Wonderful Hymn: “God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It”

     Last evening while studying and surfing the net, I was directed to this tender video:

     Casper and Disney are two boys who learned of the blessings of Baptism and wanted to be included in the kingdom of these benefits. Disney volunteers, saying:

And I was about five, too. At the beginning of kindergarten, I was crying a lot because I didn’t have a baptism and everyone else did.

     He was cut off before he could finish explaining. When asked why Baptism was so important to him he says: “Baptism was so important to me because I, because we become a child of God. That’s why it’s important to me.”

     This is why these boys wanted to be baptized. Their parents had not given this to them. They wanted what the other children had received. They wanted to be generated from above into the kingdom of God. They wanted to be adopted as God’s children. Disney automatically paused when he began to say “I” and corrected himself saying “we become a child of God.” This is a display of an amazingly deep theological understanding. This was not taught by his teachers but rose from his own realization of what Baptism is. While Baptism is applied to each individual, it is the way for all who are truly generated into God’s family. While it is unlikely that young Disney made this connection to the statements of Jesus in John 3, he received the Holy Spirit in his baptism and the Holy Spirit imparted to him the true faith and continues to instruct him in the understanding of this faith that has been generated in him.

     I find the mater-of-fact manner of responses from children to be delightful. This is the way that children speak when they are certain of their responses. These two boys have been catechized. They have been taught what the Holy Spirit declares. But their responses are more than what is heard as the result of programmed indoctrination. They are speaking from their hearts of what they have been moved by the Holy Spirit to believe. This is more than merely repeating what they have heard many times from parents and teachers. They speak from their hearts of what they themselves know. Disney’s response is especially delightful when he says:

Yeah, we get to be God’s child, like I just said.

     He says this after he was asked, “And what do you get in Baptism?”

     His response is: “The forgiveness of sins.”

     His questioner seems to be fishing for more, very likely what St. Peter declares in Acts 2:38, where he speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit as well as the forgiveness of sins, but young Disney responds with what the forgiveness of sins means to the regenerated child of God, “Yeah, we get to be God’s child, like I just said.”

     When Peter preached to those who were gathered at Pentecost, he explained the how of the new life that accompanies the reception of the remission of sins through Baptism. The Holy Spirit is the one who works this miracle of faith through which the remission of sins is worked. The Holy Spirit is the one poured out in Baptism to preserve this faith within the newborn child of God so that this faith is nurtured and strengthened, so that it grows to maturity and in deeper understanding. But for young Disney, the unity of the Holy Trinity is so clear that he responds to the foremost issue, that the remission of sins means that one is received back into God’s family forevermore. Just as the Holy Spirit does not direct attention to Himself, neither does the child of God reflect upon this but rejoices first in the remission of sins through which he gets to be a God’s child. This is what Baptism foremost means to sinners who realize that their sin cuts them off from God. It is only when people begin to rely upon their own understanding and begin to focus upon their own displays of sanctification that they begin to focus strongly upon the gift of the Holy Spirit. When sinners truly realize their sinfulness, they count the remission of sins as the most important of their needs, and they rejoice in the reconciliation with God that remission of sins establishes.

     For this reason, it makes me very sad to realize that these dear boys are part of a church body that robs them of the fullness of being regenerated into God’s Holy Communion. I regretfully confess my own sin as a pastor in this regard, having taught the false doctrine and practice of Confirmation as a necessity for partaking of the Holy Supper through which the continual remission of sins is promised to the children of God. It saddens me that sweet children of God are baptized into His Holy Communion and then are taught that they must achieve an elevated status of understanding before they are allowed to be counted as true partakers of God’s kingdom. The very food by which God promises to sustain His children is denied to those for whom He promises it. Just as these two boys were denied Baptism until they cried for it, so they are being denied the family meal so that they still are looking on for what belongs to all of God’s family but they are not being counted as true communicant members.

     I rejoice that these dear boys have been baptized and that they rejoice in the promises of their baptism. Yet I grieve that the primary proclamation of the Lord’s death till He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26) is denied to them. Even though they are rightly instructed that their sins are remitted and that the true faith is generated in them and that the Holy Spirit is poured out to them to keep them with Jesus Christ in the one true faith, yet they are denied the Sacrament of the Lord’s Holy Communion for which their baptism generates them. The Supper of Life is denied to them. They are instructed that they are not yet worthy, even though the true faith in the merits and promises of Christ is the only cause of worthiness.

     Is it any wonder that more than half of those who are baptized in these church bodies become confused and disheartened and fall away? Is it any wonder that of those who do progress to the rite of Confirmation, more than half then lose their desire for the Sacrament? Is it any wonder that in these church bodies that their own statistics show that in nearly every congregation that less than half and usually even less than a third of the so-called communicant members partake of the body and blood of their Lord on a given Sunday?

     Should this be surprising when for the most important years of their lives they have been taught that they do not need the Sacrament? For the years of their greatest development bodily, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, they have been taught that all that they really need is their baptism and that the Family Supper is not necessary. Then, after Confirmation, these dear saints who have been thus falsely taught are suddenly to cast away all of these years of instruction in the lack of need for the Sacrament and now to begin to crave the Sacrament as a great necessity.

     Does this make any sense at all?

     Saint Paul is often quoted in this regard. This would be wonderful if his instruction were taken as he gives it rather than applying private interpretation to his words. Here is what the dear apostle says:

     Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

     For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

     When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

     For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

     For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 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. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. (1 Corinthians 11:17-33)

     Sadly, verses 27-29 are usually quoted apart from and even contrary to the context in which St. Paul is speaking. These verses are usually used as a proof text. A proof text is a text used to make a predetermined point, rather than quoting the text in accord with the point for which it stands written.

     Thus these particular verses are quoted as proof that individuals must examine themselves concerning what they understand before counting themselves properly prepared [worthy] of partaking of the Lord’s Communion.

     However, even with only the immediately preceding verse as a reference for the context, these verses instantly are perceived very differently than they are generally interpreted. What is the context for the necessity of a man examining himself? If we review the second paragraph above the perception is greatly enhanced.

     For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

     What is the point of St. Paul’s chastisement? He is chastising for the divisions that exist within the congregation. In the third paragraph he declares that because of the aforementioned heresies that the congregation’s suppers are not even the Lord’s Supper. He is declaring that merely following the outward form and labeling it as the Lord’s Supper does not make it the Lord’s Supper. He is warning that this form of practice is actually the opposite of proclaiming the Lord’s death till He comes. Instead, it is actually a mockery of the Lord’s death and thereby brings judgement upon the communicants of these false suppers.

     So the real issue that a man is to examine is whether or not his household is gathering with a true congregation that is truly offering the Sacrament as a “shewing of the Lord’s death till He comes” in accord with the pure teaching of the Gospel.

     In this particular setting, the Corinthian congregation was so far from the right shewing of the Lord’s death till He comes that they were not even considering the purpose and meaning of the Supper. Their treatment of the Supper was so bad that they did not even care who partook of the Supper. They treated it as an individualistic participation rather than the Lord’s family meal of forgiveness and nurturing in His Communion. They were not rightly discerning the Lord’s body and therefore they were ignoring others so that they were left out, just like the doctrine and practice of Confirmation does to those who have not been “properly instructed and confirmed.”

     Young Casper and Disney have it right. “Baptism was so important to me because I, because we become a child of God. That’s why it’s important to me.”

