He That Is in You

This is a short story. It may appear to be fictional, but it is a true story. However, it is not the story of one specific event, but of all such events demonstrated in this one little story.


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James and John are two very ordinary men who meet through a set of very ordinary circumstances.

James is a man struggling to be free. He has been drinking abusively for many years. His life is one of fear, fear of losing all that he holds dear. Because of his fear he drinks. He often wishes that he was never born. Yet he looks for hope in the world. He once was married, well, actually more than once. But now he lives with a woman and one of his grown children.

John is a businessman, at least he has a business. It is a small business. He is a handyman. He does not advertize his business, but from the first job that he did, word has spread. He works very hard. He always gives people more than they bargained for in the bid that was approved. Doing things part way just is not John’s way.

One day James sees John at work and stops to inquire further. He explains that he has little money but needs to have some work done on his trailer home. He shares about his dreams of building up his property and living happily. He tells a tiny bit about the setbacks that he has faced in life. He tells about some of the disappointments that he has experienced. Then he asks whether John can work on his trailer, asking how much it would cost to repair the steps to the entrance and to repair the lighting. John says that he needs to see the job before giving a price.

James explains again his sad situation and says that he only has a hundred dollars to spare. John explains that this would not even cover the full expenses, let alone pay for his labor. But James pleas with him to help him. He assures John that he only needs to have a few boards replaced on the steps and that only minor wiring needs to be done on the lighting. So John agrees to come later that afternoon.

John finishes his work late that afternoon and cleans the area and loads his tools and equipment. Then he drives to the lumber yard to buy some supplies. On the way a lady with a cell phone in one hand and cigarette in her mouth and a cup of coffee in the other hand swerves from her lane and cuts him off with her car.

“Argh!” John exclaims. “How on earth is she steering? Thank God we did not have an accident! What is wrong with people? Oh well.”

As he comes near to the parking space, another man pulls through from the other side and parks in John’s space, forcing John to lock up his brakes. “Argh! What is wrong with you? You selfish jerk!” These words fly from John’s mouth before he even realizes how angry he is. Realizing his anger he tells himself, “Calm down, John. Calm down. Getting angry isn’t going to help. Just drive to the other side and use that space.”

John backs up the truck, drives around to the other side, and just before he gets to the space, a lady with two children in the car whips into the space in front of him. “Calm down, John. Calm down.” John gasps as he drives around again, this time parking out, way out from the store.

Finally John begins his way to James’ home, having purchased the supplies that he expects to need to do the repairs. Unfortunately the directions that James wrote down left out a few names of streets and had the turns reversed on occasion. John tried calling the number that James gave him, but no one answered. But John kept searching till he found the correct place.

By now the sun is very low in the sky. The grass is tall and the weeds are taller, except for the large bare spots in the lawn. John makes his way to the front steps and finds that the steps are metal steps that have completely rusted through. “Oh boy!” John thinks. “This is going to take much more time and materials, but I think that I have enough to make a new set of steps.”

John presses the doorbell. It does not work. He knocks on the door. No answer. He knocks again and again. He knocks on the window, again and again. Finally James’ girlfriend comes to the door. She explains that James went to the store for cigarettes.

Finally James returns with a case of beer and a carton of cigarettes. “Oh great,” John thinks, “He can afford beer and cigarettes, but he can’t afford to pay me. Oh well. I’d better get started.”

Now it is dark. John asks where he can plug in his lights so that he can work. James says, “What, can’t you come back tomorrow?”

“No, I can’t come back tomorrow! I have other work to do and I’m trying to do you favor.” John’s frustration is growing.

“OK! OK! Go ahead then! The plug is under the steps.”

John sets up and constructs a new set of steps. He was right, he had just enough materials in the truck to accomplish the job. The steps are complete. A very sturdy set of steps, constructed of pressure treated two-bys and four-bys. John made a sturdy set of hand rails, too, something the previous steps lacked.

