When a True Statement is made to be False

     There are many examples of this in the world. A statement is made, using portions of the truth to present a falsehood. The devil is the inventor of this tactic. He used this tactic in the garden of Eden to tempt the woman to doubt the truth and to refashion God’s Word according to her own reason. The result was that Mankind was cut off from the Truth, cut off from Life. Death thereby came to mankind in connection with the blindness and corruption of sin. The devil foolishly tried this tactic with Jesus, too. The devil actually quoted Scripture to Jesus in an attempt to move Jesus to accept something false. The devil actually quoted the Scripture verbatim. But he used the Scripture out of context, applying it to try to present a false precept, and therefore the true statement was actually false. Even though the statement was true in the context in which it stands written, used as the devil used it, it was nevertheless false.

     At When Love Encounters Impenitence, Love Does Not Go to War a statement is quoted as a beautiful “bit of grace and truth.” The statement is made at Steadfast Lutherans within the comments concerning the article Interesting Interview of Pastor Morris in the Newtown Bee, by Pr. Rossow. Notably, Pr. McCain in his blog post quoting this statement does not provide a link to where it was made. Thereby he uses the quote without allowing his readers to examine how it was used.

     The quoted statement was actually used to attack other Christians, using the deliberately controverted guise of love. The statement is actually an attack on people who are openly and honestly addressing a serious issue and calling for dishonesty within their church body to be swept away so that the truth may prevail among them.

     Here is the statement, which, divorced from the context in which it was presented, is a truly beautiful “bit of grace and truth.” It sounds wonderful until one reads it in the context in which Pastor Fiene has written and presented it.

When love encounters impenitence, love weeps while shaking the dust off its feet. Love doesn’t go to war. It doesn’t badger. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t scream for everyone to fix their eyes on the sin that’s already been made as public as it can be.

Love doesn’t continually appoint itself to the task of penning another epistle of rebuke. It doesn’t repeatedly provide online fuel for those who easily explode in anger and cruelty. Love doesn’t seek to stir up more anger over vacations or preferential treatment.

Love is patient. Love recognizes that, were it not for the calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying of the Holy Spirit, not a trace of orthodoxy would beat in any of our hearts. Love remembers that countless saints spent far more time than Pr. Morris has defending their sins before the Lord brought them to repentance. Love waits, hopes and prays that our brother in Christ will one day see his error.

And, in the meantime, if love must shake the dust off its feet, then that’s what love must do. But it does so in tears, not in a manner like this.

     The issue being raised by the original article is the issue of a blatant sin committed within the LC-MS. The pastors and congregations of the LC-MS take an oath not to partake in unionistic worship. In the situation being addressed, a pastor openly, publicly, and proudly violated this oath. When he was called on it, he apologized in a way that actually accused those who sought to bring him to repent. I posted concerning this at An Apology Is Not Repentance. The end result was that the LC-MS president apologized for attempting to do his sworn duty, while the one who should have been called to repent denied that he did any wrong. The way it was finally presented was as a call to the members of the LC-MS to repent of their desire to call sin “sin” and to call sinners to repent of their sins, especially their public sins against the Gospel.

     The falsehood begins with the very first sentence, where Pr. Fiene says: “When love encounters impenitence, love weeps while shaking the dust off its feet.”

     This is a very devilish use of the truth. For this is exactly what the Lord Jesus has commanded the saints to do regarding those who reject the truth that has been presented to them. However, Pr. Fiene is not in agreement with Jesus that Pr. Morris should be confronted openly with the truth and then told that he is not a Christian on account of refusing to acknowledge his sin and repent of it. The people whom Pr. Fiene is countering are actually calling for Pr. Morris, as well as his district president and Pr. Harrison to be called to repent of their public sin in this matter, the sin of calling sin as “righteousness” and righteousness as “sin.” They are calling for repentance of all three lying pastors. But even they are not speaking of shaking the dust off their feet. Even they are not saying that if these lying pastors refuse to hear the truth and be called to repentance that they should be excommunicated for the sake of showing them the seriousness of their impenitence. Pr. Fiene especially is not calling for this. He is trying to condemn those who are at least calling their leaders to be accountable. He is trying to change the focus from the call to the leaders to repent, so that the focus becomes one of calling those who are calling for repentance to repent. But because this devilish maneuver is masked as love, it is a very effective deception.

     If those who practice unionism don’t believe that it is sinful, then they should admit this and end their participation in the LC-MS communion. However, the sad fact is that the LC-MS is not what it claims to be. The LC-MS has openly practiced unionism at many levels for decades, perhaps really even for its entire existence. The LC-MS has only pretended to be against unionism, while allowing it and actually practicing it for years.

     From that perspective Pr. Fiene would be correct, if indeed he were saying that the members of the LC-MS should admit the longstanding impenitence of the LC-MS and with tears shake the dust off their feet and walk away.

