Old and New

This weekend as I studied and prepared for the divine service, I examined anew a passage of the Scriptures that I have pondered many times previously.

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.  (Matthew 13:52)

As I read the text in the Greek language I noticed something that I’ve never noticed before.  Here is a literal translation of the text:

Then said he unto them: Therefore, every scribe having been discipled into the kingdom of heaven, same essence is to a man, a  housemaster, which throws out from the thesaurus of him, new and old.

The word that most prominently caught my attention is the word that we usually translate as treasure.  This treasure is Thesaurus.  Remarkable!  The word is actually Thesaurus.

Moreover, this treasurehouse of words is a source of both old and new declarations for the scribe who has been discipled into the kingdom of heaven.  The scribe, the student of the Scriptures, who has been truly discipled into the kingdom of heaven, truly looks to the Scriptures as storehouse of the revelation of the living Word of God.  Every time that this true disciple of the kingdom of heaven enters the storehouse, he throws out to the household of faith new and old proclamation.  The old never changes.  It remains the treasure of the ages.  But along with the doctrine that has been rightly preached time and time again, he also throws out to his hearers new riches from the thesaurus.  The old and the new are in perfect agreement.  The new is a fresh perspective and application of the doctrine of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, offered to the Church through the means of grace.

How can such a message ever be regarded as anything less than a rich treasure?

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Luther on Ecclesiastes 7:16-18

     During my preparations and studies for Sunday’s sermon and service, I searched Luther’s Works for what Luther observed from the appointed Gospel reading of Matthew 25:14-30. In so doing I found this wonderful commentary:

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Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 (KJV)

¹⁶ Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy^g thyself? ¹⁷ Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? ¹⁸ It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.

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16. Be not righteous overmuch, and do not make yourself overwise; why should you destroy yourself?

17. Be not wicked overmuch, neither be a fool; why should you die before your time?

     That is, forget about the highest law; measure yourself by your own foot and sing, “Know thyself.”²⁸ Then you will find in your own breast a lengthy catalog of vices, and you will say: “Look, I myself am still unrighteous, and yet I am tolerated by God and am not banished by people. Then why am I so carried away with fury that I harshly require of others what I do not achieve myself?” This is what it means to be “righteous overmuch.” The things of this world cannot bear it. Therefore observe the laws by teaching and preaching, and give thanks to God when your household or your audience acknowledge that the laws and teachings are holy and just, even though they do not observe everything as it is prescribed. In this way you will be truly holy and wise. You will be “overwise” and “righteous overmuch” if in your administration either of public or of private affairs you have good laws but insist on them and want them to be observed in such a way that there is not one iota of transgression. For this is what it means that “the highest law brings the deepest injustice.” A prudent public official or head of a household ought to make a distinction between the goodness of the law and the obedience of his subordinates. It is better to bear with and to endure a moderate amount of rebellion than to let the entire state perish. This is what usually happens to the rigid enforcers of laws. Therefore laws should be enforced and insisted upon as far as the situation allows, but no further. This is also what physicians do. They do not diagnose and cure diseases only on the basis of books or of what is prescribed but are often obliged to make adjustments in keeping with the state of the body. Thus also the minds of men are influenced in the most diverse possible ways, so that it is often necessary to modify the laws themselves. This calls for extremely wise men, of whom there are few in the world. Therefore all those chosen as heads of households or as public officials should be men like David, Abraham, Solomon, and Joshua, if they were available, men who could administer the laws properly. For this is how important it is to administer the state well.

Be not wicked overmuch.

     This is the second part of the conclusion. See to it that just as you are not righteous overmuch, you are not wicked overmuch either. That is, do not despise and neglect all the duties of government committed to your charge, and do not permit everything to fall apart. It is good to overlook some things, but not to neglect all things. If wisdom does not succeed, that is no reason to go crazy with anger and revenge. Finally, do not give in to idleness, so that you do not want to care about anything. Do not behave like that wicked servant who buried his talent and did not want to trade with it at all (Matt. 25:24–30). Well then, be just and let others be just with you; demand uprightness; persevere, regardless of the outcome. Why? “Why should you destroy yourself, or die before your time?” There is reason to fear that He may come suddenly and call you to judgment, as He took away the soul of the rich man at night when the rich man was not thinking about it (Luke 12:20). If this life were heavenly and angelic, nothing would happen unjustly; but our sinful nature cannot do anything but sin and be foolish. Anyone who does not know this has not yet learned about the world. We should think that here we are as though we were in a shipwreck or a fire, where one must labor to snatch at least some brand from the fire when one cannot control or extinguish the whole fire. Therefore if you are in a household, be content to snatch even one person from the public fire of wicked people. If you are a teacher of children, labor to educate at least one of them and to bring him up properly. If you are a preacher of the Gospel, do not preach as though you could gain all men for Christ, for not all heed the Gospel (cf. Rom. 10:16); but if you convert three or four souls and lead them to Christ, like the tips of burning brands (cf. Amos 4:11), give thanks. For one should not quit simply because so few are changed for the better to hear the preaching of the Gospel. But do what Christ did: He rescued the elect and left the rest behind. This is what the apostles did also. It will not be better for you. You are foolish if you either presume that you alone can accomplish everything or despair of everything when it does not go your way.