     These boys have been taught a marvelous hymn, a hymn which they prize and sing from their hearts. It is a shame that the doctrine of this hymn is ignored by their teachers and pastors regarding their true place in God’s family.

     The words of this hymn are available at God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It and at Witness, Mercy, Life Together: God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It. From these I quote the 2nd and 3rd stanzas:

Stanza 2

Sin, disturb my soul no longer:
I am baptized into Christ!
I have comfort even stronger:
Jesus' cleansing sacrifice.
Should a guilty conscience seize me
Since my Baptism did release me
In a dear forgiving flood,
Sprinkling me with Jesus' blood!

Stanza 3

Satan, hear this proclamation:
I am baptized into Christ!
Drop your ugly accusation,
I am not so soon enticed.
Now that to the font I've traveled,
All your might has come unraveled,
And, against your tyranny,
God, my Lord, unites with me!

     What is the purpose of Baptism? What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper? Young Disney says it wonderfully.

     Isn’t it time that the pastors, teachers, and parents learn it, too? Isn’t it time that they stop eating and drinking judgment upon themselves by refusing the Lord’s command to suffer the little children to come to Him? Is this not the invitation of the Supper as well as of Baptism?

     At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:25-30)

     The wise and the prudent imagine that admission to the Supper is dependent upon being able to express one’s understanding, forgetting that:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

     Is this not what this wonderful hymn that is taught to the children teaches? Is this not their understanding that the Holy Spirit imparts to them and continually instructs them in connection with the one true faith given to them in their baptism?

     Here is the full hymn presented by Gillian and Paul Norris as a YouTube video:

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Tattoos

     At To Tattoo or Not Tattoo? A Levitical Question a visitor to that blog asked a very thoughtful question, one in which the reader actually answered the question with a very well reasoned answer that flowed from faith.

     Sadly, the answer given by the responding pastor was not well reasoned nor from faith. Rather, it was typical of modern Lutheran permissive practice. As I consider this pastor’s response and reasoning I find myself wondering whether I would have recognized the weakness of the response as late as even ten years ago.

     Here is the “layperson’s” comment:

Thoughts on tattoos? A lot of opposition uses Leviticus 19:28, but reading it in context seems to talk more about cultic practices than an outright prohibition of tattoos. There’s also the issue of the body as a temple; does this factor in and if so how? Is there anything else to be said in this conversation? Have you ever dealt with tattoos? Is it even worth one’s time, or chalk it up to Christian freedom, and thinking carefully about what you decide to permanently add to your body?

     This truly is a thoughtful comment, one that shows that the person was reflecting upon the intent of people’s choices and how this either involves or excludes true faith.

     In the pastor’s response after addressing various Scriptures, he says in conclusion:

Yes, Christian freedom does apply here. But as with all things under “Christian freedom.” We ought to remember that Christ didn’t free us to do whatever we want with ourselves or others. He freed us to be his Children and heirs to His kingdom, and he freed us to love and serve one another. If a Tattoo is desired, and can be gotten by someone without violating that understanding of Christian freedom, than by all means, go for it.

     This is very disturbing, for it truly shows the underlying and prevailing motivation of the pastor’s contemplations. His theology is on display through the response: “then by all means, go for it.”

     The inquirer concluded with the very careful consideration: “and thinking carefully about what you decide to permanently add to your body?”

     This is quite a striking contrast of thought and theological grounding. The difference is that the inquirer is truly considering the greater context both of the Leviticus 19 passage as well as of the whole counsel of God declared in the Scriptures. While the inquirer may not have succeeded in identifying clearly what was perceived in the conscience, it is nevertheless demonstrated in the final question.

     What indeed is being asked by the inquirer regarding careful consideration about what choices a person makes regarding changes to one’s body? What is causing this person to feel uncomfortable with the choice of changing one’s bodily appearance through tattoos?

     Dr. Luther addresses this with his commentary in his Preface to the Old Testament in volume 35 of Luther’s Works.

     Notice with what power Moses conducts and performs this office of his. For in order to put human nature to the utmost shame, he not only gives laws like the Ten Commandments that speak of natural and true sins, but he also makes sins of things that are in their nature not sins. Moses thus forces and presses sins upon them in heaps. For unbelief and evil desire are in their nature sins, and worthy of death. But to eat leavened bread at the Passover [Exodus 12–13] and to eat an unclean animal [Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14] or make a mark on the body [Lev. 19:28, Deut. 14:1], and all those things that the Levitical priesthood deals with as sin—these are not in their nature sinful and evil. Rather they became sins only because they are forbidden by the law. This law can be done away. The Ten Commandments, however, cannot be done away, for here there really is sin, even if there were no commandments, or if they were not known—just as the unbelief of the heathen is sin, even though they do not know or think that it is sin.

     Therefore we see that these many laws of Moses were given not only to prevent anyone from choosing ways of his own for doing good and living aright, as was said above, but rather that sins might simply become numerous and be heaped up beyond measure. The purpose was to burden the conscience so that the hardened blindness would have to recognize itself, and feel its own inability and nothingness in the achieving of good. Such blindness must be thus compelled and forced by the law to seek something beyond the law and its own ability, namely, the grace of God promised in the Christ who was to come. Every law of God is good and right [Rom. 7:7–16], even if it only bids men to carry dung or to gather straw. Accordingly, whoever does not keep this good law—or keeps it unwillingly—cannot be righteous or good in his heart. But human nature cannot keep it otherwise than unwillingly. It must therefore, through this good law of God, recognize and feel its wickedness, and sigh and long for the aid of divine grace in Christ.

     For this reason then, when Christ comes the law ceases, especially the Levitical law which, as has been said, makes sins of things that in their nature are not sins. The Ten Commandments also cease, not in the sense that they are no longer to be kept or fulfilled, but in the sense that the office of Moses in them ceases; it no longer increases sin [Rom. 5:20] by the Ten Commandments, and sin is no longer the sting of death [I Cor. 15:56]. For through Christ sin is forgiven, God is reconciled, and man’s heart has begun to feel kindly toward the law. The office of Moses can no longer rebuke the heart and make it to be sin for not having kept the commandments and for being guilty of death, as it did prior to grace, before Christ came.

     Is it then permissible for a person to alter one’s appearance with tattoos? Is this really the question? Is not the real question one that asks why a person desires to do such a thing?

     Why will a person observe the marvel of one’s own body and desire to change its design? What is one saying by this concerning God’s work of creation? Does such a desire come from fear, love, and trust in God above all things? Does such a desire flow from the desire that God’s name be hallowed among us? Does such a desire match the sanctifying of the Sabbath or Holy Day with which the Lord marked the fullness of His creative work? Does such a desire demonstrate the contentment of resting in the peace of God in Christ? What is the motivation of the desire to mark one’s body in the way that is done with tattoos?

     It seems clear to me that if one asks these questions that a heart filled with the faith generated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will be moved to fall to one’s knees in the awareness that true acknowledgment of God’s goodness is not the motivation of such desires.

     It seems worthy of consideration that the only outward mark that the Lord puts upon His children of the New Testament Church is the mark of the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Through Baptism the Lord calls His people to the outward marks of the Church, namely, the preaching and administration of the pure Word and Sacraments. If these are the marks that a person desires by the motivation of the Holy Spirit’s urging, what other marks would a person seek except the marks of a life of faith and true worship of the Lord?

