian is to learn about our God.  This is where the role of hearing the Word regularly enters in, in reading the Word, in studying the Word.  We keep learning what the something at the center of our faith is, that is, we keep learning about our God.  We learn that He is such things as Creator, that He has characteristics as merciful, loving, compassionate, and the like.  We learn that He has an intent with His creation, and that He saw something go horribly wrong with His creation.  We learn that He has the solution to the problems of His creation, and that He intends for something to happen for the good of His creation.

In that way, we start to learn the facts about our God.  We learn the words that describe God.  We learn the stories which show examples of His characteristics (and no, not all of them are pleasant for us to learn and to reflect upon).  We learn that He has something in mind for us.  In this way, as from the example above, we learn that He is "daddy", a person who cares for me, and who is different from others.  We learn the words about Him, and we learn of the relationship He has established with us.

Yet, that is in no way a full maturity.  Sure, such learning may grow our maturity in other areas.  We may grow in learning how to set aside time for the study and hearing of the Word, and while that is important, there are also many other areas of maturity beyond that.  In a way, the teaching of God's Word, the study and hearing of God's Word, bring us to that same place where the child is very early on.  We know this One is "daddy", and we know He is different from others, but there is so much more depth to that, depth which calls for a greater maturity.

I want to end this on a very positive note, though.  The great thing about God is that even if our level of maturity is only at the point of recognizing Him as "daddy", and we know what He has done for us in Jesus, He still works His great gift of salvation and grace to us.  From that standpoint, a deeper maturity isn't required.  In fact, I would dare say that a vast majority of Christians over the ages have reached that point of maturity, and praise be to God, that proves sufficient for the receiving of eternal life in Jesus.  Knowing He is our "daddy", and that He has grown that relationship in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, includes us in the promise of everlasting life.  Thanks be to God for that!

The Maturity of the Christian, Part 1

Yes, you noticed a part 1 in the heading of this post, as I intend that it will cover several posts.  So keep tuned in, just in case I don't think through something today that you may be thinking.  It's likely that it will come up in a future post on this topic.

The topic of Christian maturity is one that I pay great attention to.  In fact, it often dominates my reading, as some of the recent titles of books that I have read include "Intergenerational Christian Formation", "Reframing Spiritual Formation", and "Intergenerational Religious Education."  Each of these deal with the growth of the Christian in their faith, the lives, and their faith lives in particular.

As one who is tasked to proclaim Christ Jesus and see faith in Him growing within those who hear, I have a great deal of interest in such growth.  Another way that the Scriptures paint it is of a growing maturity.  In other words, it isn't merely head knowledge.  We can "know" lots of things about the Bible, about God, and about Jesus, but knowledge alone doesn't ensure maturity.  We have all known people that could win practically any trivia contest, but are woefully inadequate in dealing with the circumstances life throws our way.  And yet, the primary models of faith formation we have focus primarily on knowledge acquisition.  

So part of what we are going to have to figure out is what maturity actually looks like.  Yes, there is going to be an important component of knowledge in that.  You have to know in order to grow into something.  It also includes a willingness to actually do and practice the things you learn.  For example, we can know that Jesus forgives us through the cross, and yet, we can be very immature when it comes to forgiving others in our lives.  A willingness to forgive indicates a deeper maturity.  And then, as we see Jesus forgiving even those who ultimately reject His gift of forgiveness, we see an even deeper maturity when we practice forgiveness toward those who will reject our gift, and will, in fact, continue to live defiantly contrary to what we might hope and expect.

Maturity also includes a willingness to sacrifice.  Again, an example may help best illustrate this.  We can know that our God says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Paul even goes so far as to say that we should consider others as better than ourselves, and seek to serve their needs ahead of our own.  Jesus Himself would say that He didn't come to be served, but to serve.  We may intellectually agree with this, but growing in maturity means that we start to look to the good of others, even if it involves sacrifice for ourselves.  And then, even greater maturity means that we look to the good of others, even if they do not look favorably upon us, and in fact, actually work against what we believe and stand for.  Jesus Himself would say that it really isn't all that much if we only sacrifice for those who we get along with.  Even the sinners and tax collectors do that.  To have a willingness to sacrifice, even for those who may hold such sacrifice against us, is a sign of a greater maturity.