John knocks on the door. James’ daughter answers. “Where’s James?” John inquires.

“Oh, he and Sherrie went to bed.”

“What? What do you mean they went to bed? Tell him to get out here and turn off the breaker so that I can work on the lights!” John exclaims.

Kerrie, James’ daughter, continues, “I don’t think that they want to be disturbed.”

The veins in John’s forehead felt like they would burst. “Fine!” he shouts, “I’m outahere!” as he begins to pick up his tools.

Moments later James flies out the door, descending upon his newly constructed steps. “Where do you think you’re going you . . ., you haven’t finished.”

“Oh yes I have!” John shouted. “You lied to me and I’m outa here.”

“You calling me a liar? Well I’m not paying you a . . . thing. Not one . . . penny! You haven’t finished your work!”

“I’m not charging you anything. I’m just leaving. You lied to me about the steps. You lied about the conditions and the amount of the work. You lied about helping me. You lied about the lights. I rebuilt your entire steps and now I’m out of here!”

James gets right in John’s face, “You called me a liar! You . . .!” Many curses and names spew from James with great volume and anger.

John repeats with vehemence, “You lied to me. I’m out of here!’

James picks up a hammer and begins waving it with profuse cursing and screams, “You can’t call me a liar. I’ll kill you!”

John spins and flies at James, grabbing him by the skin of his chest and throws him to the ground with a single move, while flashing down upon him like a lightning bolt. John’s fist is raised to the point of full force, the same fist that earlier demolished a two by six to make it fit in the trash can. This silhouette remained motionless for what seemed like an eternity, with John’s sweat dripping from his face and falling in James’ eyes. Sherrie and Kerrie stand frozen in the doorway like a pair of ice statues.

“I can’t. I can’t,” John softly mutters, slowing rising from James’ trembling torso. “I can’t. I’m leaving now. The steps are complete. I’m not charging you anything. I just want to leave in peace. You’ll have to get someone else to fix your lights. I just want to leave in peace.”

James slinks off, back into the house, where Sherrie hands him a beer and a cigarette, saying, “Ah Baby, Baby. It’s alright.”

Kerrie quietly slips out the door and comes cautiously to John. “I thought he was dead. I thought that he finally picked a fight with the wrong man.”

“I’m sorry,” John says, “It was wrong for me to become so angry. I’m sorry for frightening you.”

“I thought he was dead. You looked like the devil himself. And he certainly deserves it. I thought that you were going to kill him.”

“I can’t. It’s not in me. I’m sorry for the way that I reacted.”

“What do you mean it’s not in you? I don’t understand.”

“You see, Jesus lives in me. Jesus is love. I can’t hurt someone that I love.”

“You mean that you love James?”

“Yes. I love everyone. Jesus loves everyone, and He is my life. Jesus loves me. He loves James. I love James, too. That’s why I need to leave. Here is the name of someone who can fix your lights. I’m sorry for the way that I acted. Please forgive me.”

“What? Forgive you?”

“I’m sorry for the horrible way that I acted. I’m sorry for frightening you. Good night. God bless you.”

John never saw or heard from James again. But from time to time he remembers James and prays for him, in addition to the usual prayers of the Church and of the Our Father. When he remembers that night, He gives thanks to God for keeping him from following through with the unrighteous anger of his heart and for the forgiveness that is poured out freely in the Sacrament. He often remembers the promises of John 16:33 and 1 John 4:3-4:

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

. . . and . . .

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

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God’s Word

How can we know when we are truly hearing God’s Word?

What is God’s Word?

St. John writes:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

What is God’s Word? God’s Word is Jesus. When God wants us to know Him, He sends Jesus. When God wants us to receive His love and forgiveness and mercy, He sends Jesus.

When God created the world, He spoke it into existence and it was.

Jesus says:

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. (Revelation 3:14)

Jesus is the one through whom all things exist. He is the beginning of the creation of God. He is father time. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. He is.