     When a person chooses to put other marks upon one’s body, what is this person telling the world by this action? What does this tell the world regarding the holy mark of Baptism and the marks of the means of grace? If one is marked with God’s own mark of Baptism and of the means of grace, if these are the marks by which one knows oneself, will that person have any desire to be identified by other markings?

     It seems to me that the inquirer’s contemplative remark is much more valuable than the pastor’s permissive response. After all, does the new man born of water and Spirit ask, “What is permissible for me?” Or does the child of faith ask, “What is best in keeping with the holy and gracious will of our God and Father?” Will the Christian who desires that all who observe the person will observe the grace, mercy, and peace of God at work in the person mark onself with tattoos that leave people with the immediate response of “Why? What does this mean?”

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Weak = Strong

When things seem to be going well and we imagine ourselves to be standing on our own two feet then we are inclined to feel strong.  However, when things seem to be going poorly and we have been knocked down, then we feel weak.



Bodily infirmities can be ignored sometimes.  Other times a person can rise above the limitations or pain, perhaps even putting them out of mind, coping with whatever the person faces.  A person can feel as though anything can be overcome.  A person feels as though one can stand against anything.

This can apply to other areas of life, too.  A person can often overcome serious adversities.  Overcoming life’s difficulties can lead a person to begin to count oneself as strong and able to stand against whatever may come.

But this only lasts for as long as the person’s own strength does not fail.  Eventually one cannot ignore one’s own limitations and frailty.  This is true physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

St. Paul wrote warning against trusting in one’s own strength, especially in spiritual matters. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”  (1 Corinthians 10:12)

St. Paul was one who knew.  He had been a Pharisee, named Saul.  He had studied the Scriptures intensely.  He had devoted himself to the most stringent adherence to the Law of God as given through Moses.  He counted himself to be exemplary among the people of God.  He was influential to the point of being intrusted with letters to pursue and take prisoner those who were following in the way, the faith of Jesus.

On the way to carry out this mission, the Lord Jesus stopped Saul in his tracks and confronted him.

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

  (Acts 9:1-8)


    The rest of this account tells how weak Saul suddenly realized himself to be.  Not only was he now unable to see, but he had just learned that his entire life had been in vain.  All of his efforts were worthless, even worse than worthless.  All of his efforts to serve God were actually damned!  All of his pride was shown to be idolatry.  All of his devotion was shown to be false worship.  He had actually been an enemy of God rather than God’s friend!

    After this Saul (asked for or desired) began to be known as Paul (little or small).  With his conversion and baptism and ordination as the apostle of Jesus to the Gentiles, Paul was now very small in his own eyes and his own efforts and devotion were counted as skubalon (crap).  Thus he writes:

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.

  (1 Corinthians 10:12-15)

First is the warning against relying upon one’s own reason and strength.  Then is the promise that God is faithful and will limit one’s encounters with temptations to the strength that He Himself gives to the beloved believer.

In the verses that follow, he explains this further, pointing to the means through which this strength is given to the believer.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

  (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

This is the means through which God strengthens His saints for all that they encounter in their daily lives.  This begins with being baptized into the body of Christ.  It extends into the life of worship that flows from this regeneration into God’s kingdom.  As a living member of Christ’s body, this holy supper is the means through which God renews His saints in the faith in which they stand and live.

This is why we dare not compromise it through any form of idolatry.  For this meal is the Communion with God that Christ restored for us and to which we are regenerated and reconciled through Baptism.

This is why it is so sad, even heart breaking, to observe the many ways that those professing to be Christians continue to turn back to ways of seeking to be strong through their own reason and strength.  Even the Holy Supper itself they turn into a work of their own rather than the means through which the merits of Christ are given to us by God.  Worship and devotion and prayer are turned into the idolatry of imagining that these are somehow worthy of merit in themselves.  And so these become means of making oneself better and stronger through one’s own efforts rather than being God’s gifts through which He Himself regenerates us and renews us and strengthens us and keeps us in the one true faith of Jesus.

This faulty and idolatrous mindset is demonstrated in the way that Philippians 4:13 is usually translated.  The KJV is representative of this: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

What St. Paul actually writes directs us to a very different mindset: “For all things I am strong in the one empowering me, Christ.”

The mindset that St. Paul teaches is one of what the Lord works for us rather than what we work for ourselves and for God.  St. Paul teaches us to know God as the one doing the work in us rather than looking to find a way to use God like a helpful tool.  St. Paul very specifically avoids this idea that God gets us started and we must continue to work to complete what God begins by saying that we are strong IN the one empowering us.  He very carefully and deliberately avoided using the word THROUGH.  We are IN Christ through His means of grace, through which He works these blessings for us and in us.  We are made to be IN Christ through Baptism.  We are renewed IN Christ through His body and blood administered to us IN the Holy Communion.

When we understand this and believe it even as the Lord and His apostles declare unto us, then we begin to see that indeed God does provide the strength and the means of escape from all temptations.  Then we begin to see that we truly do not need to be strong on our own and that we do not need to stand by our own strength.  Then we begin to enjoy our life in Christ rather than striving to make it real for ourselves.  Then our times of weakness become times of true strength.

It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

  (2 Corinthians 12:1-10)

The Lord Jesus declares in response to our prayers and all of our efforts: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”  How did He triumph over the powers of the devil, sin, and death?  Not through visions or miracles or even prayers answered as He willed for Himself.  He triumphed through the weakness of subjecting Himself to the Father’s will which carried Him to the cross where He suffered an ignominious death after many hours of injustice, torture, and ridicule.

He continues to work His blessings and to display His victory in the same way.  Not through visions or grandiose miracles or answering our prayers as we present them, but through the means of grace He gives us the victory that He won for us.  Thus St. Paul directs us to rejoice in our weakness, for then we do not try to win the battle for ourselves nor even to glorify God through our own efforts.  Then instead we look to Christ and rely upon His grace in all things.  Then we receive the strength that knows no limits, even as Christ lives and reigns to all eternity.

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Christmas Lights

It has been years since we have bothered with a Christmas tree or lights.

When I was young, I enjoyed the Christmas tree and lights very much.  It was a chore, but an enjoyable chore, to set up the tree and lights and ornaments.  It was relaxing and pleasing to watch the lights.

Taking them down and storing them again was not much fun, but it seemed worth the effort.

However, as I have grown older and as the world has usurped the control of Christmas and has moved the season ever farther forward, even beyond Advent, even beyond Thanksgiving, and now beyond Reformation Day and the demonic Halloween, so as to extend time to promote the so-called Christmas spirit, the trees and lights and ornaments have lost their appeal for me, for us.  We just don’t have any desire for such things anymore.

For us it is like having someone steal our candy cane, roll it around on the ground, and then hand it back to us.

There are some truly marvelous displays of Christmas lights around town.  One is set up as a drive-through display available to the public every night.  It is very nicely done.  Much effort was expended in setting up the various parts of the display.  It takes 15 to 20 minutes to drive it and see it.  It is a very lovely display.

Yet when we saw it, it left us cold.  Yes, we found it to be bright and colorful.  Yes, we considered it to be very lovely.  Yet even with the cheery colors and lights it did not move us, neither did it cheer us.