     But Pr. Fiene’s dishonest use of the truth goes further still. He says:

     Love doesn’t go to war. It doesn’t badger. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t scream for everyone to fix their eyes on the sin that’s already been made as public as it can be.
     Love doesn’t continually appoint itself to the task of penning another epistle of rebuke.

     This ignores the very obvious fact that war has already been declared and imposed upon those whom he is condemning. War has already been declared by those who gave an oath not to partake in unionism and then have openly done so and furthermore have publicly sought to make unionism the accepted practice of the church. Those who stand up against this are persecuted until either broken or driven out of the LC-MS. Those who do resist, those who do fight against those making war against them, are doing so not only for their own sake, but for the sake of their loved ones who are being destroyed spiritually in this war imposed by the so-called tolerant ones.

     This is true also for those who have admitted the truth of the impenitence of the LC-MS and have shaken the dust off their feet and walked away in tears. They still look on as they see their family and friends being led further and further away from the narrowness of the truth into the broad path of relativism and tolerance of adulterated doctrine and practice. As they view the changes effected in their family and friends, their love does move them to pen yet another and another epistle. They do experience and even express holy anger as they stand helplessly watching their loved ones spiritually eviscerated.

     And then Pr. Fiene and Pr. McCain cry out that love does not cry out against such things.

     Truly there is a point where one must finally say, “I have nothing more whatsoever to do with thee.” There does come the time where mourning and even praying for such comes to an end, as the Lord told Samuel to stop mourning for Saul and John says not to pray for those who sin unto death (1 John 5:17).

     I must admit that I don’t really know how to make this distinction and so I simply continue as the Lord Jesus teaches in the Our Father and as the General Prayer follows the admonitions of the apostles, praying for everyone generally. As for those who seem to be beyond receiving anything good from me, I do eventually stop praying for them specifically, including them in my general prayers for all and for all of the enemies of the cross. And even though I have shaken the dust off my feet concerning the impenitent churches and those who remain in their clutches, my heart nevertheless longs for their repentance unto the way of true peace and life.

     It seems that a big issue for those still in churches like the LC-MS is that they imagine that they are still fighting to protect their home and loved ones. They seem not to realize that their church body that they call home has been confiscated by the enemy. So they continue fighting for what is no longer theirs. They fight battles that are nothing more than futile rebelling against the established rulers of the household. From this perspective they would do well to hear Pr. Fienes that such is not the way of love. Love rather would admit the impenitence of their false church so that they would shake the dust off their feet and walk away in tears. Then they would be free to embrace the true faith, the true doctrine, and the true worship without continually fighting the enemy whom they falsely call brother. Then they would begin to understand what St. John declares, saying:

     Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. (1 John 3:13-14)

     In order truly to love the brethren, one must first rightly acknowledge the brethren. Continuing in fellowship with those who are not the brethren is to malign and despise the brethren. Those who love the brethren do not join themselves to the world that hates the brethren. Rather, in love for the brethren, they stand together with the brethren apart from the world. It seems odd that so many have forgotten this so that they continue to cling to worldly corporations that use “Church” in their corporate identities while ignoring and even despising those who stand apart, gathered into the name of Jesus. They somehow seem to have become convinced that love means holding to the church that bears the name and works of their fathers and grandfathers rather than the Church founded upon and preserved through the name and works of Jesus.

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Terrible Grief

Grief can be truly terrible, even terrifying.

The Newtown tragedy continues to be prevalent in the news and in the minds of all who hear it.

Yesterday as I was taking care of things that needed to be done, I realized that I am affected even more powerfully than I realized by this event, or rather, by the reminder of how vulnerable I am.

My own death is not very frightening to me contrasted to the devastation that I would face upon the loss of my wife.  If someone broke into the government school where she works and ripped her out of my life through a murderous and senseless act, I would have nothing left in this world.  I would be bereft of the only worldly possession of real value to me, save one.

There is one worldly possession that is even greater for me than my wife.  It is the one possession that would preserve my sanity and hope.  It is my knowledge of God’s love to me that is poured out freely through His means of grace.

My wife and I have talked many times about this.  We both share the great concern that if anything happened to the other, we would be left with no one locally with whom we could gather to receive the unadulterated Sacrament of forgiveness and life.  Whichever of us survived the other would have to move, or settle for periodic travel to our friends who likewise gather to the pure Word and Sacrament.

This very likely sounds foreign to most who read this.  We live in a city with nine LC-MS and one WELS congregations, and yet we have no place where we can safely worship.  This is because we believe that to join with congregations who pledge themselves to compromised worship and practice and definition of communion/fellowship is to have our souls raped and molested.  We believe that we need to receive only the absolutely pure means of grace.  Otherwise we will be filled with the world’s pollution that corrupts and kills.

Thus our marriage and union is absolutely vital to us.  We truly need each other and we do not know how to live without each other.