18. It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand; for he who fears God shall come forth from them all.

     Christ makes a similar statement in Matt. 23:23 when He says: “These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.” Thus here, too, he demands both: justice and yet not the highest justice, so that you are neither too remiss nor too exacting. Sometimes you must overlook the laws and judge as though you were wicked, and sometimes you must take hold of the laws and become just once more. But remember, as has also been said earlier, that he is here speaking not of personal righteousness but of communal or political justice, not of righteousness before God but of justice in governing others and before the world. For in personal righteousness there cannot be too much righteousness.

He who fears God shall come forth from them all.

     That is, the fear of the Lord will easily judge both. If I fear the Lord, my heart says: “I have often lived this way, and I still live shamefully. Therefore I will have compassion on those delinquents. If I can restrain them by moderating my discipline, I will do so. If not, I will let them continue until they collide with the law of the sword. If they escape all of this, they still will not escape the judgment of God.” Thus he who fears God proceeds correctly in these matters; when he sees that he cannot prevail, he calls upon the Lord. Therefore do your duty, warn, exhort, and never stop. He who does not hear you will bring on his own punishment, even though not through your punishing him; for there is One who will punish. This is what happened recently to our peasants. When they did not accept our rebuke, they were thoroughly punished by others.^{29 30}

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     ^gdestroy...: Heb. be desolate?

     ²⁸ This injunction, quoted here in Greek, was attributed to Thales of Miletus.

     ²⁹ Once again, as on p. 90 above, a reference to the Peasants’ War of 1525

     ³⁰ Luther, M. (1999, c1972). Vol. 15: Luther's works, vol. 15 : Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Last Words of David, 2 Samuel 23:1-7 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (15:122). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

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In My Father’s House

This week my wife and I were discussing the comfort of the promise that the Lord has a mansion awaiting us. As this age grows darker and more insecure, this blessed promise is very much on our hearts and minds.

The Lord Jesus gave this wonderful promise of assurance on the night of His betrayal, as He was preparing His disciples for the horrible things that they would soon witness, the things that would make this promise effective.

     In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3)

My wife asked me whether we will really have a mansion. “I don’t really want a mansion,” she said, “just a place to stay.”

In verse 2 the Lord Jesus actually employs three different words for what is reserved for us. His actual words as John records them are:

     In the house (oikia) of the Father of Me abodes (monai) many are. But if not, I would have told you. I journey to prepare a place (topon) for you-all.”

The Father’s house or household is established. God knows His own. He knows from eternity. In His household He has residences for all of His beloved children. No one has been forgotten. Jesus assures His disciples of this as He journeys onward to the public condemnation and rejection of mankind and to the torturous scourging and death of the cross and finally to the grave. This is the means by which they and all who look to Him in faith receive the guarantee of a place together with Him in the Father’s household. He resolutely looked to this throughout His life. He continually proclaimed this to His disciples. Now, they would see the fulfillment of all of the promises and prophecies of the Scriptures, but would not understand until after the resurrection. What they were about to witness would crush their spirits and drive all hope from their hearts, except for these words of promise. Apart from this assurance, they would not understand the words of Jesus on the cross as He would cry out in our place with the blindness of our sin, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

These words are our false perception that we have inherited from Adam on account of sin. Just as Adam falsely imagined that the Lord had forsaken him on account of his guilty and filthy conscience, so we stand imagining that God has forsaken us. But even in that moment of being made to be sin for us, even in that moment when evil moved in so powerfully and fully that the very sun was darkened, even in that moment as the Son of Man cried out with our accursedness, still the Father looked on in merciful love and comforted His Son and through Him comforted all of mankind with the assurance that He has not abandoned us. It is only our refusal to trust Him that separates us from Him.

This is why the author to the Hebrews writes:

     So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 5:5-10)

Christ Jesus was saved from death. Though He took our place and was crucified as a condemned sinner in our stead, though He was rejected by mankind and tortured and killed, though our sin stood between Him and the Father, nevertheless the Father remained with Him even as they are truly one from eternity. Though Christ died for us according to the flesh, He was nevertheless preserved from death by His union with the Father. And so, on the third day He raised Himself bodily from the dead so as to ascend bodily to the Father and take our flesh to the very throne of God to rule on our behalf as both God and Man forevermore.