One other thing, and then I will wrap up for today.  Maturity is not a straight-forward process.  There are steps forward, and there are moments where we backslide.  In that same way, just because we get older doesn't mean we get more mature.  I have known very mature young people, and I have known immature older people, when it comes to faith matters.  In addition, we may be very mature in some areas, and woefully immature in other areas. 

Paul would write that he could not give his readers solid food, but instead focused on giving them milk, because they weren't ready for the solid food of some deeper teachings and practices.  Over the next few posts, we will further examine what that might mean, and eventually, start looking at what growth in maturity may look like for us as Christians.

Where is your focus?

Over the past few months, I have seen a thought crop up from time to time in the various social media resources that I use.  It says something along these lines.  If you are leaving a church because you have been hurt by the people there, you have been putting your focus on the wrong thing.  Now, I will say that I agree with the overall idea of such a statement, though I also think such a statement does not fully grasp what it means to be drawn to Jesus through the message of Good News.

So let's tackle the first part first.  If you leave because you have been hurt by the people, you have been focusing on the wrong thing.  There is a way in which this is true.  We gather as God's people because of what God has done for us in Jesus, the Christ.  We are gathered as fallen, sinful people, whom God has redeemed through sending His one and only Son, who gathers people to Himself through His death and resurrection.  Our hope is not found in being a part of the Church, but instead, in being washed, redeemed, cleansed, etc., by Jesus.  We don't become part of the Church for the Church's sake, per se.  We become part of the Church because we are rescued from sin, death, and the devil by Jesus.

That means that, when we gather with the Church, we are gathered with people who are just the same as us.  Sure, their sins and temptations and weaknesses and flaws may be somewhat different in presentation and scope from ours, but really, we are all the same.  We all stand condemned because of our sin, and we all stand with the eager expectation of forgiveness and life because of Jesus.  Not a one of us should look upon another with pride, as though we are doing better in our walk with Jesus than another. 

Our reality in the Church is that, as gathered sinners, we WILL hurt each other.  We are not suddenly immune to sinning against our fellow members of the Church.  Our human sinfulness and weakness will inevitably reveal itself in those relationships.  Now, our hope is that we handle those occasions with humility, confessing our sin, asking for and granting forgiveness readily.  Yet, we will not always do so.  But our hope is not in how "right" we are with other people.  Our hope is found in how God has made us right through Jesus.

So yes, we can fix our focus on the wrong thing, on people instead of the Savior.  And even though we should remember that we are gathered because of Jesus, we also remember that we are gathered together with other sinful people in the Church.  We cannot escape that reality.  Jesus calls us to Himself within the Body of Christ, which means that we are in connection with others.  We have brothers and sisters in Jesus, and the expectation is that we will live our lives in fellowship and connection with them.

That means that we cannot simply dismiss our relationships with others, as though it is just "Jesus and me."  Our reality is that Jesus redeems us, and as redeemed people, we live out that redemption with other redeemed people.  Now, part of being redeemed means that we strive to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We put the needs of others as more important than our own.  We practice humility, as though others were of greater concern than us.

That means we remember, when we hurt another through our sinfulness, that we are called to reconcile with each other.  We don't pretend nothing happened.  We don't let anger fester and build.  Instead, as Jesus says, we leave our gift at the altar, and first go and be reconciled to our brother or sister.  Jesus Himself suggests that our act of reconciliation is more important than our act of worship.  And so, when we realize that we have hurt another, or that another has hurt us, that reconciliation with that person takes precedent, even over our worship of God.

While the "ideal" church (notice the small "c" this time) does not exist in this world, we are gathered into God's Church to practice the same reconciliation that has been given to us in Jesus.  If we leave the church (small "c" again), perhaps it is that we have lost focus on what is of most importance.  It's on God's redemption in Jesus, and in living as reonciled people together.

The Disease, or the Symptoms?

