Thirty Day Challenge versus Forty Day Humbling

I truly love Lententide as it is a very powerful season calling us away from the false worship that we devise for ourselves.

One of the stations that I hear when driving has a 30 Day Challenge in which the challenge is to listen to their station to hear only Christian Music for 30 days and see how it changes a person’s life.  I would actually love to be able to do this.  I truly would.  If only such a station existed where Christian music is what is played.

Rather, all that is available is the pablum found on stations like theirs.  If it were merely pablum, maybe I could still utilize it, but it is also bad theology, false theology.  Thus, they are right, if I were to listen to this for 30 days, I would become the kind of Christian that these songs inspire, one who in self-delusion speaks of relying on Christ while ultimately relying upon my own reason and strength.

Thus I often turn on the radio and listen to such a station for as long as I can stand it, hearing the weather and a few other reports as well as the “uplifting Christian music,” and then I turn it off and sing and hum hymns and portions of the liturgy.

Lent is a time that helps me with this as the entire focus of Lent directs us away from self to the preaching of Christ crucified.

I often am befuddled when I observe how many people choose for themselves songs that consist of a few fragments of a Psalm or other Scriptural selection and twist these into a mindless orgy of delusional “praise.”

The Psalms were the hymnal for the Church of the Old Testament.  They consist of the deepest doctrinal content.  They rarely repeat except with those particularly written as responsive prayers, such as Psalm 136.  Some are quite short and others are quite long.  But they always are full of deep content and are written to fit within the greater life of worship with the coming of the Christ as the foundation.  They teach of the grandeur and marvel of God’s work of creation.  They teach of the fall of mankind and the promise of the Savior.  They teach of the giving of the Torah/Law/Word of God for the enlightenment of mankind concerning the God of grace and salvation.  They were compiled into a grouping together, to be understood one with the other, never as fragmentary praises to stand alone.

While a radio station may extend a 30 day challenge to listen only to their music as motivation to be changed in one’s focus and view, the Church has the 40 day season of fasting and prayer, calling us to be humbled so that we may turn from seeking to be uplifted so that we rather willingly and even eagerly fall to our knees before God to receive His merciful absolution and blessing of regeneration into His kingdom.  Lent calls us to bow down and hear again our baptismal promise of absolution and reconciliation with God.  Lent calls us to turn from the sweet notions of birthday parties for Jesus to the battered and bloodied Son of Man who cried out with our sin for us on the cross of our salvation.  Exuberant cries of “Joy to the World” and “Happy Birthday Jesus” are turned to tears of thankful joy that God would take such suffering from us on our behalf.

Lent is still a time of praise, but of a very different kind than what the old Adam chooses.  The old Adam wants to flaunt the freedom of the new life.  The regenerated man  rises up from being baptized into God’s kingdom and praises the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb who even from eternity volunteered to save the brothers whom He created.

It is quite marvelous to observe the manner of St. Peter after the resurrection contrasted to his manner prior to the crucifixion.  Lent calls us to be turned to this humbleness of spirit, too.  Lent calls us to look to the Holy Supper as our Thanksgiving.  Lent directs our hearts to hunger and thirst for the pure administration of the body and blood of Jesus as our greatest praise of God.  There we bow to His grace rather than to raise ourselves up to our own noise.  There God is honored most fully, even as He Himself has said thus to do.

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Blessed Lent

Lent truly is a blessed time in the Church Year.  In my own appreciation of the seasons of the Church Year, I find Lent to be the most powerful.  My heart finds its way back to the thoughts and especially the hymns of Lententide throughout the year.  The comfort of the Lententide proclamation of my deep need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is very powerfully beneficial to me in my daily struggles in this sin-filled world.  Without that comfort I would surely despair.  Thus I treasure this message of comfort.

Today I saw a video that troubled me greatly.  It is a presentation from the current president of my former church body, the LC-MS.  This video presentation reminds me of what a dear friend was recently told by one or our former peers, by a current pastor in the LC-MS.  He was told:

Do you know what your problem is?  Your problem is that you actually believe this stuff.

My heart breaks every time that I think of this.  I most assuredly experienced this myself regarding the “faithful” pastors of this church body.  This is why I am distressed by the following video presentation.



This style of mild mannered preaching is not new.  In the past I was more easily duped by such a style, where the very kind and gentle manner of the synodical president gives the impression that a grandfatherly approach is being displayed.  However, grandfathers who truly love their children and grandchildren do not calmly allow their families to continue in dysfunction and discord.  Rather they take a strong position in calling those whom they love to be turned from the things that cause problems.

In this video Matthew 6 is quoted to make the point that Jesus loves prayer.  Mention is made of Luther’s wonderful explanation of the Our Father.  These are wonderful points to make.  These surely are to be preached and with loving gentleness.

Harrison further notes the value of the Litany.  The portion that he quotes is on pages 288-289 of the Lutheran Service Book and is available online here.  The LSB has slightly altered this responsive prayer from the earlier versions, but it still teaches the same basic points.  It still is a very good example of true prayer.

Harrison directs his hearers to the Litany as a wonderful help in praying as the Lord Jesus and His apostles teach that prayers should be made.  This is wonderful advice.

Then Harrison says at 3:35 on the time line:

Sometimes, when I get to this part, “We poor sinners implore You to hear us, O Lord.  To rule and govern Your holy Christian Church; to preserve all pastors and ministers of Your Church in the true knowledge and understanding of Your wholesome Word and to sustain them in holy living;” I stop.

At this point he shares the need for a person to pray for and support one’s pastor.  He instructs on the need to be aware of one’s failure to honor God’s gift of faithful pastors and to repent of this, calling upon God to forgive this failure and to move the people to pray for their faithful pastors.

He concludes urging, “Thank You for giving me a faithful pastor.”  Indeed, this is true cause for thanksgiving.

However, can this prayer rightly be urged in a church body where there are pastors who say things like: “Do you know what your problem is?  Your problem is that you actually believe this stuff.”

Is it loving to ignore the fact that congregations in this church body have pastors who are not faithful?  Should this Lenten admonition ignore the urgency for praying that the Lord of the Church rule and govern His holy Christian Church so that the pastors are only those who are preserved in the true knowledge and understanding of God’s wholesome Word and in holy living?