This is why St. Paul writes to the Colossians:

     If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

Yes, by His suffering, death, and burial Christ has secured for us our place together with Him in His everlasting kingdom, the household of the Father, in which there exists an abundance of residences for all of His children. By His resurrection and ascension Christ has given us the assurance of our place with Him even as through our baptism we have been joined with Him as everlasting communicants of His Holy Communion.

As I explained to my wife, a baby is perfectly content to sleep in a dresser drawer, if that baby abides in the parents’ love. A little child is perfectly happy to share a room and even a bed with multiple siblings, if that child knows that the household is one in which abides the assurance of love. This is the promise given to us by our Lord Jesus. We are loved and we shall forevermore dwell in the security of that love. Our place has been prepared and awaits us after all that must transpire in the current age has come to pass. For now we live in that blessed hope, reminded of the Lord’s merciful patience that moves Him to wait until the Gospel has been heard and received by every last person for whom a place has been reserved.

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Who is in charge of your account?

Have you seen this incident?



Online banking with Bank of America has been changed, also. About a year ago BoA changed its access requirements for online banking. One day I tried to log on, and after entering my username and password, it would not allow me to access my account online, not even to see the account information. Now one must grant them permission to use electronic notification at their discretion. If one allows this, then BoA can make changes to one’s account and notify by e-mail only, if they so choose. This gives them absolute control over the account.

Can e-mail notification be trusted? The banks recently allowed hackers to steal information through the processing company that they use. Moreover, have you ever had an e-mail fail to reach its destination, being lost somewhere along the way? Furthermore, what is to keep BoA or any other company from claiming to send notification that was never sent? What individual account holder could prove it?

This incident with this gentleman shows the objective. Who controls the accounts?

The sheep are being led to the slaughter.

What if this gentleman truly needed his money on that particular day?

But then, is this even the real question? Whose money is it? Whose account is it?

What does it mean when a bank can call for a SWAT team or any other law enforcement team to keep people from accessing their accounts? What does it mean when a bank can block people from accessing their accounts online unless they give “permission” for the bank to change its notification policies against the account holder’s wishes?

I have mentioned this change to a number of tellers at BoA. Each one I informed of this said that the person was unaware of this. How many customers of BoA simply grant the permission for the sake of “convenience”? How many have said, “No. You will not take control of my account!”?

But then, as this video demonstrates, they already have taken control of the accounts. The government at every level enforces it.

Why do I bother posting this? Why should this concern me?

This concerns me because of what I see happening to my neighbors as well as to me. Our liberties are being nullified. Our possessions are being absorbed by banksters and corporations. I care about my neighbors.

Why?

What? What sort of question is that? I am a child of God, generated from above through Baptism. God is my Father, both as my Creator, and again as my Redeemer. He loves my neighbors, even as He loves me. He provides for us all everything that we need for this body and life. How can I not also love and care for my neighbors and their well-being? How can I not protest what I see done to this man in St. Louis? How can I not call attention to this? How can I not be filled with desire that my fellow countrymen be informed of this outrage? How can I not desire that my fellow countrymen be informed so that they can speak out as well?

Is it possible for one who knows the love of God to ignore the wrongs that he sees done to his neighbors? Is it possible for one who lives in God’s grace in Christ to be vacuous of concern for the encroaching tyranny that he observes?

Ultimately, however, is this even the truly great tyranny?

Is not the greater tyranny the stealing of the Gospel from the churches? Is not the greater tyranny the theft of God’s grace, forgiveness, peace, and everlasting life from the repository that God has established for all of mankind through the pure means of grace? When God, our loving Father, has paid all of our everlasting debt with the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son on our behalf and has placed the fullness of this payment on reserve for us to be administered to us through the pure means of grace, is it not a crime against humanity when this free access is changed by those who claim to have the authority to control it?

Oh that the people would awaken from their stupor! Oh that the people would hear what the Spirit says to the churches! Oh that they would hear and be gathered truly into the name of Jesus to be fed and nurtured and renewed through God’s true Church!

How can they recognize this true Church? All that they need to do is look at how their account is being treated. Are the gifts of God being administered in accord with what He has ordained? Are the bank administrators changing the requirements for access to the accounts? Or are these administrators (pastors/teachers) administering the gifts in accord with the pure Word? Are they preaching this Word without changing it? Are they using the Sacraments as genuine means of grace? Are they guarding against adulteration of the doctrine of the Scriptures? Are they guarding against mockery of the Holy Communion by which people eat and drink judgment on account of not discerning the body?