"Preach on.  Speak to issues of fundamental importance--like world view.  Younger Christians more acutely feel the tension between the confession of Scripture and the mindset of the twenty-first century.  Preaching on the underlying causes for this tension [e.g., world view] rather than railing against the symptoms [homosexuality, gender issues, cohabitation, etc.] would, I think, ring true and be very appealing for those who think the Church is there simply to say 'no' all the time."  Quotation from an article I recently read from Concordia Technology Solutions.

It comes up in discussion when I visit with people.  I hear it on Sundays following worship.  Recently, when I requested input for stories from the Bible that people wanted to hear more about, I not only received the stories, but specific things that people were looking for from the stories.  I've had discussions about the importance of preaching on 'the issues of the day', with a good number of people having an honest question and desire to hear what God has to say about many of the things we face in our daily lives. 

Now, I could make far more out of this than I should.  However, the quotation above from a "Millenial" shows us something of vital importance when it comes to the Christian faith and our proclamation of it.  In essence, what this young person points out is that our Christian focus truly impacts our lives when we focus on the "underying cause" rather than the "symptoms."

Okay, so what does that mean?  Let me use an example.  A little over a year ago, our nation was rocked when the Supreme Court "legalized" marriage between people of like gender.  Like many, I heard a fervent plea to preach on what the Scripture says about marriage.  A good request, to be sure.  However, given the context, such a reaction is addressing the symptom rather than the underlying cause.  The symptom (homosexual marriage and all its accompanying issues) took on a priority over the underlying cause (a world fallen in sin and in need of redemption) in the eyes and minds of many.

Preaching on the symptom rarely drives us to the cure.  Usually, what happens instead is that those who do not condone or practice the symptom feel better about their lack of sin in that area, and they develop a tendency to look down on those who either practice it or condone it.  In other words, preaching on the symptom can often lead us to be more secure in our own righteousness and seeing others as less "deserving" of God's grace in Christ Jesus.

Preaching to the disease, though, gets to the heart of the problem of the entire human race.  Once we realize that the issue isn't the symptom, but rather, the underlying cause, now we find ourselves standing at the same place with those who condone or practice the sin.  We stand at the foot of the cross with them, as people who do not perfectly reflect God's desire for our lives, and who would be at His judgment if not for the mercy God shows in Jesus and His carrying our sin in His own body on the cross.  Rather than looking down on them, we are then more likely to stand with them, looking up to the One who redeems them and us, and wanting them to receive the same gifts that we have received. 

I find it utterly fascinating that so many young people in our day and age are looking much more fervently at the heart of what our problem as humans is, and are not content to merely look at the symptoms.  When we look at that underlying cause and disease, that great gift of God in Jesus becomes so much more precious to us, and something of far greater value for us to share.

Zechariah 3:1-10, Part 3

Continuing our walk through Zechariah 3, in this post we focus on how the things we read in this chapter continue to have an impact on us.

First, when we look at this story, we see something interesting.  Joshua, the high priest, stands accused by Satan.  He is also found wearing filthy garments.  Some significance of this for us is the reminder that those who serve our Lord by bringing the word to us are sinful human beings (the pastor and others who share that word with us), and that Satan is constantly accusing them and pushing his attacks on them repeatedly.  Truthfully, there is no greater victory for Satan than when he is able to bring about the downfall of a minister of God's grace.  It has great impact on those who are part of that church, and can cause people to doubt their faith in the forgiveness announced through such a person.

One way that impacts us is in our realization that Satan is out to get the one who brings that message of Good News to us.  He is sinful, and Satan will remind him of that quite often.  That means that we are called to be supportive of our minister as a sinful human being who is under attack.  He needs help and support for the work that he does.  He faces attacks from Satan, which means that any attacks against him from within the congregation are actually serving to add fuel to Satan's accusations.  The minister needs prayer, needs tangible support, and needs encouragement, for he faces far more challenges than simply in keeping God's people happy (which, by the way, is NOT what he is called to do, contrary to how many may think.).

When you look at the way chapter 3 ends, you see this interesting little statement.  Every one of you will invite your neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.  One thing God continues to look for in response to His message of Good News is a gracious invitation toward others to come to hear that same Good News.  There is an element of hospitality at work here, both on a personal level (you being hospitable in your life) as well on a congregational level (being hospitable to those who visit, or even seeking to invite others to come hear the Good News).  In essence, as God establishes the message of Good News among His people, He seeks for them to be open hospitable to others, inviting them to share in the same gifts and blessings that they have received themselves.