Should this Lenten admonition not also to include the rest of this section of the Litany?

To put an end to all schisms and causes of offense; to bring into the way of truth all who have erred and are deceived; To beat down Satan under our feet; to send faithful laborers into Your harvest; and to accompany Your Word with Your grace and Spirit:

How can Pr. Harrison ignore the fact, especially during this time of Lent when his duty is to call the pastors and congregations to repentance of their waywardness concerning God’s Word, how can he ignore the fact that there is indeed great division in his church body concerning the doctrine and practice of that church body?

Could it be that he is actually one of those pastors who says: “Do you know what your problem is?  Your problem is that you actually believe this stuff.”?

The Epistle of James warns about this idea that faith can somehow exist without the good works that flow from faith.  He warns that such faith is dead.  If a congregation, pastor, church body, synodical president, talk about faith and faithfulness but do not agree in what this means, just making noise to be heard and seen for their words, is this not what the Lord Jesus warns against in the very text that Pr. Harrison used to teach that Jesus loves prayer?

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  (Matthew 6:1-2 ESV)

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  (Matthew 6:5-9 ESV)

Surely Jesus does love true prayer that flows from hearts that have been baptized into Him and the new life breathed into them by the Holy Spirit.  This new life is one of true unity in the confession of the one true faith, a life of worship in the doctrine and practice of the apostles.

But does Jesus love prayer that stops short of actually embracing this unity in the true faith of Jesus?  Does Jesus love prayer that says, “Thank you for giving me a faithful pastor” when this pastor does not demonstrate this faithfulness?  Does Jesus love prayer that pretends that a pastor is given by God when in fact this pastor is chosen and ordained without true concern for what the Lord has clearly declared as the definition of a true pastor and congregation and worship?

Can the season of Lent be a truly Blessed Lent without recognizing the gifts through which the season is made to be blessed?  If Lent is a penitential season, should this penitence not begin with acknowledging and turning from the trespasses of the church body and congregations and pastors so that the people may be rightly instructed concerning the blessed preaching and administration of the means of grace?

At the end of his video Pr. Harrison says regarding what he and others have to confess regarding not praying for and supporting their pastors: “Lord forgive me, I deserve to be removed from that congregation and for my pastor to be taken away.”

This is truly ironic, for they truly have starved out hundreds of faithful pastors.  Some were driven out forcefully.  They have removed all of the pastors who were willing to stand unmoved so that now their pastors are those who on one side make a show of contemporaneity with the world and much preaching of love and tolerance, and on the other hand, those who make a show of liturgical fidelity and propriety.  Both sides urging the people to remain steadfast to the synod.

Is this the message by which Lent is blessed?

Other people could point to the church bodies most familiar to them and show the same lack of the true preaching and practice that the Lord declares to be the marks of His Church.  I speak of the one most familiar to me, the one in which most of my loves ones still abide.

Lent is certainly a good time to call out with such observations.  As we journey toward the observance of the betrayal of the Lord Jesus, and His false condemnation, suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial, this is a very good season to ask ourselves whether we are congregating with those who are truly His body, His Church on earth.  This is a good season to be asking whether or not the congregation where we seek to receive the blessings of Lent is really a congregation where these blessings are administered as Christ has ordained them.  This is a good season to be examining ourselves to know for certain that we are indeed bound to Jesus Christ in the things that we are receiving.

This is why St. Paul writes:

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

  (Philippians 2:12)

Since Lent is a season for being called to remember what is most important to us regarding our everlasting salvation, is this not what we truly need to consider?  Should we not fall to our knees with fear and trembling at the thought that we could have become misled in our beliefs?  Should be not tremble at that thought that we could have chosen for ourselves an alternative to what Christ and His apostles have proclaimed?  Should we not scrutinize everything that we embrace as true to be certain that what we believe really is true?  Should we not be moved beyond our complacency to study with the utmost care to be certain that our salvation has not slipped away from us while we sat in the pew praising God from our own imagined safety?

What one of us is truly safe?  What one of us can be absolutely sure?

Such certainly is promised.  Such certainty is declared in the Holy Scriptures.

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

  (John 20:30-31)

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

  (1 John 5:10-13)

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

  (1 Corinthians 11:31-32)

Jonah was sent with a very simple message to the people of Nineveh.  The people of Nineveh heard the warning and in their hearts they were turned again from their waywardness to the Lord and they were saved, at least that generation was.  But over time their children and grandchildren drifted and forgot and they lost the salvation in which their parents believed.

Isn’t it time that we begin to pray the entire Litany again, praying it from the heart and not just as part of a Lenten liturgical tradition?  Isn’t it time that we begin again to pray confessing ourselves as poor miserable sinners who desperately need the pure medicine that only in its purity has the power to save and heal us?

Surely then this would be a most blessed Lent.  Surely this would also be a truly blessed celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.

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An Apology Is Not Repentance

In the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) is the following conversation between Rannulph Junuh and Adele Invergordon.


Adele approaches Junuh and sits beside him on the bench, uncomfortably.

Junuh:  There something you wanted to tell me?

Adele:  Well, I'm trying to think of how to say it, Junuh.

       There is a purpose to this visit...
       ...and that's to apologize.

       I'm not an apologetic woman, it takes me longer to organize my thoughts.

       I want to seem properly contrite for having gotten you into this match...
       ...but not seem what I did was ill-intentioned, since it wasn't.

Junuh:  What exactly are you apologizing for?

Adele:  For publicly humiliating you.

Junuh:  That'd be a good thing to apologize for.

Adele:  However, I think that...

       Basically, what I'm trying to say is...

       ...that I'm sorry.

       But it's not my fault.

       You're the one to blame.

Junuh:   That's one hell of an apology, Adele.

Adele:  I'd stop the tournament in a flash, if I could. I truly, truly would.

       Because I know it's just gonna get worse.
       The way you're playing, you're destroying...
       ...any chance Jones and Hagen have of doing well.