Recognizing the Truth really is not difficult. The Truth is consistent. The Truth does not vary. The Truth does not contradict itself.

     Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:39-40)

     And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
     And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
     Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
     But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
     But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:1-16)

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Christian-Spiritual Leaders

Within the last few days I heard a statement from a man who was speaking on American Family Radio. When I cannot tolerate anymore of the pretend conservativism on talk radio and I am frustrated with the secular trash music I often switch to AFR until I have to turn off the radio altogether. I do listen for tidbits of the local, national, and world news. I also listen for the sake of the challenges that urge me to dig deeply into the Scriptures. While most of what I hear is contrary to the faith, nevertheless I do find the challenge to be certain to be a worthwhile challenge.

What I heard on AFR was a comment that proclaimed the exact opposite of what is taught in the Scriptures regarding the form that leadership takes within the Church. I cannot remember the comment so as to give a precise verbatim quotation, but the man said that leaders do not always have all of the answers and in fact, in his experience, the best leaders have more questions.

Does this statement even remotely match what the Scriptures declare?

To St. Timothy St. Paul writes:

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. (1 Timothy 3:1-9)

Again, to St. Titus he writes:

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. (Titus 1:5-11)

Do either of these leave one with the impression that Christian leaders have more questions than answers? What does it mean for a man to be apt to teach? How does one set in order the things that are wanting unless that one knows the answers? Can one silence the gainsayers with more questions than answers? Can a gainsayer be silenced by asking, “Well, what do you think?”

How can a pastor/teacher lead if he does not know the way?

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. (Matthew 15:14)

The way that the Lord provides is the way of knowing the truth.

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)

If a leader does not know the way, does not know the truth, does not know the answers that are to be taught, that person should stop imagining himself to be a leader, shut up, sit down, and listen and learn. A teacher who has more questions than answers is not a teacher but a propagator of ignorance, and worse, stupidity and rebellion and false self-reliance.

The Lord has given the answers, and to those who hear Him through the means that He has ordained, the answers are brought forth and proclaimed for the benefit and edification of all who have ears to hear. Moreover, the answers that God has given have the miraculous power to restore life, peace, contentment, love, holiness, and all that is good and worthy. Is this not the kind of leadership that is worthy of following?

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Translations or Versions

I often am deeply perturbed by the inaccuracies that I find in the various translations of the Bible. In the post below I share a deliberate mistranslation in the NRSV. The statement of Revelation 13:8 directs the reader to understand that apart from knowing the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world one cannot know of the book of Life that belongs to Him. The words of the text stand as a stark contrast and warning against those who worship the beast and are therefore cut off from the Lamb and His book of Life.

If a translation does not convey this as it stands written, what hope do those who read it have of hearing and learning the truth? Those translations that change what is written are not translations at all and the message that is conveyed in those is really not the intended message but a version of the message. The so-called translators have changed the message to make it their own version of the message.

I find myself inclined to cry out strongly against such things. What else can one do when concerned for the everlasting well being of fellow humans, knowing that the unadulterated good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary for everlasting salvation, peace, hope, joy, forgiveness, and life?

Yet I also fear that crying out too loudly can leave people in doubt regarding whether or not it is truly possible even to know the truth. Thus I wish also to point to the standby translations that were translated without the intent of changing the message. This is one of the reasons that I have returned to using the King James translation. It is widely circulated throughout the world. It is overall a good translation. While it has some weaknesses, it does convey the message reliably. People can read it with confidence when they are regularly hearing preaching from a pastor who uses the original languages for his preparations and study. And it is in the public domain and can be quoted, printed, and distributed freely.

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From the Foundation of the Cosmos

In a recent conversation I referred to the wondrous message of Revelation 13:8. The other person pulled out a Bible and read it to me. I was aghast. I responded, “That is terrible! What translation is this?”

It was the New Revised Standard Version. The verse in the NRSV reads:

and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

The full NRSV can be found at Revelation 13:8 (NRSV).

The King James reads much more closely to the Greek:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

It seems that many of the newer so-called translations likewise ignore the Greek and deliberately change what this verse from Holy Scripture teaches. The ESV likewise follows this anti-Christian translation, saying

and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

For a sampling of a few translations see Revelation 13:8 (multiple translaitons).