Again, I read yet another account of the Newtown tragedy: Investigators visit Conn. gun shops and ranges as townspeople seek comfort in faith.  This account made clear a fact that I suspected to be the case. Adam Lanza was the child of a broken marriage.  He was a young man bearing the scars of his parents’ divorce.

We have degenerated into a society where this is counted as the norm.  Great efforts have been exerted to reeducate and retrain the people to consider divorce as an acceptable and even a normal occurrence.  Today one is more likely to encounter children who have experienced the divorce of their parents, than children whose parents remained steadfastly together for as long as they both should live.

Both I and my wife have been blessed to know marriage as a lifetime contract.  Our parents remained together until our fathers died.  Both of us knew that our parents would be home for us.  They were our refuge in the Lord.  We knew that when Daddy left the house that he would gladly and lovingly return home again.  We knew that Mommy would be there for us, too.  No matter how badly an argument raged, we knew that forgiveness and reconciliation would prevail in the end.  This we knew.  This we believed.  This was factual.  The foundation stone of our security, the marriage of our parents that the Lord had instituted and blessed, would stand for us.  We knew the meaning of home.  This is an extension of knowing the everlasting home that God has for us.

But we both have friends who were not so blessed.  We even have family members who have abandoned this so that they divorced.  They broke their contract with each other.  They broke the confidence of their children. And we have seen the effects and affects upon all who have suffered this.

Our society tries to minimize this.  But we continue to see the effects.  We see the confusion of identity.  We see the increase of instability.  We hear the cries of loneliness.  We observe the suicides.  We mourn the many aborted children.  We tremble at the random acts of violence.

Is there any advantage to closing our eyes to what we see and our ears to what we hear?  Is there any real benefit to giving our blessing to the destruction caused by divorce?

How many churches and pastors today really count divorce for what it is?  How many actually still preach divorce as sin from which people need to be saved?  How many still count this as a cause for repentance?  How many still urge forgiveness as the only answer?

How many children of divorces are told that they need to accept this horrible molestation and rape as OK and to get over it?  How can such children be confident of anything when this is what they are told?  How can they know what to trust as true and reliable?  How are they to know love as more than a fickle emotion, as a fact that does not fail?

This is why we dare not allow the means of grace also to be compromised.  This is why we dare not call anything but the gathering to the pure means of grace as God’s Church on earth, His holy family.  For if we allow the worship, the communion, the means of our certainty to be compromised, we have nothing in which to trust.

For those whose parents turn to divorce for their answer to their failures and problems, God’s Church remains true.  Where those called together by the Holy Spirit continue in the purity of the Word and Sacraments, there they may rest securely without doubt or fear.  There God is truly present for them.  There the marriage of God with His bride is manifest for all to observe.  His children rejoice in their security.  This is the way when the Gospel is preached purely and the Sacraments are administered as they have been ordained.  This is the way when the worship reflects this in its entirety.

Is this not comforting news?  God does not believe in divorce, except with regard to our sin.  He says that He divorces us from our sin so that we may be united with Him in His Church.  He has given us Baptism as the means by which we are regenerated or reborn into His family.  He has given His Holy Supper to nourish us and keep us alive in His family through the one true faith. All of this is His gift, His gracious doing for us, as our loving Father.  Through this He causes us to know ourselves as He knows us, as His beloved children.  He never forsakes His children.  He never leaves them to find their own way.  For this reason He demands that His pastors never compromise the Word and the life of the holy family, which life we know as worship and communion.

All other families can be broken.  But God’s family is forever.  People do fall away and forget God’s everlasting promises and love, but God does not forget.  People do look elsewhere and become lost, but God continues to call each one through the continuing existence and life of His Church on earth.  Each and every living person is free to return, even more than free, but continually called by our Heavenly Father.  His bride, His family, stands ready to receive each one eagerly.  The Lord declares that the heavenly hosts rejoice when even one sinner is caused to repent and to return home.

This blessed Advent season beckons to us all to hear this and to believe it.  The Christmas season teaches us how far the Lord is willing to go to call us back again to His loving care.  The Epiphany season teaches us how far the call of His Gospel reaches.  Each season of the Church year serves us in these ways.

We are not left alone.  We have not been abandoned.  We are not orphans without hope of reconciliation and reunion with our everlasting family.  Our God comes for us.  He calls to us.  He gives Himself for us.  Like with the shepherds out in the fields with their flocks that very special night, God sends His message through angels, the pastors and the saints who abide in Him and His communion, to call us to respond, saying like the shepherds, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

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Ephesians 4 versus “Lutheran Christians”

     It seems that almost anywhere that a person turns in search of those who profess to be Lutherans that a very anti-Lutheran identity is encountered.  It seems that even amongst those claiming to be the most unabashedly Lutheran a very anti-Lutheran identity is professed.