       And your supporters? Every man, woman, and child in Savannah...
       ...are so demoralized that they can barely hold down their lunches.

       So, you want my apology or not?

Junuh:  No.

Adele:  Well...

       That's the Junuh I know. Just full of little surprises.

What was this?

Why did Adele even approach her estranged husband?

Years earlier poor Junuh was the sole survivor in a World War I battle.  He did not know how to face people after this.  He could not explain it for himself.  He was counted as a hero by everyone except himself.  He felt guilty for surviving.  So he returned to his hometown but not to his wife.  He was not able to forgive himself so as to face himself, so he could not be open to face her, either.

This was wrong.  She was deeply injured.  She suffered for over ten years because of his inability to face the circumstances of his life honestly.  He sought for answers without turning to the source of truth and goodness.  So he tried to hide from himself.  He could not do this while embracing his wife.  The marital union requires honesty.  All unity is completely dependent upon the Truth.  Junuh had turned his face, his heart, his soul away from the Truth.

Adele wanted to save her father’s legacy.  She wanted to save the golf course and fortune of her father.  She devised a grand plan to have a legendary tournament to initiate interest in the golf course.  So she coerced her husband to come forth and play in the tournament.  Her motives were mixed, but were selfish.  She thought only of what she wanted, even though deep down that included reconciliation with her husband.  But even this reconciliation she sought for selfish motives.

Eventually she confronted her husband with his sin against her.  He apologized sincerely.  He confessed his sin and asked forgiveness, which she initially refused to give.  But he repented nonetheless.  Eventually she did forgive him and rejoin him.  And he forgave her even though she never truly confessed her own sin against him.  But she did turn from her sin.  She stopped blaming him and hating him.  Though her confession was incomplete, she was turned again to love and true compassion for her husband, and he received her with no demands upon her.  Her confession and contrition were false, but she was nevertheless turned from this falseness back to the truth of their love.

The confrontation took place.  Both hearts were turned.  Forgiveness and healing and reconciliation resulted.  They began life together anew.

This story does not fully portray the life of the forgiveness that is in Christ, but it does demonstrate some of the important aspects.  The reconciliation that God works is far greater.  It is a one sided reconciliation in that God initiates it and fulfills it.  He is the innocent one, the one who has been wronged, and yet He willingly takes the blame and buries it with His own death.  He rises up and continually calls to us to confess our waywardness and to be reconciled to Him in His love.  Even though we are unable fully to confess our sin, He eagerly forgives us and restores us.  Even though we turn from the truth, He proclaims it openly and fully so that we are moved to believe it and be turned again to Him to receive His grace, mercy, and peace.

Like Junuh, we need to hear the good news that though we are lost, our place has been reserved for us.  When we finally hear this in faith, we are turned from our obstinate unbelief so that we gladly and humbly return to the one calling us back to His fatherly embrace.

Like Adele, though we are confused and angry, often not even knowing why we are angry, God’s continual call melts our stubbornness so that His love prevails and we are rejoined to Him in His Holy Communion.  Deep down that is what we want all along, but because we seek to be strong on our own we resist His loving call to return humbly to Him.  When we finally hear the truth that His love and His calling are the answer, when we finally are broken with the weariness of fighting to make things right in our lives by our own reason and strength, when we finally admit that we cannot do for ourselves what God graciously does freely for us, then we look up and see that the battle has already been won and the life is already restored for us.

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I was moved to write this as my heart sought a way to address the fraudulence in the following video.  In this video the president of the LC-MS seeks to effect healing within his church body through a pretense of repentance.  In this and the letters at Pastoral Letters on the Newtown Tragedy no wrongdoing is ever actually confessed or addressed.



If one carefully observes both the video and the letters, both Adele and Junuh show forth in various ways.  There is hiding from the truth.  There is lack of open confrontation of wrongdoing.  There are false attempts at apologies that really are not apologies at all.

In the end this is much worse because there is no repentance, no forgiveness, no healing.

There is, however, a very subtle pointing of the finger of blame away from those who are in the middle of the conflict.  Very subtly the blame is placed upon those within the church body who are calling out for the leaders and pastors and congregations to turn from the pretense.  Those who are calling for the truth to be confessed and the hypocrisy to be abandoned are being told that they are unloving for not being willing to pretend that all is well.  Those seeking honest confession and absolution and a genuine turning from corruption of the truth are being told that they should turn a blind eye and be quiet for the sake of a pretense of unity and love.

This is not the way of true healing.  This is not the way of real unity.

It would be wonderful to see the leaders and people of this church body to realize this and to be turned to the Truth so that they may receive the healing that their hearts long to receive.  The problem remains for them that they serve their mammon and imagine that they can serve God also.  They continue to fight to preserve what they hold most dear, that is, their church body.

It would truly be a joyous day if like Adele they realized that saving the legacy of their fathers is not what matters.  Then they would walk away from their church body and be reunited in the union of the true faith.  Then they would truly be “synod” not through a corporate charter and a constitution and by-laws, but as those truly in the “together-way.”

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Surrendering the Hallelujahs

During the season of Epiphany, I had a subdued dread of the coming of the surrender of the singing of the hallelujahs and of the Gloria in Excelsis that we observe during Lent. It amplified my sense of the reason for which the Lord Jesus was born into the world and the reason for the Epiphany.

While I count the traditional omission to be valuable, it always causes me to experience feelings of angst and uneasiness. But then, that is the purpose. And it does work effectively in my soul.

Today is Ash Wednesday and the more austere time of the Church Year has come.

As I observe the situations in the world, observing the encroachment of times of austerity imposed by globalist elites, I find myself wondering whether the time may come when I set aside this tradition. It may be that worldly conditions become so austere that my need for the perpetual hallelujahs will prevail.

Of course, the liturgical practice does not remove the hallelujah from me, nor from the Church. It only removes it from the formal worship. It only serves as a reminder of the fact that metanoia is a never ending need and that true expression of hallelujah is only possible because of the Holy Spirit’s working of metanoia in the heart, mind, and soul.