That urges us to look at the ways that we can be hospitable in our lives.  It's more than just opening up your house to others.  Think of it more as being an open, inviting person in all areas of your life.  Yes, ultimately we hope to invite them to hear and receive the Good News, but even if that doesn't happen, we are still called to be hospitable toward them.  Our hospitality is not to be an evangelistic tool, but to be genuine, even if they don't hear the Good News.  Our hope and prayer is that they become open to that message, but if not, we don't "drop" them as a friend because they are not responding the way we hoped.  Our call to be hospitable isn't to be excercised only if they come to hear the Good News.  It is instead a call to a way of life, through which God's Spirit may choose to work as He wills and as He sees fit.

Zechariah 3:1-10, Part 1

In my absence from worship on July 31, I am posting a few blog entries to cover the Old Testament story/selection from the day.  In this post, we will look at the story being told in Zechariah 3, placing it in the timeline, and pointing out relevant notes from it.  In the next post, we will look to see pictures of Jesus present in this reading, and then, in the third post, we will talk a bit about what this says to us in our daily lives now.

To begin today, let's place Zechariah and his words in the timeline of the Old Testament.  On the large scale, Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land approximately 1,500 B.C.  Kings Saul, David, nad Solomon led Israel approximately 1,000 B. C., following which the kingdom split in two, Israel to the north, and Judah to the south.  Israel was defeated by the Assyrians approximately 740 B.C., leaving Judah behind.  Judah was then defeated by the Babylonians, and Jerusalem destroyed, right around 586 B.C.  Seventy years later, under the rule of the Persians, the Israelites began to be sent back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, approxmiately 520 B.C., under the leadership of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest.  In essence, God resurrected a nation that He had killed, in a great preview of the resurrection of Jesus.

It is in the time period of rebuilding Jerusalem when Zechariah comes to speak to God's people.  We are told in Ezra's book (Ezra 5:1) that Zechariah along with his fellow prophet Haggai were on hand to exhort the people in the rebuilding of the temple.  Through God's working, Darius (the same one who saw Daniel saved from the lion's den) began sending the Israelites back and clearing the way for them to rebuild.  The people began the work well enough, but then began to focus on their own homes.  God sent His prophets to remind them that He is foremost among them, and that, while they should pay attention to their own homes, His home was also of vital importance to their well-being, as He had cleared the way for them to return to their "homeland."

As part of his message, Zechariah then paints this picture recorded in Zechariah 3.  Joshua is the high priest who returned along with Zerubbabel, and is likely the figure we see here.  You notice, reading through the text, that Satan is accusing Joshua.  Joshua is depicted wearing filthy garments, the garmens of sin.  Then, the messenger of God declares that Joshua's filthy clothing should be removed and clean garments with pure vestments be placed upon him.  In many respects, this is symbolic of God restoring the priesthood as the temple is being rebuilt, along with a reminder that it is God alone who cleanses His people, starting even from the one called to be His highest priest.

As you read through the end of chapter 3, you will notice that God, speaking through Zechariah, not only reminds His people that part of being His people includes them remaining faithful to Him, but He also starts to point ahead.  Here we have a reminder of something that God had spoken through Isaiah a couple of centuries earlier, that the Branch would spring up from the root of Jesse, a descendant of David, who would sit on the throne and rule forever.  In what Zechariah is saying here, God is reminding Joshua the priest that He is a sign of the One to come.  The Branch, the coming one, will not only rule from the throne of David, but will also serve as priest, like Joshua and his fellow priests.  The stone with the seven eyes is a rminder that this One will see all things, and that nothing is hidden from Him, whether the things of this earth or the matters of the heart and soul.  In this One, the iniquity of God's people would be removed in a single day (in other words, it would not be a lenghty thing, but something that happened rather quickly), and in that day, God's people would respond with an invitation to come into the bounty of the Lord.