Of this one the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”

When the Spirit speaks to the churches, He directs us to Jesus to hear Him and His words.

Jesus is our God and Savior. He is our light and our life. He is the Gospel. He is our everything. End of story!

The Faithful and True Witness

Evangelism programs abound! Training for being good witnesses is promulgated throughout the many that gather claiming to be of Christ. Many people exert great efforts to become good witnesses.

Yet the Scriptures direct us to a different understanding:

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. (Revelation 3:14)

The angel of the church of the Laodiceans is the pastor. To this pastor the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning of the creation of God, the one who was in the beginning and through whom all of creation came to be, declares that He alone is the faithful and true witness.

St. Paul writes to the churches in Galatia:

For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:19-21)

What these Scriptures teach us is that going forth as witnesses unto the Lord and His grace is not so much a matter of a special activity of witnessing, but rather primarily a matter of vocation. Being good witnesses is not a specific activity, but an identity placed upon us by the faithful and true witness.

When parents bring their newborn children to be baptized, this is the life of witness to which they are called. When they furthermore make certain that the body and blood of the Lord is received by their entire family regularly in the one true body of Christ where they may eat and drink together truly as one, this is the life of witness to which they are called. In these ways, as St. Paul declares concerning the true gathering where the Sacrament of the Altar is administered and received rightly discerning the Lord’s body, we do proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

When people truly trust that Jesus comes to His Church with mercy and grace, pouring out forgiveness and life with which His little ones are nourished and preserved everlastingly, when this is their complete dependence, then they are changed people and this dependence shows in their lives. Truly is it no longer they that live but Christ living in them. When this is the life of the one professing to be a Christian, it shows.

This is the witness that the world cannot help but notice and stand in awe. This is what causes people to wonder what makes these people different. This is what moves outsiders to approach and ask for an answer to the hope that such Christians have. And when the Christian is living in true communion with and depending upon the means of grace for one’s life, that person is fully prepared to give answer for the reason of the hope that is counted as life itself. That person points to the preaching of Christ crucified and the gracious outpouring of everlasting blessings in the Sacrament.

Sadly this is not what is commonly taught in the churches of our day. Being a witness unto Christ is the easiest thing in the world, so easy in fact, that it really requires no effort at all. Being a witness unto the grace of God in Christ is as easy as hearing the words: “I baptize you into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and responding by continuing in this pronouncement by evermore gathering to the Holy Communion of the Saints to receive the holy absolution and the body and blood of Jesus.

When this is the witness that Christians give, they truly are witnesses of the one who is the faithful and true witness, who declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

Do you want to be an effective and powerful witness unto the Lord Jesus and the salvation that He has won for us all? If so, then examine your life so that you hunger and thirst for the body and blood of your Savior. Examine yourself to be certain that you and your family are gathering in a congregation where there is no adulteration of the things of Christ. This is your life. This is your witness. Is it a true witness or is it in some way mingled with things other than what Christ has commanded for His Church? When the communion in the bread and the cup is your life, then your witness will be the one who is faithful and true, and everyone will know it. If when you open your mouth concerning Jesus, it is opened first to receive Him, then He is what will be proclaimed when you open it to speak to others, too.

Ablaze!

Wow! The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, my former church body, continues to break my heart.

Once again the “Harvest News” has been delivered to my mailbox, featuring, of course, the latest and greatest LC-MS scheme, Ablaze!

The new pride of the LC-MS is represented by this logo:



Why does this break my heart?

From the Harvest News that was mailed to me I will quote the following excerpt from the front page:

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“I believe,” said Rev. Dr. Robert Roegner, the executive director of LCMS world mission, before the 2007 Synod Convention, “that Ablaze! has put us on the doorstep to the most exciting days in the history of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.”