It is hard really even to realize fully what the Lord’s second coming will establish. No more sorrow. No more tears. No more need for metanoia. Simply everlasting hallelujahing in the newness of life in the glorious fullness of the Lord’s presence! Truly everlasting uninterrupted joy and jubilation is impossible fully to fathom, but I surely do look forward to it with eager anticipation!

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Cause and Effect - Forgiveness and Repentance

At Worldview Everlasting in their “WE Got Answers” section for Feb. 2, the question was asked:

Our pastor preaches that, “If you don’t think something is sinful and you don’t repent of it then you’re not going to be forgiven.” Is this really true? If yes, how can we ever be sure of our salvation? Can you please explain?

The responding pastor rightly begins by saying: “First off, I would highly recommend speaking to your pastor about what he said and asking for some clarification.”

This question, as it is presented, leaves too much unsaid for anyone to be able to answer without knowing the greater context of this person’s pastor’s preaching. The responding pastor gives some good general thoughts to the pondering of the question. Please see his response for further pondering.

However, this rather vague question presents a wonderful opportunity to investigate this matter further. In particular, the cause and effect relationship of forgiveness and repentance is worthy of deeper investigation and explanation.

Did you catch the reversal that I here presented from what is commonly falsely presumed? Even in the response at Worldview Everlasting, the backwards presumption seems to prevail in the explanation. The parishioner’s question begins with this backwards understanding and the pastoral response did not really set it right.

First, what is the false presumption? The false presumption is that the cause and effect relationship is from repentance to forgiveness. We sinners cannot grasp God’s gracious decree of forgiveness apart from the regeneration that the Holy Spirit works through the means of grace, that is, the Gospel and Sacraments. So we tend to think from the perspective of the damned rather than from the perspective of the regenerated. Our default reasoning is from that of unbelief and the misconceptions of our sinful nature. Thus we imagine that God’s grace works the same way as our sinful mindset. We generally think that a person must apologize and ask forgiveness and change one's actions and attitudes toward us before we expect to forgive. But this is not God’s way, not at all. For this way does not truly work even among us.

The fact is that forgiveness produces repentance, not the other way around.

To understand this, we first need to understand what repentance really is. The New Testament Greek word is metanoia. Repent is not a very good translation of this word. Sadly, it has been with us for so long that it is hard to escape. Invert or convert is really closer to what is meant by metanoia. Metanoia is a change in mind. The mind is altered so that it functions differently, with an entirely new basis for reasoning.

That which effects this change of mindset is the Gospel of God’s forgiveness in Christ. When a person hears God’s declaration that in Christ the person’s sins are all forgiven, this turns the person’s mind upside down and inside out. Now the person has been turned from the previous direction and manner of thinking toward the way of Christ. Now the person looks for even one’s identity in the very person and work of Christ.

The Gospel accounts give us some marvelous examples of this.

Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:1-12)

Notice what is here portrayed for our observation and learning. The Lord Jesus began the day in communing with the Father. Then He goes into the temple and indoctrinated (taught) all the people who came to Him. This is an important factor that is easily overlooked. They came to Him to receive His doctrine, His words of instruction. Moreover, this was in the temple, where the focus was upon the forgiveness of sins through the preaching and sacraments. The reason for coming to the temple was to receive God’s declaration of forgiveness and to be reunited into the Holy Communion of God’s Church on earth.

For what purpose did the scribes and Pharisees come into the temple and to Jesus? They came to oppose Jesus and His doctrine. They came to bring a woman to the temple for the exact opposite purpose for which the temple was ordained. They came to seek a pronouncement of condemnation and death.

So the Lord Jesus granted them their request. Upon their arrogant insistence, Jesus, who had been sitting and teaching, raised himself up before them and said to them: “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

They demanded a pronouncement of condemnation, so He gave them one, the one that came from their own mindset. They all pronounced themselves to be condemned and without God’s forgiveness. They walked away in shame.

But to the condemned woman he inquired which of her accusers now condemned her. When she responded that none of them did, He pronounced God’s forgiveness and the power of that forgiveness to live as one who is no longer under the condemnation. He tells her to go and no longer sin.

But the Lord Jesus does not leave the people to imagine that this power to live no longer sinning is a decision or choice that they must perform. He explains that He is that power by which people walk no longer in darkness. He is the light that shines in their heart and mind and turns them from stumbling to walking in safety.

Here is another marvelous example:

And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:1-10)

First, Jesus came to Jericho, where Zacchaeus lived. Again people gathered to Jesus to hear His teaching. As Jesus and the crowd moved through the town, Zacchaeus felt drawn to see Jesus and calculated the path and ran ahead and climbed up a tree where he would be able to see Jesus. That was it. He wanted to see Jesus. He did not call out to Jesus. He did not decide to follow Him. He did nothing more than to hang in the branches above where Jesus would come.

It was Jesus who spoke to Zacchaeus. Jesus invited Himself into the life and house of this little man of ill repute. He pressed His way into the mind and heart of this man through the gentle invitation of His holy presence. Without actually stating it in the usual manner, Jesus absolved this man of his lifetime of sin and unbelief.

Zacchaeus understood fully what Jesus had done for him. His heart was changed by these words of Jesus to him. He climbed down out of the tree with haste and eagerly received his Savior into his home. He understood fully what this meant and responded to it in the same manner as the adulterous woman, only he openly pronounced the change of heart and mind that Jesus had worked in him, saying: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”

Jesus confirms what had transpired, saying: This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Oh! This day is salvation come to this house . . . for the Son of man is come (to this house, of Abraham) to seek and save that which was lost.

The Son of Man (Salvation) comes and then the heart and mind are changed, metanoia/repentance. Sin no more = walk no more in darkness but in the light. Jesus is the light.

Repentance is God’s work, not ours. The change is that worked through regeneration.