Why would translators deliberately change what this text says? It seems clear that they simply do not believe in the Lamb who is slain from the foundation of the cosmos. They do not believe in the Lamb who gave His body and blood to His disciples on the night of His betrayal, before His crucifixion. They do not believe in the Lamb to whom Nicodemus came, of whom John records:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:10-13)

John was writing at a time when it was necessary to silence those who rejected the perfect union of the two natures of Christ. Some denied that Jesus the man was truly the Son of God. They refused to accept that Jesus was the Son of MAN who came from heaven. Notice that in this chastisement of Nicodemus that Jesus did not refer to Himself as the Son of God who came down from heaven, even though a few verses later He does refer to Himself as the Son whom God gave to the world. But here He calls the one who came down from heaven the Son of MAN. It seems that hardly anyone pays any attention to the fact that He not only refers to this Son of Man as having come down from heaven, but simultaneously still being IN heaven!

This is what is rejected by those who deny the efficacious nature of the Sacrament of the Altar and those who deliberately reinterpret Revelation 13:8 rather than translating it for how it stands written. They do not believe in the Jesus who is slain from the foundation of the cosmos, in whom Abraham trusted, and in whom Abraham lives.

When we understand what is taught in Revelation 13:8, our eyes and ears are opened to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Then we understand St. Paul’s insistence in 1 Corinthians 2 that he judged to know nothing in his preaching and teaching save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When we follow the dear apostle in expecting this to be the sole message of the Scriptures, the Scriptures begin to open to us, or perhaps we begin to open to the message of the Scriptures, as never before. Then we understand why Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

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A Blessed Thanksgiving Day

Today has been for me a very blessed Thanksgiving Day. It has been a day that has been jam-packed full of God's goodness. It has been a day of Gospel joy.

Thanksgiving is for me a wonderful excuse for spending a day wrestling with God to receive from Him the blessing of hearing from Him more fully what He has revealed in His Holy Scriptures. Sermon preparation usually takes me about eight hours. Sometimes I cut it a bit shorter. Sometimes it goes longer. It usually takes at least 4 to 6 hours before I am content with the outline that has developed. Then only another two or three or four hours are needed for actually writing the sermon, proof reading it, and printing it. Sometimes the outline is exactly the same as the last time that I preached the text, but the sermon content has expanded. My immersion into the text has become deeper. I have been richly blessed beyond measure. Then I am privileged to preach it and hear it yet again.

Today, after preaching today's text, I felt full and content. The meal that my wife prepared was waiting, but I felt full. She prepared a wonderful meal. It was truly delicious and I enjoyed it immensely. Yet it seemed unnecessary after the feast that the Lord had prepared and fed to me. Not only the message that flowed from the text, but also, and even more satisfying, was the Feast of the Eucharist (Thanksgiving).

The meal that my wife prepared was truly wonderful, too, but it was primarily for my flesh. It was truly cause for giving thanks, too, both to my wife and to the Lord. This year she purchased and prepared a free range turkey. The stuffing was organic, with her added fixings of mixed nuts, cranberries, homemade turkey stock, celery, carrots, onions, garlic cloves, and more! She made sweet potatoes, prepared apples and grapes, and more. The only junk food was the croissants that she purchased at Sam’s Club (with many scary ingredients, but tasty).

Thankfully, even more cause for thanksgiving, my wife understands fully what I mean when I say that the Lord’s banquet is what made the day. Even though I do not believe that I have ever had a more wonderful turkey and other culinary delights, the Lord’s banquet completely satisfied me.

Now, this blessed eventide, I am pleased that the sermon has been uploaded and the turkey has been put away in the refrigerator, and we will enjoy my wife’s labors for perhaps as long as a week. How wonderful to have these treasures upon which to feast our palates! Moreover, even regarding the Lord’s feast we have His marvelous promise:

     Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (Matthew 13:52)

Peter’s Affirmation of the Epistles of Paul

In a discussion regarding the practice of infant baptism at On the Wittenberg Trail, actually closer to a monolog on my part which the host graciously endured, I became aware of a point in one of the Scripture passages that had previously escaped my notice.

Here is the text:

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. (2 Peter 3:15-17)

While I was delving into the text regarding the manner in which people torture the Scriptures to try to force them to agree with their preconceived opinions, I noticed something else declared in this text. Surely this is not a new observation, but it is new to me.

Herein St. Peter states in absolute manner that the writings of St. Paul are Scriptures the same as all the other Scriptures.

While there are plenty of passages to affirm the Scriptures of the New Testament as divinely inspired and truly the revelation of God to man, while I always recognized in this text that St. Peter lovingly affirms St. Paul’s apostolic authority, I never was aware of the fact that St. Peter here declares the writings of St. Paul to be truly the Scriptures akin to all the other Scriptures. But there it is! Plain as day!