But the Christ Mass does move us and cheer us.  It rescues us and brings us back again into the Communion of the Lord, who renews us and lifts our hearts from the worldly mire around us.  The Christ Mass officially is Christmas Day, but every offering of the Mass is the Christ Mass.  Every time that Christ’s Church gathers by the urging of the Holy Spirit so that the saints draw near to the Lord’s Table and receive His body of unity and blood of forgiveness and life, it is the Christ Mass.

This is the light that God has set on a hill for all to see.  It shines in a dark world of loneliness, despair, struggle, and confusion.

     Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)

     Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.  (Psalm 43:1-5)

Often people quote these, and especially the first text, forgetting who it is who sets the city upon the hill.  It is the Lord who sets the city upon the hill.  It is the Lord who gives us the light of His Word that shines first in us and then through us for all to see.  It is the Lord who works the miracle of conversion in our hearts and engenders the faith to take root in us and to grow so that we hear His voice and follow Him in our daily sojourning.  It is the Lord who transforms our wills so that we stop seeking to be choice makers and begin instead to enjoy the freedom of His blessed commandments.  Then we seek not to make our own way through the darkness, because we walk in the light.  Then we are free to traverse our daily paths without fear of stumbling.  And even when our distracted hearts do cause us to stumble, the Lord continually calls us again to the regular reunion of His body at the Table of His forgiveness and renewal in His Communion.

It is disheartening to hear the many self-proclaimed representatives of the Lord preach to people how they must struggle to draw near to God.  After all, the Gospel teaches us that God took the struggle for us.  He came to us in our wretchedness, made Himself to be born of the virgin, suffered our troubles and sorrows, proclaimed forgiveness, established Baptism and the New Testament in His blood, suffered and died in our place with our sins in His own body, rose again in victory against the powers of sin, death, the world, our corrupt fleshly natures, and the devil, and ascended to heaven from whence He shall come again in glory.  All this God Himself did for us.  He took the struggle and completed it for us so that we would be free to live by grace through faith.  To insure that we would receive this purely as a gift, He established the life of the Church as the continual Communion in His body and blood, where He alone takes action, feeding us the very means of our salvation and renewal in His kingdom.

There is no struggle for those who desire to draw near to God.  He has come to us as Immanuel, which means, With Us God.  This is the name that His holy angel declared so that we would know God for who He is.  He is the one who makes Himself With Us God.  He promises that this is so through His means of grace, means which we do not do for ourselves, nor even in obedience to Him.  These are His means, His gifts, His acts on our behalf.  No one can baptize himself.  Each person must be baptized.  The water and Word are applied for us by another appointed for that task, and through this God pours out His Holy Spirit to the person and thereby converts and regenerates and justifies and sanctifies the person.  The person is made all over again to be a perfect and holy child of God, regenerated to the new life of the true faith.  This person then has been made to be part of God’s kingdom, His Church on earth, where the ongoing Communion is the new life enjoyed by those whom the Holy Spirit congregates.  Through the Holy Supper, God continues to draw near to His saints, doing what they cannot do for themselves, not even through their most earnest efforts.

Once upon a time, Christmas trees and lights were used and enjoyed as symbols of this.  The evergreen, as a symbol of the everlasting life made possible through the birth of Jesus, the Savior, or as the Paradise tree.  A very interesting and informative article on this subject can be viewed at O Christmas Tree: The Origin and Meaning of the Christmas Tree.  Another account is The Chronological History of the Christmas Tree.  Interestingly, some legends, such as is shared at The History of the Christmas Tree, claim:

Martin Luther began the decorating of trees to celebrate Christmas. In the year 1500, one crisp Christmas Eve, Martin was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches dusted with snow shimmered in the moonlight. When he returned home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share the story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted to simulate the reflections of the starlit heaven – the heaven that looked down over Bethlehem on the first Christmas Eve.

How Luther could have done this in 1500 for his children is hard to understand, since he was not married until 1525.  Nevertheless, the fact that this legend exists shows that people did consider this to be the symbolism that they were embracing with their own use of their Christmas trees and lights.

This type of symbolism is vastly missing in the general use of Christmas trees and lights today.  Sometimes the marketers still like to include “Christmas carols” in their selection of Muzak to help promote the spirit of giving and buying, but this is usually a mere appeal to people’s sense of tradition and nostalgia.  In fact, nostalgia is the primary focus of the usurped Christmas season: nostalgic decorations, nostalgic foods, nostalgic parades, nostalgic church services, nostalgic family gatherings, nostalgic gift giving.

For this reason, we find that we no longer have any real sense of desire to do this in our home and life.  We don’t have any desire for the candy cane that has been rolled in the dirt.  Certainly those who do find salutary use for these decorations we do not blaspheme.  But for ourselves, we simply find that our hearts are led farther and farther from these things so that our desire is the simply proclaimed and administered means of God’s grace within His holy family gathering, a.k.a., the Church.

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Living Faith

Today I visited a blog that I occasionally read because reading the posts there often moves me to dig more deeply into what the Spirit has given us in His blessed doctrine in His Holy Scriptures.  The blogger very often says much that sounds right, because parts of the truth are presented.  Yet these things only sound right to those who do not listen for the truth as a whole.  The truth cannot be broken apart with only part of the truth being embraced and told.  If this is done, what is told is not the truth, but only part of the truth.  The statements made are true insofar as they reach, but without the rest of the truth these true statements are false.  The various articles of the truth cannot stand alone.

I share this not as an attack upon anyone, but so as to remind us all that this false premise that the truth can be in any way truncated is truly a false premise that causes us to cling to a faith that is powerless to save us.  This false premise manifests itself in the ways that we express ourselves concerning the faith and life as Christians.

In We are Christians not Faith-ians the blogger attempts to address a very serious faux pas or false step among those who profess to be Christians.  The issue that Pr. McCain attempts to address is truly a serious issue.  It is good that he and others recognize this and desire to correct the misstep.

However, if one is careful in reading this post, one observes that the true problem is not really addressed. McCain’s concern is the misunderstanding of what it is that makes one a Christian and gives absolute assurance of one’s salvation and security in that salvation.  This is a valid concern.  He makes some valid points regarding this concern.  He attempts to direct his readers to the true definition of the faith in which true believers have their hope.

He makes a very valid point when he says:

Do not confuse faith in faith, with trust in Christ. There is a key difference.

What he is expressing is that the individual’s personal faith is not the faith that regenerates the person into the kingdom of God.  A common way in which this faux pas is expressed by those who profess to be believers is to call this “personal faith in Christ as one’s personal Savior.”  If one pays attention, the problem with this becomes “self” evident.

In this regard, consider this question:

Does a person who believes tell oneself,
“I must believe”?

McCain writes: “Never look to your subjective feeling that there is faith in your heart.”  And again he says:

Salvation rests on objective realities that have absolutely nothing to do with feelings or emotions. Faith is merely and only the receiving hand God gives us and into which He pours His good gifts, it is not the cause of our salvation.

We are Christians, not Faith-ians.

His warning against the feeling that people mislabel as faith is certainly correct.  But does that really get to the issue?

He says that faith is not the cause of our salvation.

How then will one respond to those who object to this quoting the Lord Jesus saying: “Your faith has saved you”?  How will one respond to the many “by faith” passages in the New Testament Scriptures, especially in the epistles of St. Paul?  For example, how many times does St. Paul write that we are justified by faith?  Actually, he writes “out of faith.”  Does this not call to remembrance what the Lord Jesus teaches Nicodemus concerning Baptism in John 3 and what St. Peter declares in 1 Peter 3?