This is why He can say that a person should go or sojourn and no longer sin, for He has exchanged His perfect and sinless life for ours. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He empties us of sin and fills us with His faith, producing in us life and holiness. How then can the regenerate person ever see things the same as before being baptized into Christ Jesus? Such a person does not say: “I must repent,” but lives no longer in sin, for repentance already has been and is continually worked by God within. Thus Jesus has proclaimed, “Has been fulfilled the time and has drawn near the kingdom of God. Be converted you-all and believe in the Gospel.”. (Mark 1:15)

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Blogging Volume

It seems that everyday I have multiple ideas, for which I jot some notes and add to my stacks of possible blog posts. Some I have even spent many hours and in some cases even days studying. Most blog posts require a considerable investment of my time. A few are of such a nature that I can simply cut and paste, but most take much time in order to treat them with seriousness and to attempt accuracy and truthfulness. Matters of the Faith most certainly should not be haphazardly composed and posted.

Even converting the sermons to PDF, HTML, and MP3 and then to upload to the web site usually takes an hour or two.

And so I frequently wonder whether people really benefit. I wonder whether it is good stewardship of my time and energy. But occasionally I do hear from someone that the efforts are beneficial and appreciated.

It seems that the most beneficial efforts are those that I direct toward those who are in prison. The one friend to whom I send sermons every week often comments on how helpful he finds them, and that he passes them on to his friends who pass them on to others. Recently I sent him a copy of the Enchiridion, i.e., Luther’s Small Catechism, and he requested 2 more copies for his friends who eagerly received them.

What can be better than to hear of such things? It gives me a tiny sense of what the Lord Jesus says happens among the heavenly hosts when even one sinner repents. It also causes me to remember David’s joy when he wrote:

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord (Psalm 122:1)

For those who do find my posting and uploading of sermons to be of benefit to you, I am glad.

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Oh, that the Lord Would Guide My Ways

Repent! Be turned! Oh how easily one sees the need in others. But the mirror of God’s Law is first for self.

I have written twice in defense of a new friend who has been attacked both by his opponent and by some who support his opponent. But did I speak with the attackers directly?

Visiting the other man’s campaign web site yet again, I read more carefully and learned that his father is a pastor of a church. I thought, “Oh my! How is this possible? Have they not discussed this?”

So I called and asked. Behold, indeed, father and son have discussed these matters. Moreover, the father shared with me things about the campaign that I did not know. One of the things that I count as very significant is that what was published in his son’s name was sometimes not known to his son until after it was mailed.

I regret that I did not think to call earlier. My primary concern is that all parties hear that which is beneficial and in accord with God’s will.

Surely we all are responsible for what we ourselves do. Surely we also are accountable for what we allow to be done in our name.

I very much enjoyed the conversation that I had as a result of calling the pastor and father of the one for whom I was concerned. While perhaps I should have contacted the person himself, I am very relieved by what I have learned. I also repent of my own shortsightedness.

A reactionary response will almost always fall short. I hope that I have not spoken too strongly or inappropriately myself. I do believe that the concerns expressed are necessary, but I do hope that I have not been overly reactionary.

I also hope that both candidates will take to heart the importance of maintaining control over what is done in their names, especially by those whom they have hired to represent them. It seems to me that both candidates have good intentions and that both have had misrepresentation both from within and from without. There are powerful lessons to be learned by all concerned.

My thoughts in this matter turned to a hymn, which I began humming. I love the richness of these hymns and I share the words of this hymn now:

"Oh, that the Lord Would Guide My Ways"

1. Oh, that the Lord would guide my ways
To keep His statutes still!
Oh, that my God would grant me grace
To know and do His will!

2. Order my footsteps by Thy Word
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear.

3. Assist my soul, too apt to stray,
A stricter watch to keep;
And should I e'er forget Thy way,
Restore Thy wandering sheep.

4. Make me to walk in Thy commands,--
'Tis a delightful road,--
Nor let my head or heart or hands
Offend against my God.

† † †

Removing the Mote and the Beam

In the post below I quote the Lord Jesus saying in Matthew 7:3-5:

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Pondering this saying of the Lord Jesus in connection with this week’s challenge with my own eye, I realized the depth of the problem that the Lord is addressing in this matter.  As many times as I have heard and read and studied this text, somehow the main point seems to have evaded my awareness.  I usually consider the main point of the text to be that the beam in my own eye is to be counted as far larger and important than the mote in my brother’s eye and that I must remove my problem before even thinking of my brother’s problem, which is far less significant to me personally than my own problem.  And this really is the point that the Lord Jesus makes.

However, there is another point that is perhaps even more important.  What could be more important than what is already stated?

The bigger and more important point is the one that I learned again as I tried to remove the wood from my own eye and to evaluate the injury to my own eye.  The fact is that I am not up to the task.  I am not capable of rightly dealing with the beam in my own eye, let alone the mote in my brother’s eye.

This really is the main point of what the Lord Jesus is teaching in this text.  If we are turned from our hypocrisy of trying to remove the mote from our brothers’ eyes so that we attempt to remove the beam from our own eye, then we see how truly helpless sin makes us.  Then we are turned from relying upon our own reason and strength so that we turn to the true physician for our help.  Then we naturally are turned from all of our own corrupt and feeble efforts to the one who is able to heal us completely.  Then we listen before we preach so that what we preach is correct and true and of genuine benefit both to ourselves as well as our brothers and perhaps even to the world.  Then we are converted to be true theologians all and together we are built up into the knowledge of God and His salvation and the Holy Communion to which He calls us.

Tough Life Reality

Life in this old world can be tough. This week has been a tough week for me. It has been a week filled with unexpected and difficult circumstances. Every week is tough for an arborist. Climbing trees, hauling heavy tree debris, grinding stumps, repairing equipment, all takes a toll on the body and often the bank account.

But this week the Lord seems to have thought that I needed some special tests to remind me of my dependency upon Him in all things. That is my guess anyway. He often does not provide any explanation for the things that He sends into my life, but I do know that in all things He works good toward me and that He uses all of the trying experiences in my life to call me to continual turning of my heart, mind, spirit, and life (often also called: repentance).

I have been working very hard the last few weeks, doing some very strenuous work, with many little challenges. Monday I completed an emergency tree removal for a lady who was concerned about the potential for property damage. It was a very large Bradford pear that was located between two houses. She also needed the stump and roots to be ground. It seems that the industry standard now is to grind a stump to 6-8 inches, but I grind much deeper in attempt to remove all of the primary stump and roots. Having finished grinding and cleaning the job site and loading a trailer load of logs, I set off to examine some trees and prepare some bids along the way home. I planned to finish cutting the logs to firewood size for a neighbor who needs the firewood to help her and her children save some heating expenses this winter.