Another point, while not a new observation, is that those who torture one part of the Scriptures are said to torture the other Scriptures as well. It is common for people to take parts of the Scriptures and ignore them or to say of them that they are not truly the Scriptures or that they are limited by time or cultural relevance. But as St. Peter declares here and the Scriptures consistently affirm, to wrest or torture one part of the Scriptures sets the person in league with those who torture all the other Scriptures. To deny or wrest or twist or redefine or manipulate one point of the Scriptures is to place oneself in league with all who do so to any and ultimately all of the Scriptures. This is why Jesus declared to those who did so that they were not sons of God but had the devil, the father of lies, as their father.

Anyway, it is delightful finally to observe what has stood written for millennia, that in this text St. Peter affirms the writings of St. Paul as the Scriptures.

The Comfort of Romans 8:28

     And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

This is a truly comforting passage from God’s Holy Scripture. These words, recorded by the Apostle Paul, speak to our hearts in times of trouble, in times of deepest distress, when we imagine that the darkness that fills this world and the days of this evil age is too great to endure.

This particular verse is magnified by the words that follow:

     And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Romans 8:28-34)

When examined in the greater context of the entire epistle, verse 28 becomes so much greater than the darkness of our times that the light of God’s grace fills us with hope that cannot be extinguished. For that light and that hope are from everlasting, even from eternity.

Following the word order our passage is translated:

     “Moreover, we know that to those loving God all things He works together (synergizes) into good according to the setting forth called being.”

Synergei, which means synergize or work together, is third person and singular. This is why we know what we know about these things, because they do not work together for our good on their own, but rather, God synergizes them into good for us. God is at work in the midst of absolutely everything that is happening and He synergizes all things with His good and gracious will for us so that they must turn out for good to us.

This, St. Paul informs us, is the synergy that God works “according to the setting forth called being.” This is an ancient way of speaking, going back to the very first recorded Scriptures from Moses. (Exodus 29:23; 40:4 & 23; Leviticus 24:8) This “setting forth” is the exact same term used for the shewbread that the Lord set forth to be continually before Him in the Sanctuary. This shewbread is the body of the Lord Jesus, who stands in the presence of God interceding for us. This is the body of Christ that is given in and with the shewbread that is broken and distributed in the Sacrament of the Altar in the divine service each Lord’s Day. This is what makes us the “according to the setting forth called being.” This is what makes us truly to be the body of Christ, gathered in His name. According to the body of Christ in the Sacrament, we are the called being.

Truly this is terribly wonderful! For not one thing of this depends upon what we do. Rather, everything that we do as the body of Christ, the “called being”, depends upon the “according to the setting forth,” the shewbread that is on the altar for the priests of the New Testament to partake. Yes, as St. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, we are the “royal priesthood” for whom the shewbread is reserved. Thus we are maintained in the Holy Communion of God to partake of all good things in communion with Him. As such we have been generated through Baptism as “those loving God.”

It is through Baptism that we are “conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” It is through the blessed Sacrament of the Altar that we are maintained in His image as His brethren.

Because these Sacraments are God’s synergism and not ours, because He is the one who joins the natural elements to the power of His command and promise, they accomplish the good that He has purposed for us. And since all things are synergized by God according to this setting forth of the body of Christ for us, all things are worked together into good for us. God works all these things together to call us to repent of our own efforts and our own goodness so that we trust Him to be our God and Savior and rely upon Him for all that we need both of body and soul. As long as we continue in the synergism that God works for us, everything is good.

This is why St. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 11:29 “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” For it is not possible to receive God’s holy synergism except in accord with His setting forth in the body of Christ gathered as the “called being.” If we do not discern the body of Christ, how can we be gathered as the body of Christ? If we are not gathered as the body of Christ, how can we partake of the good things that are offered only in His body? But, rightly discerning the body of Christ, we continue in the communion of the saints, the called being, those loving God. Then we truly know that God is synergizing all things into good for us. Then we abide in the complete and absolute confidence of His grace, mercy, and peace, even when everything around us appears to be darkness and dread.

VBS Crock

It seems that Lutherans have largely forgotten who they are. It seems that Lutherans have forgotten why they are Lutherans. This is demonstrated quite clearly in the crock of Vacation Bible Study programs that Lutherans are using these days. The congregation in which I was raised is a prime example. My “home” congregation is known as Trinity Downtown , formerly known as Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. The shift from Evangelical Lutheran has taken many years, but now seems to be complete.