     This term has become very common among those professing to be Lutherans and especially among those who present themselves as “defenders of the faith.”  They commonly refer to the importance of the historic liturgical practice.  They generally refer to the importance of the Lutheran Confessions, even quoting from them, and especially from Luther’s Small Catechism, sometimes from Luther’s Large Catechism, and also even from the Augsburg Confession and the rest of the documents compiled into the Book of Concord.

     Yet even while writing articles and papers regarding the importance of faithfulness to the doctrine and practice tabernacled within these Confessions, even while waxing eloquent in expressing how this doctrine and practice is truly the exposed Word of God as revealed in Holy Scripture, they then apply a term that completely undermines and denounces all that they have written and confessed and proclaimed.

     What is this term?

     Lutheran Christians.

     This self applied identity is anti-Lutheran.  It is, actually, anti-Christian and anti-Scriptural.

     But if one is so bold as to try to explain this to anyone who identifies oneself with this identity and with the identity of one of the larger Lutheran churches, beware!  Stoning could be the result.

     The Lutheran Confessions that the various so-called Lutheran bodies claim to embrace openly and boldly and uncompromisingly declare that such an identity is not of God and not in accord with the Holy Spirit’s revelation of the Word of God through the Scriptures.  In fact, the so-called Lutheran Confessions never even use the term Lutheran.  This came later as people began to depend upon the presumed faithfulness and power of their churches rather than the means of grace.  The use of the name of Lutheran became a way of pretense.  It became an identity that lost its original meaning and became just a trademark or brand of Christianity.

     Today this has become so pronounced that no one really even considers it anymore.  And so pastors and people alike refer to themselves and especially their churches as “Lutheran Christians.”  This is done in an attempt to justify their special niche in the realm of Christendom.  Since it is not counted as loving to proclaim the Scriptural doctrine of One Holy Catholic Church with a clearly defined identity that excludes all who create alternative identities, a very broad and loosely defined Christianity is applied to all, with idiosyncratic attributes and identities to various schismatic groups.  When the term “Lutheran Christians” is used, this schismatic or denominational view is what is being embraced and taught and professed.

     This is anti-Christian.  It is anti-Scriptural.

     I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.  (Ephesians 4:1-6)

     Here St. Paul teaches with absolute clarity that there is complete unity in the body of Christ, the Church.  This unity is said to be ONE body.  St. Paul addresses this with extremely strong chastisement to the Church in Corinth.  He plainly teaches them that they have ceased walking as one and that they have created divisions that result in extreme forms of idolatry.  He addresses the Church of God in Corinth, because this is who they were called to be.  A few still remained in that but were allowing divisions or denominations to exist and still be called the Church.  He called them to be turned again together to the true faith and to abide in the way of the truth in absolute unity.

     To the Ephesians the apostle declares that there is ONE body.  This is because there is only ONE Spirit, the very Spirit of God who called them to their vocation as saints in the Communion of God in Christ.  There is ONE body, ONE Spirit, ONE hope.

     He proceeds to explain that there is ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism.

     There are not multiple Lords who proclaim different doctrines and practices.  No, there is one Lord, who generates us all through one faith in connection with one Baptism.  There are not multiple definitions and confessions of faith.  There are not multiple ways of understanding Baptism and what God works through Baptism, just as there are not multiple Lords or multiple Gods.

     Yet there have been designed and declared multiple bodies and multiple Lords.  Jesus, the Lord, has only one body, yet self-identified Christians have presumed to divide the body of the Lord.  They have divided in their imaginations the Lord Himself.  Some say that 1 Peter 3:21 is not true and is not to be believed, saying that Baptism does not save, while others imagine that the mere action of baptizing apart from the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit can save.  Some say that a person can cause oneself to be “born again” or “regenerated” by one’s own choice and decision rather than being the sole gift and work of God.  Some say that the means of grace are merely symbolic and not actually efficacious.  On and on the variations go.

     Then there are the “Lutheran Christians” who say that they stand apart without standing apart.  They acknowledge those who say that Christ does not mean what He says regarding Baptism and the Holy Communion, saying that they are Christians, but merely erring or misunderstanding Christians.  Yet these divisive alternatives have existed for centuries and those who embrace them do not repent of these so-called misunderstanding even in the face of clear declarations from the Scriptures.

     This being the case, what do “Lutheran Christians” really mean by this term?  What faith are they declaring and confessing and embracing?  What Lord do they confess?  What body do they confess?  What Spirit do they confess?  What Baptism do they administer? What Supper do they administer?

     When a group of Lutheran Christians gather as a body, what body are they?  Within the various so-called Lutheran bodies, often even within the same congregation, there are multiple forms of worship, labeled as Traditional, Less Traditional, Liturgical, Less Liturgical, Contemporary, Rock, Jazz, Praise, and Blended.  These various worship forms and styles teach and practice different understandings of what it means to be the body of Christ.  They create multiple versions of Christianity under the facade of unity.