However, my poor old pickup truck began to overheat and pump radiator fluid into the reservoir and then the street. I stopped, let it cool enough to open the radiator cap, and added water. But it was acting very strange. It kept over heating and it seemed that either the thermostat was stuck or that the water pump had quit. I ended up stranded in traffic hour one car length from a busy intersection. So I called the tow company. My cell phone kept cutting out, so the dispatcher misunderstood and sent the wrong truck, but we towed the pickup and trailer out of the way of the traffic into a parking lot. Then the driver called another driver with another truck. . . the process extended into the late evening.

I need my pickup, so I focused on getting it repaired. It took a couple of days to get it back from the shop and last night and today I am working to replace the hoses, since they are old.

But the next day, I cut the logs. I always wear my hard hat, with the face screen and hearing protectors. Yet somehow a small piece of wood became lodged in my right eye. I worked at flushing it with water for much of that evening, but it kept hurting and feeling like the debris was still in my eye. In the morning I went to the eye doctor. The good news was that I had managed to flush the debris from my eye. The bad news was that it did scratch the cornea. To prevent infection the doctor prescribed an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eye drop for 7 days.

This picture gives perspective to the size of the prescription. $ 62.62 !!! And that is for the generic brand. I’ve heard of medications that cost more than imagination allows, yet even this is outrageous.

The following pictures serve as a reminder of how difficult it is for a person to attempt to deal with issues affecting one’s own eyes.

Even taking these pictures was a challenge. Attempting to see debris in the eye was far more challenging.

I’ve had some other challenges this week as well, but the matter with the eye was by far the greatest. It brings to mind the admonition of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5:

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

As I mentioned above, in all things, and especially in the challenges and trials of this life, a continual call to be turned again to the Lord sounds forth. The Lord is continually calling to us to be turned again unto Him and His mercy and love and providence. If we are listening, we recognize His calling to us and we are turned again and again throughout our earthly lives. Then, we learn to give thanks in all things, even in the trials and tribulations, even giving thanks for these gifts from God, as we learn in the General Prayer of the Church (TLH pgs. 23-24). Every Sunday I marvel at this prayer. I find myself reflecting upon it throughout each week. It is truly a marvelous prayer.

So today I give thanks for the life that the Lord has given to me and for all the blessings that He brings into my life, including these many struggles that cause me to be turned again to Him, even sometimes with the simple question of “Why Lord?” That simple prayer is truly a wonderful prayer, if it leads one back to the Scriptures to hear the answers that God has provided even before we ask. The answers are recorded for us, if we are willing to hear them and receive them. Ultimately, they all lead back to the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that is the one answer that we most need to hear.

Mental Gymnastics

“Mental gynastics,” this is what Paul McCain flippantly calls using a word according to its actual meaning and according to the actual usage in the Scriptures.

If it requires this level of mental gymnastics to explain how not ascribing praise to the Lord is a way of being repentant, I think my point is made.

However, in order to force my post to “make his point” he had to change what I said, deleting portions and changing my words. This is very sad behavior, certainly not in keeping with honest communication. But this kind of contortion of the truth and torturing of words is common among those who desire to make their point regardless of clear reasoning and in spite of what is well intended and well thought out liturgical tradition.

What grieves me most is that McCain makes so much noise about issues like the theology of glory and enthusiasm and the thinking of the church growth movement and then deliberately divorces my comments from the clear connection that I made.

Who then is performing the “mental gynastics”?

Why make such a fuss over this? Why should I be concerned?

I am concerned regarding the false witness that is given through such abusive manipulations and dishonest presentations. I am concerned because the person’s personal opinion is elevated at the expense of the truth. I am concerned because gentle people who are daily confronted with the tomfoolery of the many schisms in Christendom are presented with still more tomfoolery and dishonesty paraded as wisdom and love. I am concerned because these things cause more confusion and often despair of finding true unity in the Church.

I also am concerned that truly helpful practices in the Church, ones that are not presented as anything more than beneficial and fine outward training, as Luther speaks of them in the Small Catechism under the Sacrament of the Altar, are turned into legalistic bondage. This is a tragedy.

For it is true, even as Luther rightly declares, although McCain and others quote Luther contrary to his intended meaning and context, “For the alleluia is the perpetual voice of the Church, just as the memorial of His passion and victory is perpetual.”

But in what context does Luther say this?

     Fourth, the gradual of two verses shall be sung, either together with the Alleluia, or one of the two, as the bishop may decide. But the Quadragesima graduals and others like them that exceed two verses may be sung at home by whoever wants them. In church we do not want to quench the spirit of the faithful with tedium. Nor is it proper to distinguish Lent, Holy Week, or Good Friday from other days, lest we seem to mock and ridicule Christ with half of a mass and the one part of the sacrament. For the Alleluia is the perpetual voice of the church, just as the memorial of His passion and victory is perpetual. Luther's Works (53:24)

Interestingly, Luther begins with limiting the gradual to two verses, and not only for Lent or Advent but for the entire Church year. He actually begins by omitting ascriptions of praise, saying that people can sing the rest at home at their leisure and in accord with the needs and desires of their hearts. Then he addresses the Alleluia that should not be omitted from the divine service.

What Alleluia is Luther holding as the perpetual voice of the Church? Is it not the same as St. Paul’s declaration in 1 Corinthians 11, especially verse 26? “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.”

Regardless of the season of the Church year, is this not the pinnacle of the divine service? Does not the entire service prepare us for this very thing, the holy communion in Christ’s body and blood? Is this not the part of the service called the Eucharist or Thanksgiving? Is this not the very praise concerning which Christ Himself says: “Do This!”? Is there any higher ascription of praise in the cosmos than this?

This is the life of the Church and her perpetual voice of praise! In this proclamation of the Lord is the perfect Hallelujah! This is the greatest Hallelujah in the Church, because it is worked by the Lord Himself for us.