Can we really say that faith is not the cause of one’s salvation?

Is this really even the issue?  Could it be that the real issue is one of a false definition of faith being embraced?  Could it not be that the real issue is what is taught by the author to the Hebrews?
 

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Hebrews 12:2)

Is not the real issue the one whom we count as the worker of faith for us?  Is it not true that the problem is not really that we count faith as the cause of our salvation, but really that we only give lip service to counting God and His means of grace as the cause of our faith?  Additionally, is the problem not also that we look to our personal faith rather than the faith of Jesus in which all true Christians have their being?

St. Paul writes: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”  (Romans 1:17) This is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4,

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

The Septuagint translation gives an interesting insight as one observes how they translated this text:

If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him: but the just shall live by my faith.

With Hebrews12:2 in mind, does this not bring clarification to the issue under consideration?

Does this not bring to the fore that the real issue is not whether we are Faith-ians, but rather, whose Faith in which are -ians?

When a person understands the life of being a Christian from this perspective, it changes the person’s entire understanding of life as a Christian.

It is notable that McCain does not even mention the means of grace in this article.  Some of those who commented mentioned them, but this seems not to be what McCain had in his mind as he wrote this.

Perhaps this is because the means of grace are not regularly thought of by people as the means of faith.  It is common, especially among those who call themselves Lutherans, to speak of faith as God’s gift and the work of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel and through the Sacraments, but then to look away from them as if what has been said is not what really matters.  A powerful example of this is the way that 1 Corinthians 11:28 is misapplied concerning the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord.  This misunderstanding and misapplication leads to people and entire churches counting one’s personal faith as the cause of worthiness for coming to the table of forgiveness and life in God’s kingdom.

But the apostle is teaching the opposite.  He is teaching that a man, as the head of his wife and household should examine himself, that is, his household, to be certain that they recognize their need for the body and blood of their Lord so as to be moved by the faith that He has worked in them to come to the table, and that this man also examine himself to be certain that the table to which he brings his family is truly the table of the Lord and not a table of adulteration of the Sacrament.

When people share in this understanding, what is taught is that each head of each household should be instructed and reminded to look back with his entire household daily to the promises made in their baptism, that is, God’s promises made in their baptism.  Looking back to one’s baptism causes one to realize that being a Christian is not the product of one’s faith, but rather one’s faith is the produce of being remade to be a Christian.  Perhaps this point should be repeated.

Looking back to one’s baptism causes one to realize that being a Christian is not the product of one’s faith, but rather one’s faith is the produce of being remade to be a Christian.

This realization then moves the person to rise up from the false reliance upon one’s own faith so as to approach the Table of the Lord’s Remembrance, where he remembers whom He has made us to be and with His body unites us with Him in His remembrance and renews us again in the forgiveness and life in His blood.

This is how God works His grace in us and for us, which we perceive through the faith that He engenders in us.  Then we simply say “Amen” to what He has done, as He continually gives and teaches it to us anew through His means of grace so that we do remember that He is the Father and we are the needy children.  Then we rejoice in the doctrine that St. Paul very carefully sets before us:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

    For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:  it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:4-10)

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Do You Honestly Believe God?

Is your God a liar?

     If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  (1 John 1:8-10)

Do you profess to be a Christian?  Do you confess to believe in Christ as your Savior?

Is your sin big enough to need a savior?  Or do you just need a little help?  Are you just needing a push in the right direction?

Those who truly look to Christ as their Savior do not have any little sins.

For example, the sin of praying is taken very seriously by one who truly trusts in Christ.

Do you understand what this means?  Do you understand why your praying is sinful?

According to this passage from John’s letter to those whom he identifies as his little children in the faith, if you imagine that your prayers are without sin, you deceive yourself and call God a liar.

Consider when you pray.  Let’s take the prayer that the Lord Jesus gave us to pray.  When you pray the Our Father, does your mind wander?

Do you pray this prayer perfectly with absolute and undivided attention to the Lord?

If you say that you do, then don’t even bother reading any farther.

But if you answer honestly, then this passage from the Scriptures will be received with great joy and thanksgiving in your heart, soul, and mind.

If you realize that even your best efforts at prayer and worship fall short and are of their own merit nothing but idolatry, then these words recorded by St. John will be wonderful words to you.  For these words are written for real sinners, of whom Isaiah and St. Paul declare that all of our righteousnesses are as bloody rags, corrupt and to be burned forever.  If your best deeds are such, then you will hear what the Holy Spirit is revealing in this text.

Here the grace of God is declared for us all to hear, that God, the faithful and just one, will forgive us our sins when we honestly acknowledge them so that we confess them.

It is a very sad matter that this text is usually proclaimed as though it were a cause and effect scenario, as though God forgives us because we confess our sins.  Most people hear this as though we must confess our sins in order for God to be willing to forgive us.  Most preachers proclaim this as though God forgives us because we humble ourselves and confess our sins.

The truth is far more wonderful!

The truth is that we confess our sins because God forgives us.  We confess our sins because God has declared us to be forgiven in Christ.  Thus, when we hear this wonderful good news and are converted by the Holy Spirit so that we believe it, we no longer are afraid to come to God.  Instead, we now acknowledge God’s forgiveness in Christ and come to God through Christ, confessing that we need to hear His holy absolution.  We hurt because of the knowledge of our sinfulness and we confess this to God who readily and lovingly declares to us yet again, “Yes, My Son has taken your sins so that they are no longer accounted to you.  Your sins have all been forgiven you even from eternity.  Go forth in the blessedness of this forgiveness.”

The Gospel teaches us that in Christ our sins are forgiven.  When we hear this, when we truly hear this, our hearts are changed.  We are regenerated from unbelievers to believers.  When we believe God, we cannot call Him a liar.  When we believe God and His gracious declaration in connection with Christ, we want to be baptized into Christ and to be made to be partakers of this Holy Communion of God in the body of Christ.  The Gospel works this in us.  Then we see that of our own thoughts, words, and deeds, we sin against God continually.  Knowing this, we come and confess our sins so that we can hear Him say again and again and again, “I forgive you.”

We need to hear this.  This is how God sets us free.  We come to Him with hearts burdened with sin and He divorces us of our sins.  He sends our sins away from us.

As we hear the truth concerning Jesus, we believe what He has accomplished for us.  Our natural response is to confess our need for His forgiveness.  His response is to declare it to us as often as we need to hear it.

God does not demand that if we want to be forgiven we must confess our sins.  Rather, He promises that when we confess our sins we will actually hear His forgiveness.

God promises that His forgiveness is purely by grace through faith.  If we insist that we must somehow make ourselves worthy first by believing or by inviting Him into our hearts or by confessing our sins, or by examining ourselves, or by anything else, we call Him a liar.  This is the opposite of believing Him.  This cuts us off from receiving His forgiveness.  This is not because He refuses to grant it, but because we refuse to receive it as it must be received, by grace, through faith, as an absolute gift, purchased and won for us by Christ and made available to us in Christ.

This knowledge of God’s honest proclamation of grace through faith is cause for everlasting thanksgiving or Eucharisting, which in essence is the very life of the Church.

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Christian, Lutheran, Whatever, What ARE You?