     This being the case, to what body are they really gathering?  In what body are they trusting that they are the Church?  It is the body that they have created through a corporate charter.  It is a business that markets Christianity under various definitions and forms, but lumping them all together as though the distinctions do not matter.

     This is what enraged the Lord Jesus when He encountered it in the temple courts so that He drove out the marketers of Church from the temple.  But that temple is no more.  Now the Church gathers as one body in various places and times, often as a mere two or three saints who have been drawn together into the name of Jesus through Baptism to partake of the pure means of grace together.  They are gathered not by their own decision or choice, but by the Holy Spirit who leads them to crave that which the Lord has promised and ordained for their everlasting unity and safety in His Holy Communion.

     The big bodies refuse to offer this.  They despise those who count the pure means of grace as the only defining characteristic of the true Church.  The big bodies urge devotion to their corporate structure and define evangelism and the work of the Church as maintaining this identity in the community.  And so they establish internal banking systems such as LCEF, that is, Lutheran Church Extension Fund, and teach people that by using this investment banking system that they are promoting the extension of God’s kingdom through the building of structures upon which signs are erected that declare buildings to be the Church.

     Because people have invested their treasures in these buildings and in the corporations that own these buildings, this becomes their definition of Church.  They then become enslaved to these as their God in which they trust.  Jesus warned that where one’s treasure is, there one’s heart is also.

     Thus people continue to look to their corporations and despise those who humbly and meekly are drawn to gather in unadorned places without pomp and grandeur, simply clinging to the pure means of grace as their identity and hope.

     It is quite common to encounter people who say in response to this, “I do not believe in organized religion.”

     This response is understandable considering the mass hypocrisy that exists throughout Christendom.  Yet this response is illogical, for religion is by definition organized.  The question that needs to be considered is who is the organizer?

     The Scriptures declare a very clearly defined religion.  And yet the Church of this religion is not at all complex.  Neither is it confusing.  Neither is it hard to maintain in unity and purity.  It is defined by its Creator as the gathering or flock or assembly or congregation that the Holy Spirit gathers to the pure preaching of the Word, which produces the pure administration of the Sacraments of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the Confession and Absolution offered in connection with these.  Where these are rightly administered and people gather in humble unity of the faith to receive them, there the Church is.  Here poor and rich, Gentile and Jew, man and woman and child, slave and free, all gather as one and rejoice in God’s goodness together.


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Sharp enough to do the job

Earlier this week, a locust thorn penetrated my finger and lodged within, causing considerable discomfort. I tried serveral times to remove it with my pocket knife, but the point of the knife was not sharp enough to get the job done without unnecessary injury to the finger. Even after sharpening the knife, the point still was not sharp enough.

Some people use a needle to extract thorns and splinters, but this method leaves the puncture wound, which is more likely to become infected than a wound that has been laid open. Puncture wounds are difficult to cleanse thoroughly. Serious infection and even blood poisoning can result from puncture wounds.

Since my pocket knife was not accomplishing the job, later that evening I utilized one of the kitchen knives that had a sharper point. I was able to open the wound sufficiently without excessive cutting. The thorn popped out. The finger has already healed of its wound.

This scenario is not unlike the more serious penetration of our being by sin. Sin is even more serious as it is so deeply lodged within our body and mind and spirit that it corrupts our very soul. It is beyond what we can reach and remove by anything at our disposal. For this reason God Himself has provided the means by which this can be accomplished.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

As this passage instructs us, the Word of God is sharp. It is sharper than any sword or knife or scalpel. It is sharp to the point of being able to separate the spirit from the soul. It is sharp enough to lay bare all that is within, all of the corruption of our sinful nature, so that it may be washed away with heavenly cleansing.

This living and powerful Word is connected to the preaching of the Gospel, and to water, and bread and wine. God Himself has ordained this and established this for our cleansing and salvation. Through these means He cuts through to remove even the deepest portions of our sinfulness, even the things so deep within that we are unaware of them.

This is because God is the Word. As the Word is poured over us through these ordained means, it enters into us, and with the Word is the fullness of God. Thus the Holy Spirit as well as Jesus come to us to pierce deeply into our hearts and souls and work the miracle of conversion. In Baptism the Holy Spirit is given to dwell within the newly generated believer. And where the Holy Spirit is, so also is the Father and the Son, for they truly are one. But this is most powerfully manifested in the Holy Supper of God’s Communion, where the Holy Trinity draws us to partake of the fullness of His Communion, not only in our hearts and souls, but also in His body, the Church, the communion of saints. And so God not only removes our thorny sin and all of the filthy corruption of our sinful nature, but He heals us and restores us and continually renews us and nourishes us in His Holy Communion.