The following is the web site’s summary “update” stating the completed activities and fulfilled objectives of the VBS program for 2009:

Vacation Bible School
Crocodile Dock - UPDATE
Vacation Bible School 2009 ended July 24, but the memories and experiences of seeing God everywhere will continue. Approximately 100 children everyday learned how to be fearless kids shining the love of God. We collected well over a hundred canned goods for the food pantries; dozens of bottles of bug spray for Compassion Corner to distribute; children’s vitamins for Hands of Mercy mission in Sudan; and diapers for BETA house. The children made 200 stuffed turtles for Operation Kid-to-Kid, a mission of care and love for children suffering natural disasters. What a great week!


The VBS theme of the Group Ministries materials is restated in this update:

“Approximately 100 children everyday learned how to be fearless kids shining the love of God.”


Is anything missing from this theme?


Is the Gospel in anyway whatsoever even mentioned? Is the name of salvation mentioned as being taught to the children as even a sub-theme? Were the blessings of Baptism in any way a part of what the children were taught? How exactly are the children to be “fearless?” Is this fearlessness the gift of God that accompanies the good conscience of 1 Peter 3:21? What is the source of this fearlessness, since no mention is made of Jesus or the Holy Spirit or the Father or even of God, how did the children see God everywhere? Since the means of grace by which God makes Himself known are not mentioned, how were the children taught to see God? Since the means by which God promises to come to His children with His love are not mentioned, since the means by which God’s love shines in the world are not mentioned, how were the children taught to shine with God’s love? What does this notion mean apart from the means of grace declared in the Holy Scriptures?

Is this what the congregation professes to be? Is this what the congregation has bound itself to teach and practice?

From the constitution of the congregation:

PARAGRAPH 12: DOCTRINAL LITERATURE
In the church and public services of this congregation purely Lutheran hymns, and in all ministerial acts purely Lutheran forms only shall be used. Thus, also, in the parochial school, besides the Holy Scriptures and Luther's Small Catechism, such books only as are purely Lutheran shall be introduced and used for instruction in Christian doctrine, and all other books used in the school shall be free from everything which is in variance with Lutheran doctrine.


PARAGRAPH 19: UNALTERABLE PARAGRAPHS

Of this constitution, paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,16, 17, and 19 shall be unalterable and irrepealable.


Is there a conflict between what Paragraph 12 states regarding the doctrinal literature used in the congregation and school and the materials purchased and utilized in this VBS program?


These materials are produced by Group Publishing. Group’s Statement of Faith says:

Statement of Faith

What we believe:

We believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God.

We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, in his virgin birth, in his sinless life, in his death on the cross, in his bodily resurrection, in his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in his personal return.

We believe people receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus.

Group’s mission:
We equip churches to help children, youth
and adults grow in their relationship with Jesus.


Does this sound like what is stated in Paragraph 12 of the congregation’s constitution? Does this sound like literature that is purely Lutheran? Where are the means of grace? Where is the need for the proclamation of the Gospel? Where is the Holy Spirit’s work of calling, gathering, enlightening, sanctifying and preserving in the one true faith? Where is any declaration of how the salvation that is through Jesus is imputed to those who would receive His forgiveness and eternal life?

According to Group, faith grows through serving others:

Group's Faith In Action

We don’t just say it. We do it!
At Group, hammering nails, painting porches and meeting
practical needs have just as much to do with serving churches as creating books, magazines and curriculum. Each year, more than 20,000 youth and their leaders venture across the U.S. and beyond to grow in their faith by serving others. Whether it’s building wheelchair ramps, insulating drafty trailer homes, working at a homeless shelter, or running a VBS, participants shine the love of Jesus in every dark corner they can find.


Thus, Group teaches that doing good works is the means by which a person’s faith grows.


How do Lutherans teach that faith grows? Lutherans teach in accord with what the Scriptures declare, and as the one holy catholic Church has confessed in the Ecumenical Creeds, that faith grows not through one’s own works, but through the works that the Holy Spirit works through the preaching of the Gospel and through the Sacraments. The Third Article of the Creed directs us to this for our comfort and assurance. Luther beautifully expounds upon this in his explanation to the Third Article, saying:

The Third Article declares:

I believe in the Holy Ghost; one holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

Luther explains:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

What a marvelous contrast! One way is pure grace, the other way is completely dependent upon the works and efforts of the individual.

Does it really matter whether pure Lutheran literature is used? Without a doubt!