A blog that I sometimes visit is Worldview Everlasting.  When I first stumbled upon this blog I was fascinated by it.  Over time I became aware of the cause of my uneasiness with this “Lutheran” and his “style” and the compendium of topics and contributors.  Now I visit the site occasionally just to see whether things have moved in a more helpful direction.  My visits are becoming less and less frequent, due to the continual disappointment.

One of the recent video posts is All Ur Labels R Belong to Us.

The very title, with its world-mimicking bad grammar and style, makes me squirm.  It immediately sets off the holy alarms in my spirit and soul.  It is akin to the feeling of having a caterpillar or other creature crawling down my neck inside the back of my shirt.  Sometimes this sense is more like the feeling of having bird poop fall on me from overhead.  Other times it is like the sense of feeling my foot slip when I step upon a fresh pile of doggy poop in someone’s back yard.

The immediate sense is that something is not right.  Something is out of place.

Such senses should not be ignored in life.  The warnings are genuine.  They are signals that one should be alert and on guard.

These uneasy sensations are the natural response to things that do not fit, things that are not honest and true.

In the case of these titles of video posts, they do not fit with the manner of what the blogger claims to represent.  This is not the norm for the one holy catholic Church that is called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit and kept with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.  This simply is not the way of those who are called out of the world to stand apart from the world.  This is not the way of those who live in the world but are not of the world.

Read the Scriptures and see.  Does the Lord conform Himself and His ministry and preaching to the style and manner of the world?  Do His apostles preach or write in this way?  Do they try to incorporate the modern lingo and mannerisms so as to try to make themselves more appealing?

The Scriptures do speak of those who use this approach.  What the Scriptures say concerning this way is not flattering.

In the video post listed above, All Ur Labels R Belong to Us, the content matches the style.  It is consistent with the overall approach of the web site.  It tries to blend the world’s view of reality or the “worldview” with the view of the Church with the catchy title of “Worldview Everlasting.”  It sounds very spiritual.  It sounds very “other-worldly.”  But it is really very worldly in the end.  It is a reduction of “the things above” to acceptance in terms of things below.

This is demonstrated powerfully in the following portions of this video post.

On the time line, at 4:16, a question from a commentator is shared.



At 4:26, Fisk addresses this.



Here Fisk identifies the problem with Lutheranism, including his definition of Lutheranism.  The problem is one of dishonesty and total lack of integrity.

Notice the statement in the center of this where Fisk replies, saying:

     You are not a Lutheran - which is fine, so long as you are honest about it.

This is a recurring doctrine throughout this video post.  It flows throughout the entire blog and its many posts.

At 5:14 Fisk says in this video,

     Be what you are.  Love what you are.  If you believe something, embrace it. . . . I’m not trying to put you in a hole, I’m just trying to get you to, you know, enjoy what you actually think.  Embrace it!

Is this what the Lord Jesus teaches?  Is this even remotely like what the apostles teach?  Do the Scriptures ever say this?  Or do the Scriptures actually declare that we should hear the truth and be turned from what we are and what we think and what we construct for ourselves?

Do the Scriptures ever declare that it is OK to believe what we want so long as we listen to what others say and accept them for who they are?

Is this the way of the Holy Scriptures?  Is this what is exposed in the “Lutheran Confessions” that Fisk claims to believe and confess and teach?

Do the Lutheran Confessions say that it is OK to love and embrace the ways of Wesleyan Baptist theology and practice?

At 9:12 Fisk says:

     But if your ism happens to be Lutheranism, which basically has six chief things, there’s like six things that make a Lutheran, we call them the six chief parts, and we believe they’re actually six things that make you a Christian, too, although you can be a Christian without believing everything about every piece of the chief parts, but they are the fullness of Christianity and they all point you back to Christ and the cross, but pretty much to deny any of these six things, I mean, it’s not like it’s this big giant list somewhere, it’s six stinkin things, right, you believe these six things and you are a Lutheran.  You don’t believe these six things and you’re not a Lutheran.  We call these six things the Small Catechism, because it is rather small, and catechism means: “teaching.”  It is just the small list of teaching that actually makes you Lutheran.

     I don’t define this.  I mean, where do you get off accusing me of that?  As if it is my idea.  You think I’m making this stuff up?  You think it’s about me?  If you think it’s about me, you just got to watch these videos a lot more, because you know, go back and watch the old ones.  This sucker aint about me man, this sucker’s about the Word of God.

Do people who speak this way ever even listen to themselves so as to hear the amount of double-mindedness that is expressed in their preaching?

For openers, where does Lutheran doctrine ever speak of Lutheran Christianity?

Hmm?

Where do the Lutheran Confessions ever speak of anything other than the one holy catholic/universal/Christian Church?

How can Fisk say, “they’re actually six things that make you a Christian, too, although you can be a Christian without believing everything about every piece of the chief parts”?

How can he say two diametrically opposing things within the same sentence and not hear the fallacy?

How can people listen to this and accept this as genuine?

How can he furthermore refer to the six chief parts of the one true faith by which God’s grace is declared and taught and imparted as “six stinkin things”?

Is this the way of someone whose first thought is to proclaim the truth of God’s Word, or is it the way of someone who is more concerned about sounding cool?

If these six chief parts are what make a person a Christian, how is it possible not to believe everything about them without losing one’s Christianity?

Does a baker accept this notion regarding the ingredients for a cake or a loaf of bread?  Does a mechanic say this regarding the parts of an engine that is being reassembled?  Does an electrician say this concerning the wiring of a house?

Would you trust any of these if they did?

How can Fisk make such statements while demanding integrity and honesty of others?

How can Lutherans in general follow this way as most do today?

The answer rests at least in part with the rest of what Fisk says about these six chief parts.  He says that we call them the Small Catechism.  He makes this false statement because he is falsely focusing upon the “smallness” of the essential and necessary parts of the Christian faith.  He is attempting to minimize the content of the doctrine that must stand as what is believed.

What does Luther and the catholic Church call these six chief parts?

The Catechism, is what they are called.

The so-called Small Catechism is the smaller and more concise of Luther’s explanations of the Catechism.  Luther wrote a Small Catechism in which the six chief parts are briefly explained so that the simple and young could understand them.

Luther also wrote a Larger Catechism in which he expanded his explanations of the Catechism or the Six Chief Parts more extensively.

Something that Luther does not say concerning these six chief parts is that anyone ever may dare to deny them in any part.  To deny these in any way, to reject so as not to believe any portion of these, is to deny the Word of God Himself, to deny Jesus, and to lose one’s salvation.

Luther treats this very seriously.  He never speaks of those who reject the efficacious nature of Baptism as true Christians.  He never speaks of those who deny the body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament as true Christians.  Rather, he warns them against eating and drinking judgement upon themselves and cutting themselves off from God’s Holy Communion.

But Fisk and nearly every Lutheran today mocks this, saying that a person can be a Christian while denying and refusing to believe what Jesus and His apostles plainly declare.

The Christian faith, the faith by which salvation is imparted by God to those who stand desperately in need of being saved, is an “All or Nothing” faith.  It cannot be divided into portions that are necessary and unnecessary or even less necessary.

As an arborist who climbs trees using ropes for my own positioning and safety as well as for securing and lowering tree limbs and controlling the felling of trees in dangerous situations, I have come to value a saying by Clifford Ashely:

     A knot is never nearly right; it is either exactly right or it is hopelessly wrong, one or the other; there is nothing in between.

This saying is exemplified in the following explanation from “Tie, Dress, and Set (TDS)” in “The Tree Climber’s Companion.”