However, we are inclined to turn to less invasive means. We tend to want to remove the sharpness of the Word. We are inclined to attempt to restrict the cutting that the Word would do so that the pain of exposing the deeper cancer is avoided. We even are inclined to try to explain away the disease of sin as something less damning. The judgment that cuts so deeply that even the tiniest fragment of our sinful nature is exposed and purged hurts. We cringe from this and try to avoid it. But in so doing we hinder the wonderful work that our heavenly physician would do for us. In fact, when we interfere in these ways, we not only hinder Him and His miraculous means of grace, but we actually reject Him and His works. By so doing we cut ourselves off from the means through which He works these miracles for us. We cut ourselves off from His salvation and His kingdom of pure grace.

God’s way only works when it is truly His way. When we interfere and interject our words and ways with His words and ways, they are no longer His words and ways. His Word is pure. His Word is perfect. His Word is powerful. His Word is life. His Word made Himself to be flesh and blood so as to cut through to the entire corruption of humanity and carry it to the cross and grave. If we reduce this with our corrupt words and ways, we join ourselves again to the very corruption from which He is working to save us.

We need the cutting power of the pure Word. God gives this to us in ways that remove us and our corruption from them entirely. This is why God works through the ordained means of grace. For in these, if we do not interject our own ways into them, God is the only one at work. If the preaching is truly the preaching of the pure Gospel and if the Sacraments are truly administered as God has given them, then we are merely vessels that receive them and not actually the doers of them. When He is the doer of the works, the works can be trusted fully. It is, after all, His kingdom and His Word and His Church and His salvation.


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What Do You Want?

With my birthday anniversary approaching my wife asked me to give her a list of things that I want for my birthday. She specified that the things that I have purchased for the business needs do not count.

She asked this of me nearly three weeks ago. I still cannot think of anything.

This actually came as a mild surprise to me. I cannot think of anything that I want, at least not that can be purchased in a store.

I stopped at a computer place recently and shared this with the fellow at the counter. He responded, “Oh boy! I could give you a list!”

I answered, “Please do.”

He said that there are loads of technological things. His first suggestion was a flat screen TV. I explained that we don’t watch TV. We have not watched TV for over eleven years. We do rent videos, but even these are garbage, so why would we invest in blue ray or a high definition televison screen to examine garbage more closely?

He and I spoke more about the fact that I cannot think of anything that I want. With a look of bewilderment or amazement he responded that this is a very good place to be. He said that he did not understand it personally, but that it would be a very good place to be.

Now, this is not to say that I do not recognize that it would be good for us to have newer and more reliable vehicles and such, but these things are not birthday oriented wishes. Besides, we are getting along. We have running vehicles that we can keep repaired fairly reasonably. God has given me a wife who loves me. He has given me a place to stay, even a house. I have daily food and drink. I have the Gospel and the means of grace.

The things that I really want are healing within our family and within the Church. What I want most of all is for unity in doctrine and practice to be restored among those who claim to be in Christ Jesus. This is my greatest cause for want in my life. This is the one thing for which I truly long. This is my daily cry. Oh that our loved ones and friends and all who say that they believe in Jesus would return to the clear and unwavering Truth in both their confession and in their communions. If this occurred I would have all that I could ever desire. This would satisfy me and fill me with joy beyond measure.

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Why Good Friday?

Why did God send Jesus to suffer and die? Why was this necessary?

It was necessary to save God damned sinners from their everlasting damnation.

So then why does God damn sinners?

He damns them so that they may be saved. Apart from God’s damnation, sinners would ignore their state of condemnation. Apart from God’s damnation, all of His children would be lost forever. God manifests His wrath in order that sinners may be shaken from their complacency with their sin, which cuts them off from God, apart from the life that is of God alone.

Why is God so angry about sin? Sin tears His children away from Him. Sin breaks the holy communion that God established between Himself and His children. Sin creates a barrier between sinners and God. Satan, filled with hatred for God, introduced sin to mankind, thereby destroying God’s holy communion with Man. Sin prevents God’s good, gracious, and loving will from being enacted in Man.

Sin cannot be tolerated. It cannot exist in the presence of holiness. It corrupts and destroys all that is good. It must be punished and driven out. But God’s love moved Him to take this upon Himself, taking into Himself our flesh and our nature so that He could suffer the consequences of sin for us. Thus Jesus suffered and died in our place. He took our sin. He is the forgiveness of sin.

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God’s Grace in Injuries & Healing

In a post from last month, No longer a child , I told about an accident and injury that occurred, as well as the change in mindset concerning such things from childhood to manhood. The wounds really were not pretty, so I refrained from posting a picture at that time.

Since that time, the wounds have healed very nicely. While they still are not pretty, they are less gruesome than when they were open wounds. So, perhaps it will not be terribly uncouth, or at least not inexcusably so, to post a picture for those who would like to see how well they have healed.

From this photo it is easy to see that it could have been a very serious and long term injury. The Lord prevented more serious injury, allowing the lacerations only to extend through the layers of the skin and not into the flesh, tendons and ligaments, and cartilage and bone beneath. As can be seen, the tissue has knitted together again.