Speaking through Zechariah, God reminds His people of a few important things.  First, God communicates that is is He who performs the cleansing of His servants, especially His priests.  It isn't that they are cleaner than others, but that God makes them clean.  God removes their sin-laden clothing and clothes them with His own righteousness (which we later see as Christ's righteousness).  Second, God reminds His people that His priests are merely a sign pointing toward the great Priest, the One who would come and remove the iniquity of the world in a single day.  That same Priest would see all things.  As a consequence of that, God's people would recognize the great action done for them, and would then extend hospitality to others to share the fruits of what has been given to them, living generous lives, just as they have been generously given.

In the next post, we will talk a little about how we see Jesus in this chapter (I'm sure you have already seen quite a few connections to Him!).

Zechariah 3:1-10 Part 2: Seeing Jesus

In part one on this series of posts on Zechariah 3, we looked at the history and time frame in which this vision was given to Zechariah.  In case you need refreshing, this vision is given at a time when the Israelites are being returned to the land promised to Abraham, and they are rebuilding the walls and the temple, as well as the city of Jerusalem. 

As Jesus Himself says, He is the One whom people who study Scripture seek to find, and He is the one who is the ultimate fulfillment of all Scripture.  So, when we read something like this, we ask ourselves, how do we see Jesus here?  And in this case, there are several distinct things that point us to Jesus.  First, and perhaps foremost, is the position of Joshua.  He is the high priest.  He is the one who speaks to God on behalf of the people, who intercedes for them, who makes sacrifice for them.  While Joshua himself served in that role, we also see that every person who has held such an office was also pointing to the One who truly fulfills the role, that of Jesus. 

It's also interesting to note that Jesus (in Hebrew, Yeshua) and Joshua are essentially the same name.  You could say that the difference in their names is like the difference between an adverb and a participle.  The name Jesus carries the meaning of one who saves.  The name Joshua carries the same meaning.  The one who fills the priestly role is one who saves God's people.  In the case of human high priests, they do so through offering sacrifice on behalf of the people.  In the case of Jesus, He does so through the sacrifice of His very own life. 

That points us to an important way in which we also see Jesus in this vision.  Joshua, the high priest, is given new clean robes in place of the filthy garments he was wearing.  Satan's accusations against him revolved around the fact that Joshua was a sinful human being.  But in being given new garments, he is being clothed in Christ Jesus, and in His righteousness. 

That event took place, as we hear in this chapter, in basically a single day.  Perhaps this carries the meaning that it will happen rather quickly, though the possibilty that it refers to a specific single day can also be applied.  That day would be the day in which the ultimate sacrifice was offered, by the one who is the Branch from the stump of Jesse.  In a single day, that which we call Good Friday, Jesus took the sin of the land and removed it.  He carried it in His very own flesh and blood into death, that its sting and guilt might die. 

Very few visions or pictures from the Old Testament paint as vivid a picture of Jesus as this one.  While it points to Jesus, it also carries deep meaning for us, as we will reflect on in this next post on this chapter.

The Definition of a Steward

"We give Thee but Thine own, whatever gift we bring.  All that we have is Thine alone; a trust, O Lord, from Thee."  Hymn verse

"This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful."  1 Corinthians 4:1-2.

There is a nasty word that pops up on occasion in Christian gatherings and congregations, usually in the fall, when it is time to start putting together a budget for the coming year.  Stewardship.  A nasty word that brings up images of fearful pastors talking about money, knowing that there are at least a few people sitting in the pews/chairs thinking that all the church wants is their money.  Stewardship has become so connected with money and with capital drives that it really is no wonder that many Christians fear the time when they hear that Stewardship Sunday is coming up, or when it is announced that the stewardship drive is about to begin.

Over the next few days, I want to work a little to help combat some of the fears that arise when we hear that word.  In essence, I actually want to make it even more frightening when we think about it, and yet, less daunting at the same time.  More frightening because we often fail to realize just how much of our lives good stewardship impacts.  Less daunting because it is much more a process that is ongoing in the life of a Christian rather than a fall drive for pledges and commitments.