     Tying knots involves more than just making the “rabbit come out of the hole, go around the tree, and back in the hole” as with the Bowline. A properly tied knot must also be finished properly by dressing it and setting it. Dressing the knot means properly aligning, arranging, or straightening all the parts of the knot so it matches the description and picture in the book. Knot and rope strength can be significantly reduced if the knot is dressed improperly.

     Setting the knot involves tightening all its parts so they properly touch, grab, and press against each other. This creates friction on the rope—the reason a knot works.  A knot that is loosely tied could “capsize” and come untied when a load is applied.  It is good practice to periodically inspect knots while in use to ensure they remain tied.  New knots should never be employed aloft until they can be skillfully tied, dressed, and set (TDS) while on the ground.

From this it is easy to recognize the absolute importance of 100% accuracy in the doctrine of knot tying.  It also is easy to see that one must believe all aspects of this in order for the doctrine to have its effect in practice.

For example, a knot that is tied correctly will not hold if the person does not believe that it must be properly set and therefore skips this absolutely necessary step.

The same is true concerning the Six Chief Parts of Christian doctrine.

No part can be ignored or rejected if the doctrine is to be effective.

God does not give His doctrine without purpose.  He does not teach things that are not necessary.  All aspects of the truth are necessary.  Any departure from the truth is a departure from the truth.

This should be committed to heart, mind and soul.

Any departure from the truth is a departure from the truth.

If one does not hold to this, what difference does it make whether or not one is “honest” about being a Lutheran?  What does it matter if the article of doctrine concerning Baptism can be rejected and one can still be Christian?

The reason that the many imagined Lutherans think that it is important to be Lutheran is that they are actually promoting themselves.

One of Shakespeare’s famous quotations is from Hamlet:

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Lutherans often fall into this category, as Fisk seems to protest too much when he says,

     I don’t define this.  I mean, where do you get off accusing me of that?  As if it is my idea.  You think I’m making this stuff up?  You think it’s about me?  If you think it’s about me, you just got to watch these videos a lot more, because you know, go back and watch the old ones.  This sucker aint about me man, this sucker’s about the Word of God.

If it is not about “being Lutheran,” why do they protest so much?  Why do they not simply proclaim the doctrine of the true faith as absolutely necessary and stand upon this?  Why do they insist on the name of “Lutheranism” and their church bodies?

God says many times and in various ways, both through the ministry of His Son and through the ministry of His apostles, “Baptism saves you.”  (For example: 1 Peter 3:19-21)

If someone says that this is not true, what does that person say of God, of God’s Word, of the Scriptures, of the faith declared in the Scriptures, of the Holy Spirit who inspired men to write these Scriptures, of the men who wrote them and proclaimed them, and of the Church?

If one says that what God says is true but that one can be a Christian while saying that what God says is not true, what does this mean?

Why even bother preaching and teaching concerning these things at all?

Unless of course, it really is about you after all.

Whose word really matters?  In whose words do you really trust?

Hmm?

Romans 3:4

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Faith Is . . . the Evidence of Things Not Seen

     In my ponderings and prayers this day, as I wrestled with God over matters of what He has declared and how these declarations are to be rightly understood, something quite wonderful became clear.

     The things over which I pondered and pressed the Lord for answers were not new for me.  I have wrestled with these matters many times, and perhaps even continually.  It is not as though the Lord has not spoken clearly concerning these matters, but in a fallen world where I continually am bombarded with the weaknesses of the flesh and the sinful nature, accepting what I know to be true is impossible without the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  And so, I ask.

     The answers are always given in the same way.  The Holy Spirit directs my spirit, heart, mind, and soul to various Scriptures that provide the answers.  My response when I hear is, “Oh.  Of course.”

     The ongoing thoughts and questions that were on my heart again today are with regard to the clear statements concerning the true Church being the saints who are gathered to the pure Word and Sacraments, while yet I daily encounter people not of the true Church according to this Scriptural definition who nevertheless seem to be displaying genuine desire to be near to God and to know Him, truly expressing evidences of faith in Him, or at least the evidences of faith being worked in them.

     My ceaseless desire and concern is that all people hear the Truth so that they may have the true Faith generated in them and receive the manifold blessings that God desires for them to receive and enjoy.  This most especially includes being made to be members of God’s Holy Communion and heirs of everlasting life through the forgiveness of sins and the generation of the new creation within.

     As I pondered God’s clearly expressed desire that all men be saved, the vastness of His grace was yet again in my mind.  I was reminded of the fact that people are saved by God’s grace and not by their believing.  I remembered that God’s grace is that which works salvation and that faith is the gift by which His grace is known and seen.  Suddenly the clarity shone forth as I said:

     Grace is what works the salvation and faith is the evidence of that grace at work.

     This was the “Ah ha!” moment.  This was when I thought: “Of course!”

     “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1)

     No one can see God’s grace.  We can only see what it works.  Faith is the evidence of the unseen grace of God.  Faith is the substance that grace produces.  While we cannot see God’s grace, we can see the effects of His grace.  Faith is the evidence of things not seen.  When a person is regenerated so that an unbeliever is reborn as a believer, we see that God’s grace has worked a mighty miracle.  God’s grace changes the heart so that faith is born in it and that person’s heart is made anew.  The entire person is changed.

     What the person does after this determines whether or not the person continues in God’s grace, or turns again to one’s own reason and strength. The Church is the gathering of the regenerated who continue in God’s grace, heeding the Holy Spirit’s tireless urgings to be gathered as one to the pure Word and Sacraments.  In this Church God’s grace is poured out continually through the means of grace and the saints are preserved in the one true faith forevermore.

     The Lord Jesus shared the parable of the Sower who broadcasts His Seed everywhere, letting it fall in every place.  Some Seed falls on good soil and grows and flourishes.  This is the true Church, the body of Christ, where those who receive the Word are nurtured and preserved.

     Everyplace else the Seed is trampled or gobbled up or choked out or dies.

     This is why Christ and His apostles preached so sternly regarding the necessity of pure doctrine and practice in the Church, even saying that those who oppose it must be informed that they have excluded themselves.  Those who would change the preaching of God’s pure grace back into the preaching of meriting grace through works of any kind, even the falsely imagined good work of believing, have rejected God’s grace, which is the one and only cause of salvation.

     This cannot be tolerated.  Love will not allow it.

     Faith is not something that a person does for oneself.  It is not a work of the believer.  Faith is the evidence of God’s grace worked by Him through His ordained means.

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Leaning on Emotions

This evening I heard on the radio a song/hymn and its authors being praised. The song is “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” It has as a Scriptural basis: “The eternal God is your Refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27

The song turns my stomach. I’ve heard it in a couple of movies before. It causes me to realize why so many people think that Christians are emotional boobs.

This song, while promoted as Gospel and comfort is 100 percent Law, without a word of the Gospel even suggested. I won’t post it here, but if you want to examine it, click here. But be warned, the music plays and it is the kind of sickly tune that refuses to leave one’s head.

The Gospel is not empty emotionalism. The Gospel tells us where this eternal God is found and how He is available. The Gospel tells us of the means of grace, through which this merciful God fills the emptiness that we feel.

This song purportedly was written to give comfort to two men whose wives died and left them grieving. If the text from Deuteronomy had actually been applied as it stands written, it would have been comfort of the greatest kind, rather than teaching that people should lean emotionally on imaginary arms that do nothing and cannot be felt or seen except as fantasy.