God’s gracious activity cannot be properly estimated, unless one stops trying to be an accountant and simply confess that God is gracious and active in all things. If our eyes and hearts are open to perceive the truth, we see Him at work for our good in all things, even in our carelessness, our weakness, our foolishness, our failures and mistakes, and yes, even in our sinfulness. God’s merciful and gracious love and activity are not limited to what we count as good. His goodness and mercy endure forever. They fill the universe and beyond. If we do not see this, it is because we have our eyes and hearts closed and misdirected.

As my wife prepared to receive her evening’s rest, we briefly discussed this matter. We especially spoke of the future being something that we are not to seek to know beyond knowing that it is as God has promised. We discussed how the worldly premise that the future is what matters being a false premise because what matters is life. “What then is the purpose of life?”

The purpose of life is to live. And life is to be lived in communion with God and also with one another in Him. I expressed that when our hearts are focused upon this, nothing else matters for then all is good. She asked, “No matter what?” I said, “No matter what, because when this is the focus, all else is insignificant.”

God truly is good and His mercy endures forever. He calls us into the communion of His Son, through whom we partake of all goodness even forevermore. When we believe this, then our daily bread is abundantly sufficient and completely satisfying and nothing in this world can take that from us.

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What Is the Point?

What Is the Point?

I often find myself wondering whether there is any real point to blogging. As is expressed in the two videos in the post on Twitter Merit, I often wonder about the overall value of blogging in general, including this little blog of mine.

In my posting, and in my checking the statistical reports, I realize that a big part of my motive is selfish, at least in a sense. While I have the proclamation of the Gospel as the foundational motive, nevertheless, I also keep searching.

I find that I check frequently to see whether anyone is actually reading the blog. When the statistical report shows me that people are visiting the blog and reading the material that I present, it is encouraging to me.

Why?

In this world of the darkness of sin, with the compromises that continue to be accepted and even promoted within Christendom, standing alone feels very lonely. I and my wife have visited many congregations in the past, searching for our brothers and sisters with whom we could gather. In times past we have driven as far as 75 miles one way, a 150 mile round trip, to attend the divine services. Here in Wichita we drove 65 miles each way for a time.

We very much want to find those with whom we may honestly declare to have true koinonia or communion, often called fellowship. However, true communion is not what most people today call fellowship. True communion is not merely a sense of comradery. True communion is being genuinely one. This oneness is more than a feeling. It is more than gathering in a group that tries to make people feel welcome. It is more than coffee and donuts. It is more than gathering in a specific location to go through the motions of worship.

When we have attended services at congregations that do not understand this or have it, we have sometimes been fooled for a time, but before long we found that we were more alone amongst them than apart from them. The reason is that the union and communion that we seek and even sometimes desperately desire is not a horizontal relationship. We are not seeking to be united and welcomed by extension. We are not seeking an extended hand or open arms. We are seeking oneness. Rather than seeking to be welcomed, we are seeking those with whom no welcoming committee and no greeter is necessary. We are seeking those with whom we already belong, not those with whom we must join.

And I find that I must admit that this blog is written at least in part with that continual desire to hear from someone, somewhere, with whom we are truly one.

We think that there surely must be others in the world who stand solely upon the foundation that is everlasting. We very much would love to be in communication with them. We know of a very tiny few. And the fact that people do visit the blog and the web site seems to indicate that others also are seeking the same. Sadly though, it seems that almost no one is willing to stand alone, to stand apart from the bigger so-called fellowships, so as not to separate themselves from those who stand solely upon the foundation of the doctrine of the apostles in the one true body of Christ.

I mentioned that a kind of selfishness is included in my blogging, and this desire to find those with whom I am one is that selfish or self-serving motive. Yet, this search is in the hope of those who are our brethren also being able to share in the knowledge of our presence and to be encouraged and edified together with us.

And so, while I often wonder whether this blogging is worthwhile, I expect that I will continue posting little bits of the grand proclamation of the good news that is the light and life of men. Even if I am only preaching the Gospel in snippets to myself, I benefit. And if someone, somewhere, also hears and receives even some small benefit, it is worthwhile for that reason as well.

Pray Without Ceasing

“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

How do you hear these words of St. Paul? Do they make sense to you? Do they seem realistic?

“Pray without ceasing.” Following his actual word order, he says, “Incessantly pray!”

What does this mean? How is this possible? What form does this take in a person’s life?

In order to understand this admonition from the apostle to the Gentiles we must first understand what prayer really is. Is prayer what people imagine it to be? Is prayer something that a person chooses to do? Is prayer an action or is it something else?

I believe that we sinful humans begin with a perverse perception of prayer. We begin with the notion that prayer is something that originates with us. We imagine that prayer is something that we do.

However, prayer is really nothing more than the ongoing activity of the Holy Communion of God. Prayer is really what God is working in the person whom He has incorporated into the communion of the Holy Trinity. Prayer is really a walking or living in spirit. Prayer is to the soul what breathing is to the body.