The literature published by Group always directs away from depending upon the grace of God in Christ. It always directs to little programs and projects of service as the means by which a person convinces oneself that faith is alive and growing. Pure Lutheran literature always directs away from one’s own works and efforts so as to direct us to the pure grace of God in Christ as our only source of hope and comfort. Then we see God being present in the means by which He has ordained. Therefore we do not need to look for Him everywhere, because we actually receive Him through the means of grace. Then, rather than working to become fearless kids who shine the love of God, rather, we take comfort in the promises of God in our baptism and in the Holy Communion and in the pure preaching of the Gospel. Then we rest in His peace rather than working to become certain of our faith. When God is the one who works our faith for us, all that we need to do is what St. Paul writes to the Philippians, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. What this means is to be certain that we truly are receiving our understanding only through pure Lutheran literature, which always teaches us to trust in God’s grace in Christ. Then we truly are fearless because we realize that in Christ we have no cause to be afraid. (Rom. 8)

So then, why do congregations like the one in which I was raised, Trinity Downtown in Orlando (LC-MS), and Risen Savior in Orlando (WELS), as well as congregations in many places and denominations, use materials from Group, materials that they have promised not to use? Is it because of laziness? Perhaps, but more likely it is simply because they trust in cutesy gimmicks rather than in the Word. If they trusted in the Word they would actually use the Word. But they choose these cutesy cartoons and silly little projects rather than the Word. They hold onto the name of Lutheran for the sake of their tradition and heritage, but they use the methods and doctrine and practice of the preachers of faith by works. Lutherans teach as the Scriptures do, that works are the result of faith, not that faith is the result of works.

So, what is VBS today anyway? The letters stand for Vacation Bible School. This seems to be appropriate, for what is taught does seem to be a vacation from the doctrine of the Bible. But what sort of vacation is that? After all, it is the clear doctrine of the Bible that assures us of God’s love. It is the clear and unadulterated doctrine of the Scriptures that comforts us with the merits of Jesus as the cause of our forgiveness and salvation and new life of peace and hope and joy.

The Holy Spirit continually calls us to congregate to enter into the vacation that God provides, also called the Sabbath. He calls us regularly to take a vacation from the cutesy things that have no substance and have no power to give hope and peace. He calls us regularly to take a vacation from our own self-delusions and our own corrupt and frail efforts at holiness and goodness. He calls us to take a vacation from the lies and the disappointments of the world. He calls us to take a vacation from our own failures. He calls us to receive the holiness offered in Holy Baptism. He calls us to partake of the meal of life. He calls us to step out of the struggles and stresses of daily living in this world of sin and sorrow to rest in the mercy of Almighty God.

Why would anyone choose gimmicks over what the Lord provides? Why would anyone choose works over the freely bestowed gifts that God provides through the means of grace? Why would anyone choose anything other than what is taught and given in the pure Lutheran literature?


As for me and my house, we will continue in the vacation that the Lord provides.






(All images are from Group’s free downloads in connection with the CrocodileDock VBS page. The noticeable absence of anything relating to God, Christ, or the Gospel is not by choice but according to what was provided at the site at the time of downloading.)

Shut Up and Listen

Not very long ago I wrote to someone whom I love very much words that to most people would sound contradictory. I wrote:

     You truly need to shut up and listen. You need to set aside the Scriptures and stop seeking to understand them according to your own reason and strength. You need to listen to one who truly knows the God of peace, mercy, and love. Then you can pick up the Scriptures again and be free of your own interpretations. Then you will be free to hear the merciful love of God that the Scriptures declare in connection with Jesus.

In this connection St. Peter writes:

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:19-21)

In Acts 8 Luke records the account of the Ethiopian eunuch’s encounter with St. Philip. The eunuch was a very sincere man, who came to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel, purchased portions of the Scriptures, including the book of Isaiah, and eagerly sought to know the meaning of the Scriptures but could not understand apart from having the Holy Spirit’s true interpretation preached to him. Upon hearing the one true faith of the Scriptures from Philip, the man carried the Gospel back to Ethiopia with joy.

One of the problems in the Church today and with those who seek to understand the Scriptures is that many, even most, seek to interpret the Scriptures for themselves. But God has appointed that the Scriptures be used to preach the Gospel, or as Luke records with Philip, to preach Jesus, which is one and the same preaching. But this Jesus cannot be known apart from the right preaching. To one who has not been regenerated, as well as to one who has drifted into other interpretations, the Scriptures become a stumbling block rather than a source of life. Without the right knowledge of Christ, which is purely by the faith created by the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures become a tool of the devil. The devil used an interpretation of the Word to deceive the woman. The devil tried the same thing with the Word Himself, Jesus, of all the insane things that the devil could try.

Sometimes, when a person has become confused as to the testimony of the Scriptures, the person actually needs to be advised to stop reading the Scriptures, to set them aside, and allow one who knows the true testimony of the Holy Spirit to proclaim it. Then, like the Ethiopian eunuch, the Scriptures can be picked up again and read to the everlasting benefit of the person’s soul. Otherwise the person continues in the self-deception of his own reason and strength and follows after a false doctrine and a false faith, that end in death rather than in life.