The text of Deuteronomy 33:27 is one portion of the great blessing that Moses pronounced upon the people of God to carry them forward in faith as they entered into the land of promise, the land where they would live in the safety of the true worship established by the Lord until the promised Seed would be born of woman to save them and all the world from sin and all of the consequences of sin, most especially everlasting death. Such words of blessing provide real and substantial comfort.

The entire Thirty-third chapter should be read and pondered, but even the last four verses are marvelous:

     There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. (Deuteronomy 33:26-29)

These arms do not require one to lean upon them. They actually go before and defeat the enemy who would destroy through deception and false worship. These arms prepare the way for God’s people to sojourn in safety. And these last verses, spoken specifically to the tribe of Asher, are given in connection with the entire communion of the people of God. Special words are spoken to each tribe regarding their portion in the promised inheritance that would keep them united until the Messiah would come. It is all based upon the Lord’s faithfulness as it was displayed in delivering the people from their bondage in Egypt and in the giving of the Torah or Law upon Mount Sinai.

The patriarchs died in the comfort of these promises. In remembrance of these promises the Lord brought the people out of their bondage and to this land of promise. He provided for them through their journey, even after they disobeyed. He brought them safely to the border of the new land and now Moses proclaimed to them these final words of blessing. After leading them for forty years, he now blessed them one final time to prepare them for the new life that awaited them.

The centuries of waiting have been fulfilled. The promised King and Savior has come. He has gone forth and has carried our troubles and infirmities in His own body. He has faced death for us and has risen victorious over sin and death and the devil. He has ascended to the throne of God and rules on our behalf. And He has given us not only words to comfort us, but He has given us the Sacrament of water and Spirit through which He lifts us up from our sin death and joins us into His everlasting kingdom. He has given us the Sacrament of His body and blood through which He actually comes to us and gives us Himself to strengthen us and keep us united in Him throughout all our days and even unto everlasting life. When we face the death of our loved ones who have been washed into His Holy Communion of blessedness and life, we need not imagine some fictitious arms on which to lean in our minds, for we know that our loved ones are safe with Him and that we remain in His protection in His body, the Church, until our time of blessed departure comes.

Don’t sing any hyped up emotional nonsense to me. Give me the solid Law and Gospel by which I will stand unmoved upon the Rock. Sing to me “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and “The Church’s One Foundation” and “I Know that My Redeemer Lives”! Sing to me “The Kyrie Eleison” and “The Sanctus” and “The Agnus Dei” and “The Nunc Dimittis”! Then I shall be truly comforted and you will have shown yourself a true friend.

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Václav Havel's View

I found an article regarding the recently deceased Czech leader, entitled, Living Responsibly: Václav Havel's View, an article that I found very informative and interesting.

Frankly, until today, I was ignorant of this man and his role in the struggle of mankind for knowing the truth and for understanding who we are. I saw some blog posts contrasting this man and the recently deceased ruler of North Korea. This motivated me to study more.

What I learned about Kim Jong-il is horrifying. What I have learned of Václav Havel is truly a contrast.

Two places where I learned of Kim Jong-il and his so-called leadership are: On the Death of A Diabolical Dictator – North Korea’s Killing Fields and Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader, dies. Both of these have videos that reveal the dreadful ways of those who promote themselves as saviors, in the stead of the one who gives Himself as Savior, whose great gift to the world we celebrate Sunday. The videos at “The Guardian” show how powerfully the people of North Korea, or at least the ones shown in the videos, were persuaded by the closed and controlled state media.

Truly the man Václav Havel stands in contrast to this. I find it amazing how American he is, unlike most of us who have enjoyed the freedoms afforded to “real Americans.” He offers a strong warning to America, to Western Civilization, and to the world.

Havel stands as an example of how even one who does not believe in the God who reveals Himself in the Bible can still benefit temporally from the statutes, commandments, precepts, and judgments therein recorded. Havel himself received these temporal benefits, and through his belief in the high morals and ideals many others benefitted as well.

It is sad, though, very sad indeed, to realize that temporal benefits do not equal everlasting benefits. For this man openly declared concerning the rumor that he had become a Christian: “genuine conversion, as I understand it, would mean replacing an uncertain ‘something’ with a completely unambiguous personal God, and fully, inwardly, to accept Christ as the Son of God.… And I have not taken that step.”

This means that he will be standing with Kim Jong-il forevermore. He will not suffer as greatly as the monstrous dictator, but he did reject the life of everlasting blessedness that the Lord Jesus purchased for him.

And this is the so-called Church’s fault. For where would he turn to hear the unadulterated Gospel today? Where would he look to see the holy catholic Church standing in perfect unity of doctrine? Where are the means of grace administered today in accord with Christ’s ordinance? And yet all of these divisive heretics (opinion holders) say that these divisive self held opinion promoters are the Church and are saved. Why then would someone like Havel be inclined to believe in “a completely unambiguous personal God”? From whom would he even hear of such a God so as to believe in Him?

Sadly, frighteningly, poor Mr. Havel is not alone in this confusion that fills the world through the so-called Church of tolerant deviance. When one considers how many victims this view of Christianity claims, who is the more monstrous tyrant, the little ruler of North Korea, or the pastors and other leaders who deny the efficacy of the means of grace and the true unity of the Church of God on earth? And of those who deny the efficacy of the means of grace and the true unity of the Church, who does it most powerfully, those who outright deny that God works salvation through these, or those who teach that they are true means of salvation but then allow that salvation can be received while rejecting them (and thereby the One who ordained them)?

The warning that Mr. Havel spoke to America, to Western civilization, and to the world certainly should be taken seriously by those who call themselves Church. Moreover, if Mr. Havel were able so to do, he would, like the rich man who called out to Abraham in whose bosom Lazarus rested, surely he would call out to the Church unitedly and honestly to warn his brothers concerning who Jesus really is and what Jesus has accomplished for us all.

Christmas, that is, the Christ Mass, is this Sunday. Never mind what this means TO the world. Isn’t it time that Christians first acknowledge what this means FOR the Church so as then also to be able to proclaim what it means FOR the world?

Is it possible that in spite of the infidelity of those who claim to be the Church that somehow, even with the lack of clarity and honesty of their preaching and practice, that somehow the Lord miraculously brought Mr. Havel into the true faith so that he also rests in the bosom of Abraham? This is a question that we have no business asking, for the Lord has nowhere given such a promise. Mr. Havel most certainly could have been converted in his last moments. But this is not our concern. Our concern is that he did not hear it from us! Furthermore, our concern is whether or not we will hear God calling us to repentance ourselves.

Throughout the world people will be singing:

Oh, come, all ye faithful, triumphantly sing:
Come see in the manger our Savior and King!

Where has He promised to be found? Where has He declared His manger to be? How has He said that sinners are to come to Him? Through what means has He said that sinners enter into the kingdom of God? John 3 How does His apostle say that sinners are empowered to be born as sons of God? It is through a decision? Is it through bloodline and heritage? John 1:12-13 How does He say that His blood of forgiveness is given and received? Matthew 26:27-28 Oh that together with one voice and as one true body the Church would gather for the Christ Mass and sing:

To Bethlehem hasten with joyful accord;
Oh, come let us adore Him, Oh, come let us adore Him,
Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

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