So, from the very first, we are going to start with something simple.  What is the definition of a steward?  A steward is someone who is given responsibility for something that belongs to another.  The steward is entrusted with this to care for it, to be responsible for it, and, at the same time, to put it to use.  For example, in the verses I listed above, St. Paul is remarking how God's servants, the apostles, were granted stewardship of the mysteries of God's grace, and were entrusted to utilize them as God's Church would grow.

Now, as the hymn verse quoted above indicates, when we consider that we are God's stewards in our lives in this world, that means that we realize that God is the One to whom all things belong.  The whole creation belongs to Him.  The cattle on a thousand hills belong to the LORD (which, by the way, means all the hills of the world and not a literal thousand).  Our lives, our bodies, our souls, our homes, our families, our vehicles, the air we breathe.  All of it belongs to the Lord.  We are merely entrusted with it while we live in this world.

As I mentioned earlier, that shows us that being a steward for God is actually very daunting.  It means that, quite literally, everything belongs to God, and He simply entrusts it to us for a time.  As Paul also mentions above, God calls for us as stewards to prove faithful in such stewardship.  That goes from how you utilize your money to how you care for your body, how you are responsible for the food you eat and the clothes you wear, the house you inhabit, and the creation around you.  It's all encompassing. 

So that is what a steward is.  As we continue this discussion, we will see that we need someone to redeem us from our irresponsible stewardship, as well as seeing the possibilities that exist as God grows us in our stewardship of His creation.

A Question of Expectations

As many of you know, I happen to have a Facebook account, and so, on those occasions where I sign on, I get to see many of the memes that make their way across such social media accounts.  I can recall one recently which said something along the lines of this: If you find that you have had your trust in your church cause you to consider leaving, you have put your trust in the wrong place.  In many respects, such a sentiment is spot on.  The main point of this gathering of people we call the Church is that we rejoice that we are a people redeemed by Jesus Christ, and thus, made right with God.  Our hope and trust is in God and in His gracious action toward us, in forgiving us, in renewing us, and in giving us a place to strengthen that belief.

Yet, I believe that this sentiment also somewhat misses the point.  The big point I want to raise for us right now is that, when God brings together this thing called the Church, He brings together people who are broken and tainted by sin, and who may strive valiantly against that sin in their lives, but who remain sinful people nevertheless.  That means that it is inevitable that we will hurt each other through our sinfulness. 

Our hope and trust is in the God who creates this Church.  It's not in the people of the Church.  And yet, we also have to admit that the people of the Church will inevitably have an impact upon us and our faith in Jesus.  For example, if we see the leaders of the church engaged in gossip, or slighting a member of the congregation intentionally, that has an impact on the people who see and hear such a thing.  Distrust is created, which truly can harm the faith of some. 

So, that means that we strive to remember that everything we do as Christians does indeed have an impact in our lives together in the Church.  Our hope is that we mature enough to learn how to deal with our fellow sinful believers who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.  And that leads directly to the question of the day.

What do you expect from your fellow Christians in the Church?  If you are expecting a holy life, you will likely be severly disappointed.  If you are expecting them to give and give, and not need in return, you will probably also be disappointed.  However, if you expect that you are going to see great demonstrations of faith as well as great demonstrations of sin in their lives, you may have a more realistic expectation.  After all, they are there, as are you, because they are a sinful human being, who just happens to have been redeemed by Jesus, and who now is engaged in a lifelong struggle with the sin that still lives within them.

So what do you expect when it comes to your fellow Christians?  How you answer that question could have a great deal of impact on your experience with them when you gather togeher with them.

The Value of Life

Unless you live under a rock, you have probably heard of many of the recent events that have made the news.  There are stories on which kind of lives matter, hashtags on Facebook and Twitter about the various colors of lives that matter, and then, the memes that pop up about how all lives matter and the like.  People have the freedom to click on and choose which ones they like, which ones happen to fit with their sensibilities, and lines get drawn.  People look to see how they can find something wrong with the messages from the "other" side, and gossip, slander, and the like begin to take place.

Really, this is a complex situation.  For today, I simply want to look at one part of this complex problem that our country faces, that of the value of all life.  Our value of life comes directly from our faith in what our God says about life.  That makes this part of the situation something well worth taking a few moments to reflect upon.