And when this is counted as the perpetual voice of the Church, who can diminish Alleluia from the hearts and daily activity of the saints?

For example, yesterday, as I contemplated many things, including this one, the Triple Hallelujah (TLH pg. 20) began to resound in my heart and mind. Someone was singing it inside of me. Who could that have been? As I grieved over my deepened awareness of my sinfulness and my desperate need for the repentance that the Holy Spirit produces, inside from deep within this song began to reverberate, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

I thought, “Thank you, Lord. How marvelous!”

Omitting this in the divine service does not steal the Alleluia from the holy communion of the saints. The absence of this portion of the regular liturgical responses magnified my awareness of my need for the source of all alleluias. That source will not be silenced.

If someone wants to label as mental gymnastics the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit to work His metanoia in my heart and mind, so be it. Surely I cannot deny that the Holy Spirit wrestles tirelessly within me to bring about the needed change of my heart and mind. Perhaps McCain is right after all in labeling this mind altering work of the Holy Spirit as mental gymnastics.

More on Lent, Alleluia, and Repentance

On Pr. McCain’s blog I posted a comment regarding his challenge, a comment directed particularly toward his statement quoted below. He deleted my comment without permitting it to be displayed, so I am posting it here as I believe the challenge that he publicly presents is one that should be answered publicly. I believe that there is a cogent explanation to his challenge, and there is benefit in hearing it. So here is what I believe is a cogent explanation for all who desire to hear one, regarding why the omission of certain ascriptions of praise during Lententide is indeed a helpful expression of repentance. The deleted post follows:

PTM, in comment # 38 you say "I’ve yet to hear any cogent explanation for why not saying “Praise the Lord” is an expression of repentance."

You have repeatedly stated similarly on this matter throughout this challenge that you have presented. I find that amazing considering your knowledge of the languages.

Perhaps you have permitted your remembrance of the meaning of the word "repentance" to be narrowed by various causes and experiences.

In the Scriptures of the New Testament the word for repentance is metanoia. Varied forms of the verb are used as well, but this is the word used for repentance both as a noun and as a verb. You already know this, of course. You also know that this word means "change of mind/thinking."

The Scriptural usage of metanoia concerning us sinners is always a change from our thinking to the thinking that the Lord works and declares for us and also in us. It is a change from our thoughts and ways. Such things as fasting were outward exercises that assisted in remembering this needed change in the thinking of the members of the household of faith, continually needing to be called apart from our thinking to thinking akin to the way of true faith.

How then, being as knowledgeable and aware as you are, can you say that you do not see how the omission of "Alleluia" and certain other ascriptions of praise is an effective means of reflecting upon our need for change of mind/thinking, i.e., repentance? How is it that you persistently ignore the direct contrast that this presents to our sinful inclination toward the theology of glory and enthusiasm and the thinking of the church growth movement? How do you continue to deny the obvious "change of mind" involved in setting aside some of our ascriptions of praise for a brief season so as to be re-minded regarding the fact that true praise does not originate with us but with the activity of God in and for His Church?

Ash Wednesday & Divine Fasting

On this day of Ash Wednesday the appointed readings of holy Scripture are:

Psalm 6 (for Matins);
Psalm 51 (for Vespers);
Jonah 3:1-10;
Isaiah 59:12-21;
Joel 2:12-19;
and Matthew 6:16-21.

Repentance and fasting with and unto repentance is the theme of the day, as it is for the life of the Church.

People often choose only part of the definition of repentance for themselves. Often the chosen focus is merely the part that includes feelings of contrition and regret. But the New Testament word for repent is metanoia. It literally means a change of mind or thought. This is far more than the common feeling of sinful mankind of being sorry that we do not measure up to what we think that we ought to be and do. Metanoia is much more than this. It is an actual change of the mind in how it thinks. Metanoia is not only feeling sorry for our sinfulness and sinful actions, it is a change that is worked by God’s merciful love that overpowers us in our very being so that we are changed from idolaters to God fearing people. This is what changes one from being a disciple of choice to being a disciple of Christ, that is, a disciple of faith.

Faith is not a choice. Whatever godly and goodly choices that we make are produced by the faith that the Holy Spirit works in us, not the other way around. True contrition does not stop with being sorry and asking forgiveness. True contrition turns us around in our very thinking so that we no longer look to ourselves and our own thoughts and desires and actions, but to God and His thoughts and desires and actions.

The Old Testament word for this is shuv. It means to turn or be turned. God actually takes our minds and hearts and turns them back to Himself as the one from whom we receive all good things, so that we no longer look here and there or even to ourselves. When God works this change in who we are and in how we know ourselves, we are truly changed in our minds and in our being.

For this reason Philippians 2 seems especially appropriate for this day of repentance and fasting as well. Most especially the first twelve verses seem fitting:

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Likeminded. Oh what a wonderful focus for this season of Lent! If only we would repent of our own thoughts and our own ways, submitting to the will of God for His Church. If only we would hear the call of the Holy Spirit that we might be enlightened with God’s grace so as to be changed in our hearts and minds in accord with the merits of Jesus, who gave Himself for us and for all the world. How differently the Church would appear! How differently our lives would be lived. How truly blessed we would be! How confidently we would live, as we worked out our salvation so as to be certain that our faith is truly reliance upon the suffering and death of Jesus, and not upon anything else. Then we truly would be changed in our thinking and in our actions, for then the peace of God would rule our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came to this world to be found in fashion as a man, though He Himself was the very form or morphe of God. He was and is the very morphe or nature of God. He is not merely godlike but is the very form of God. To see Jesus is to see the Father. To encounter Jesus is to encounter the Holy Spirit. Yet in Christ Jesus God made Himself to be a servant. In Christ God humbled Himself so as to serve as our Redeemer and Savior. When God works faith in us so that we are joined with Him in His holiness, this is the mind that is created in us in place of the minds that we choose. Jesus fasted concerning His equality with God, acting as a servant, placing our needs above His own glory and power. Today we fast of our weakness, in order that His power may not be hindered in us.

Stupid Driver?