Butch Almstedt, the chairman of the Board for Mission Services, said it this way at the same event, “Ablaze! is about challenging our LCMS members—especially, but not exclusively the laity, to be passionate about witnessing to lost souls for Christ. It is about building more worshiping communities, more congregations, whereby the lost and saints can come and be edified by Word and Sacrament. It is about building up the roster of missionaries—ordained and non-ordained—who are sent by our Synod into mission fields at home and abroad. And, it is about helping our sister and partner churches outside the United States build up their ministries for outreach. Ablaze! is about fulfilling God’s Word to witness one’s faith and to disciple the nations, that many more may have life in Jesus Christ.”

Since 2004, thousands have stepped forward to join the movement. Thirty-two of 35 districts have registered as “Ablaze! partners”—those supporting the three main goals of Ablaze!: reaching 100 million with the Gospel; planting 2,000 new ministries in North America; and revitalizing the mission of 2,000 existing congregations. Also, 591 congregations have declared themselves to be “Ablaze! partners,” and approximately 1,000 congregations have downloaded the Ablaze! logo from the Web and told us that they are doing something around Ablaze! including worship services, Bible studies, concerts, and prayer vigils.

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So what is the problem? Why is this disturbing and disappointing?

The problem is that the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments are being treated as something to be promoted rather than as the means by which God administers His grace and blessings. The Gospel is being treated like a product to be marketed, not as the power of God unto salvation by which God accomplishes all that is good and holy for those who stand helpless by their own efforts.

The foundation and focus of this Ablaze! movement is summarized by this banner from the Ablaze! web page.



It’s about people! And you may ask: “What is wrong with that?”

The Gospel is not about people and what people do and how to gather more people into the Church.

The Gospel is Jesus! The Gospel is not merely about Jesus. The Gospel IS Jesus. Jesus is what is missing from the picture and from the movement.

The entire Ablaze! program is based upon the works of men and the programs of an organization. Because of this, the entire issue of the Fall 2007, Vol. 7, No. 4 “Harvest News” is about the Ablaze! program and the Ablaze! movement.

This movement has migrated so far from the right understanding of the Church that Chairman Almstedt’s statement to the convention was, “It is about building more worshiping communities, more congregations, whereby the lost and saints can come and be edified by Word and Sacrament.”

How differently the seventh article of the Augsburg Confession describes the Church:

It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel....

The Augsburg Confession keeps with the Scriptures in defining the Church as the assembly of all believers who gather to the pure Gospel and Sacraments. The LC-MS and the Ablaze! movement calls the Church the building of worshiping communities whereby both the lost (unbelievers) and the saints (believers) can come and be mutually edified.

How can the lost be part of the Church? How can the lost be edified apart from being converted by the Holy Spirit to become believers? How can the lost partake of the Sacraments for their edification when the Sacraments can be received to their benefit only by faith? How can the Word and the Sacraments be administered purely when this is the understanding that is being stated?

This is what breaks my heart!

The true faith by which the absolute and unfailing confidence of God’s grace in Christ Jesus is received, is being buried under a pile of hyperbolic emotionalism. People are being directed to a movement rather than to the means of grace. The result is that people are relying more and more upon themselves and their own energies and their own faith than upon the Lord Jesus. Jesus is talked about and promoted like some kind of celebrity athlete who should be imitated and promoted and to have money thrown at him.

This is not the Gospel. The Gospel is the gift of Jesus for the salvation of the world, given in the pure administration of the Word and the Sacraments. God has given Baptism for the regeneration of sinners, to make them members of His kingdom who live by grace through faith. In Baptism God comes and washes away the sinner in the flood and preserves the child of faith unto everlasting life in His holiness, also called sanctification. He also has provided the Holy Supper by which He feeds His newborn saints and keeps them strong through the communion with the unity of the body of Christ and in the continual forgiveness of the blood of their Savior.

What breaks my heart is that among the thousands of my former brethren in the LC-MS, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is being mingled with many things that at best distract from His saving merits, and at worst pull a veil over them. Dear people who are gathering with the expectation of receiving good things from God, are eating and drinking judgment upon themselves. They continue to say to themselves, “Look at what we are doing in the name of the Lord!” when the Lord would have them hear from Him, “Receive what I have done and continue to do for you!”