For Christians, we hold to God's Word that He is the author and creator of all life.  Now, that has some meaning for us when it comes to how we view life.  If God is the author and creator of life, that means that He is the one who gets to call the shots.  He determines when life begins and when life ends.  He determines what is right and what is wrong in how we view life and others in life.  Even if He determines that one person should die at what seems an inopportune time in our eyes, that's His call.  He is the author and creator of life, and so that authority is in His hands.

When we take it upon ourselves to determine the value of another's life, we step over our authority and into God's area of authority.  Now, most of us might consider that we don't do that, and yet, the deep reality we face is that we all make value judgments on others regarding the value of life.  If we think that someone is living in a way that we don't agree with, we have made a value judgment on their life.  If we believe that certain people should receive certain rights, and others should be withheld from those rights, we have made a value judgment on their life.  Shoot, to put it in a way that touches so many people that live where I live, if you think that you have the right to that place in traffic, and indicate that another doesn't deserve it, you have just valued yourself as more important than they are, which is a judgment on the value of their life.  In essence, that kind of thing says, "I am more important than you, and you had no right to cut me off."  Even though it seems a smaller matter than those that make the news, it is still a trepass into God's authority.

Perhaps that is why stories such as all these that are making the news disturb us so much.  Deep down, we cringe at what they are doing, but our consciences may be reminding us that we do the same thing, though perhaps in more subtle ways.  And yet, whether it is a toe over the line, or a gigantic leap over the line, we still have trespassed on God's authority.  That, my friends, is not a pleasant place to be when we consider the eternal repercussions.

Yet, God shows just how much He values all life.  He sent His Son to rescue all people of this world from being valued less by others.  God valued each and every life as a precious one worth redeeming, even at the cost of His own life.  God doesn't make that gift conditional on anything that we can do.  He simply says, "Believe that I value you enough to do this for you." 

My friends, that means that, as you watch the news and you find yourself lining up on one side or the other of these various stories, remember that only God places the true value on life.  Give thanks that He has valued your life as much as He does, and perhaps take a moment to pray for a new spirit within you, one which would likewise see His value for those lives with whom you align as well as those who may stand on the opposite side.

Will Things Get Better?

"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man."  Jesus, recorded in Luke 17:26.

On Facebook, I follow a little "comic" strip entitled Coffee With Jesus.  Today's strip had Jesus sipping His usual cup with Lisa, who comments on the flags seeming to be at half staff most of the time.  Jesus then quotes from Genesis, describing life in the time before the flood, to which Lisa remarks that Jesus just doesn't seem all that cheerful about things.  To which Jesus responds with the verse that I quoted above from Luke's Gospel.

In quite a few conversations that I have with people, there seems to be this thought that, somehow, things are going to get better.  If we get God back into the schools (as though He ever left in the first place), then things will get better.  If we elect the right God-fearing leaders, then things will get better.  If we just get people back to attending worship services again, then things will get better.  While these are hardly exhaustive, there truly seems to be this thought out there, touching on many areas of life.

The problem is, that's not exactly the picture that God paints of life in this world.  Now, we could take the quote from Jesus above too far if we tried to directly compare this time and the time before the flood.  After all, a total of 8 people were rescued in the flood.  The rest of the world faced judgment in the flood, and then before the one true God.  I think everyone would agree that we fervently hope and pray that there will always be more than 8 faithful souls in the world.

Yet, Jesus doesn't pull any punches.  Life in this world isn't going to get better.  If anything, people are going to indulge their sinful natures more and more.  Such a thing even continually seeks to creep into God's people, who realize this and more firmly cling to the hope that is theirs, not in their own faithfulness, but in God's faithfulness to them in Jesus.  Jesus Himself would say that life in this world for His followers will be a life of trouble and trial.  Not if, but when.  It will happen.  Be ready for it.

So what's the good news, then?  On the day of Jesus, a new creation will emerge in which things will be according to God's perfect will and design.  We don't await a day in this creation in which everything will be better.  We await the new creation, in which nothing will ever depart from God's holy will and design.  No, things will not get better in this world.  But when Jesus reappears and the new creation comes into its full being, things will be perfect, and that will endure forever.