Yesterday, as I was driving, a driver pulled out in front of me, entering the roadway from a highschool driveway. There was ample distance for safety, but the car accelerated very slowly causing me to reduce my speed considerably. The driver never accelerated to the posted speed limit but remained ten miles per hour below the speed limit. After the next intersection the same thing occurred, very slowly accelerating to forty-five miles per hour in a fifty-five mile per hour zone.

Frustration arose within me very quickly. I began to think, ”Come on! What are you doing? What’s wrong with you? Can’t you find the accelerator pedal? Can’t you push it down?”

Then my heart was turned so that I began thinking of the other person. Suddenly I began to think that there could be a reason for the person driving like this. My frustration evaporated.

I began to think, “Hmm. I wonder. Could this be a young teenage driver just learning to drive? Could this person be exercising caution? The car did exit from a highschool.”

At the next intersection the car turned left and I could see in the driver’s side mirror a very young and tender face, the face of a very young girl. Her face was brimming with a smile that melted my heart and I knew that indeed this was a young driver whom Dad or Mom was letting drive the car to get the experience needed to become a safe driver.

I was happy for this young driver and I was happy to realize that she was being careful. I was glad that the Holy Spirit took hold of my selfish heart and turned it away from my anxious and frustrated thoughts toward what could be the needs of the other person. I marveled that God’s power could work so quickly in me to change my thoughts.

Stupid driver? More and more as I drive, with the many crazy things that people do on the roads, I find myself thinking “Stupid Driver!” But then the Holy Spirit takes hold of my heart and mind and I realize that I am the stupid driver when I let these things rule over my heart and mind and to steal God’s peace from me.

When the Holy Spirit works this miracle and brings me again to His repentance, all that remains for me to do is to give thanks and to rejoice in God’s goodness. Then peace again rules my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Truly the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever. Amen.

Damn! Why Can’t I Stop?

Damn! Did it again!
Damn! Why can’t I stop?

Perhaps you consider yourself too pious to use the word that God uses regarding this situation, but in our hearts, we all know it to be true. Damn is the only word that can be applied to our sin. At least that is the only word that we, according our own reason and strength, have the power or authority to apply.

God, however, authorizes another word: Absolved!

We, however, have trouble hearing Him say this and believing it to be true. Oh, we accept the reality of His absolution for most sins, but certain ones seem to be bigger than others. Certain sins we find ourselves addressing with words like, “Why do I keep doing this?”

These thoughts can lead to despairing of God’s grace. These thoughts can lead to doubting whether or not a person is truly saved and truly a child of God.

The real issue that we face, however, is not the sin that we count as big and insurmountable. The real issue is the sin that we think that we have defeated, the sin that we do not count as damning, the sin that we do not feel troubled by in our conscience.

The “big” sin is actually a blessing in disguise. It is the sin that we cannot pretend does not matter. It is the sin that brings us to our knees and strikes terror into our hearts. It is the sin of which we cannot help but to respond to with the exclamation of: Damn! This is the sin that we find inescapable by anything that we try to do. This is the sin that leaves us with no alternative except to admit how truly and hopelessly wicked, evil, and far from God that we are.

We eagerly ignore and forget that the wages of sin is death. This is not just the sin that we choose to count as truly bad, but all sin. We turn aside from the awareness that we are born sinful. Sin-Full. All of our actions, all of our thoughts, all of our words, according to the fact that they came from us, are Sin Full. There is no level at which what we do according to our own efforts is ever acceptable to God. They are Sin Full and cannot be received by the One who is absolutely perfect and holy.

This is why Christ died for all. This is why Christ was made to be Sin for us. Our salvation demands that He take the sin of the world, all of it. In order for us to be free, He had to receive what God cannot receive. He had to receive our flesh in order to do it. “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” He took a fleshly tent and into His own body He received the sin of the entire world and suffered its power to destroy and kill and damn.

This is what we need to remember in connection with our Sin Fullness. It was not just the big sins that filled up Jesus so that he was made to be sin for us, but every sin.

The Big Sin that makes us feel cursed, is the sin that really benefits us. It is the sin that causes us to realize that the Law is right in declaring sin to be absolutely insurmountable at every level. We don’t stand a chance against sin. God must conquer it for us.

St. Paul says:

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. (Romans 7:7-13)

Without the Law of God, without the commandment not to lust or covet, who would consider coveting to be sin? Who would realize what coveting really is? The Law comes to us and kills us. Without the Law, we are alive, thinking ourselves to be living good lives. The Law comes to us and says, “You shall not covet.” Suddenly we hear:

How dare you accuse God of being unfair on account of His gracious dealings with your neighbor? You wicked idolater! You evil blasphemer! How dare you imagine that what God has given to you is not sufficient for you so that you imagine that you need what someone else has? You stand condemned as pure wickedness, you vile creature! You are not worthy of receiving anything good whatsoever, only damnation and everlasting death!

Suddenly, because of the Law, we see ourselves as we really are. The Law says, “You shall not covet” and suddenly we are full of coveting that we did not even recognize. Suddenly we see that our entire being is one of coveting. Suddenly we know that we truly are Sin Full.

No wonder St. Paul speaks of the Law as spiritual and good. What a blessing it is for us to know our Sin Fullness and hopelessness. For then we stop trying to overcome sin, and turn to the One who has accomplished this for us even from eternity.

This is what Jesus preached throughout His ministry among the Jews, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

This is why God commands that we “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” He has provided us with a safe haven where we may flee for the assurance of His salvation. He has established the communion of the saints, the holy catholic Church. Within this holy communion He provides the Gospel in its purity and the Sacraments which He has filled with His grace. He has provided us these because He knows that we cannot conquer our Sin Fullness. He must bring us to Himself so that He may take our Sin from us and pronounce us to be clean, that is, sanctified. We cannot do this for ourselves. Thank God that we do not have to, for He does it for us.

So the next time that you feel the weight of a recurring sin that seems too big for you to conquer, rather than continuing in your Sin Fullness, rather than continuing to turn to your own reason and strength, hear the call of your God and Savior, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Remember that the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever, and turn away from your own efforts, turning to Him, through the means in which He has promised to come with blessing for all whom He calls.