I’d like to share an example of prayer that became manifest in my daily activity one day last week.

Last week I was working out of town on a big job. It involved the pruning and deadwooding and cleaning of many trees as well as removal of dead and diseased and scrub trees.

This tree was one of the trees that needed extensive deadwooding and cleaning. It is probably about 60 ft. tall. In preparing to climb this tree, I needed to position my climbing line in one of the upper crotches. After selecting a crotch that would give me good climbing position and support, I shot my throw weight and line many times. Several times I had a perfect shot that went directly through the crotch, only to be bounced back out by a little twig. Many other times it bounced to one side or another off of little twigs and leaves that were in the path of the shot. Several times I cried out, “Why are you fighting me, Lord?” Finally, in frustration I demanded, “Why are you fighting me, Lord? Why do you refuse to allow me this shot? Is there something wrong with this crotch? Do you simply not want me to use this crotch? Is it unsafe? What?” I tried again, and said, “OK. I’ll try one more time and if you still block me, I’ll try another crotch.”

I had to select another crotch. When I climbed to that part of the tree, about 40 or 45 ft. high, I saw that indeed the entire branch was rotted. It looked solid from the ground. It was over six inches in diameter, but the center of the branch was severely decayed and weakened.

I prayed, “OK, Lord. Thanks for keeping me safe.”

The point is that I expect this from God. In my daily work I talk to Him and I listen to Him. Mostly, I listen.

I believe that this is what St. Paul is teaching us regarding our walk by faith. Faith is fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Faith is knowledge of the holy, or holy one. This knowledge moves one to acknowledge God’s Holy Communion in every aspect of one’s life. Being established in His Communion is to be continually listening and responding to Him, expecting Him to be present and involved in every activity and aspect of daily living.

Here is the tree after I finished climbing and pruning.

I was in this tree for about two hours. This was two hours longer than I would have been in the tree if I had not been listening and anticipating God to be directing me in my work.

I cannot imagine living without the blessing of incessant prayer. This stands as one little example of the form that prayer takes throughout the day. Prayer includes hymns that the Holy Spirit brings to mind and reflection upon Bible verses and thinking of various interactions with people and pondering plans and wondering about loved ones and longing for being home with my wife. Prayer includes marveling at the depth and power of God’s love. Prayer includes observing the songs of birds as they sing of the wonders of God’s creation. On and on prayer takes hold and manifests itself as God works and blesses.

The Lord commands that we call upon Him in the day of trouble. What day is without trouble? What day is not polluted by sin? What day does not provide limitless opportunities for prayer in communion with the One who loves us?

The God of Peace

In many conversations I am sadly reminded that very few Christians worship my God. Most Christians worship the God of tolerance. I worship the God of peace.

This very important difference is counted as insignificant semantics by most people. But semantics are never insignificant. I wonder what people really mean when they say, “That’s just a matter of semantics.”

Do people even think of what they are saying? Do they understand what semantics are? The semantics are the meanings of the words. If words are being used with meanings that are at variance, what is really being communicated between the users of the words?

Since my God is the Word, I never count semantics as insignificant. Since my God emphatically declares that His words have power to effect what He says, I count all words as important, acknowledging that words will either collaborate with or counter His words.

My God is not a god of tolerance. Tolerance is an allowance or accommodation at a distance. It is a “putting-up-with” something or someone. True agreement is not reached and true reconciliation is never achieved. Tolerance merely attempts to overlook or in some way compensate for what is lacking.

Peace, however, true peace, is the removal of that which causes offense. The cause of unrest is removed and thus peace is the result. True unity is the basis of peace.

The God of the Gospel is the prince and king of peace. He rules not by permissiveness, nor by force. Permissiveness allows the problems and the continuance of unrest to linger. Force hardens the heart. Peace, however, creates a new heart of willing subjugation to what is good for all. Peace overrules all selfishness and creates the bond of unity. Where true agreement rules, no cause for disagreement and disharmony ever arises.

My God condemns disunity and drives it far from Him and His. In His communion unity is fostered through love. That which is wrong and untrue is not tolerated but is overcome through love. Love works no ill to the neighbor. Romans 13:10.

With tolerance exists disunity. With disunity exists division. Division is separation or disconnection. This is the opposite of communion and peace. In my God’s communion peace rules. Therefore each person speaks and all agree. No bristling occurs. No putting-up-with the speaker is necessary. For if disagreement is found, the matter is discussed in connection with God’s words until agreement results. Then all are in agreement and peace continues. All hear the other and all say together, “Amen!”

Amen is never effected by tolerance. Amen is the language of peace. Amen and peace are of God. This is what my God declares. This is what my God brings to be. This is what my heart and soul and mind crave. To this I cling with body, heart, mind, and soul. I do not desire a god of tolerance, not when the God of peace has come near. Him I will trust. Him I will love. Him I will preach. In Him I will live.