How can people receive God’s good gifts when they are so busy trying to be the givers themselves? How can people beg from God His mercy, when they think that they are the merciful? How can they give what they forget to obtain first for themselves?

At the last day all things shall be set Ablaze!, and all that will survive the fire is the work that Christ has done in us and for us. So what works should the Church be proclaiming and trusting? By whose works does the Church exist and flourish?

Marriage and the Gospel

In Ephesians 5 the Apostle Paul speaks of marriage as the mystery of Christ and His Church. Then he says that husbands and wives each should live in this holy mystery concerning each other.

In Genesis we encounter the first two marriages, Christ and His Church, and then Adam and Ishshah. In the first marriage Christ gives Himself to and for His bride. He forms her from the earth and brings her into existence to live in His love. She turns from Him, and He calls her back and speaks words of grace to her.

In Genesis 3:20 Adam, having heard the word of promise that Christ spoke concerning His bride, that the Seed would be born to conquer Satan, the head of the serpent, having observed Christ’s love for His Church Adam then turns to the one he had named Ishshah, which means of man, and gives her the new name of Heva, Eve, which means Life.

How interesting! When confronted with the Law the man blamed his wife. When observing Christ in His dealings with His Church through the Gospel, the man turns and blesses his wife, even giving her the name of blessing. The result was peace for man and wife and they went forth trusting in God’s grace together.

Many books have been written regarding how to have a happy marriage. Yet the Holy Spirit speaks through Moses and St. Paul revealing in a few words the true foundation for a happy and blessed marriage. When the husband honors his God-given role as head of house so as to bless his wife in the name of the Lord and when the wife honors her God-given role as partner with her husband in this blessing of God’s Holy Communion, truly the marriage is blessed.

Reformation

October 31, 1517 is counted throughout the world as Reformation Day. It stands in stark contrast to the worldly celebration of Halloween. On this day, Dr. Martin Luther stood against the world and against the world’s religions and called for all the world and especially those who count themselves as Christians to repent. He challenged the ways of mankind and urged that the Word of God is the basis for true faith rather than ceremony or tradition or human attempts at righteousness. He especially urged people to abandon the false worship that focused in various ways upon buying God’s favor with money, devotion, penance, or other works. He urged all people to be reformed in their hearts and souls so that they trusted in God’s mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. The reformation that he sought was a simple return to the God of grace, mercy, and peace.

Today there is much buzz about needing new reformation. I believe that Luther would object to this terminology. The need is not for a new reformation today any more than such a need for a new reformation existed in Luther’s day. Luther did not urge a new reformation, but urged a return to the true reformation, the reformation that the Lord God has been working even from eternity, and pronounced already in Genesis 3.

Throughout history there have been many reformations akin to the one that is attributed to Luther. The first is recorded in Genesis 3:20 when after hearing the Lord’s declaration of the Gospel Adam turns to his wife and gives her a new name, Eve, which means Life. Other little reformations include each time that the Lord raised up a new judge to turn Israel from their idolatry back to the unadulterated worship ordained through Moses. Several kings also enacted little reformations, such as Hezekiah and even Manasseh. Yet none of these were lasting reformations, neither were they complete.

The people from Adam to John the baptizer waited for the day of the reformation. Today we look back upon it and also forward to it. For in Christ God did reform mankind. The image of God was restored to mankind in the body of Jesus, born of Mary. Mankind was truly reformed.

This reformation is applied to us today as the Holy Spirit comes to us through the Word in the water of Baptism and rejoins us to Christ crucified. This reformation is renewed in us each and every time that we come to the Holy Table to receive the body and blood of our Lord. The fullness of this reformation will be realized when Christ returns in the fullness of His glory to take us once and for all from this world of confusion and unbelief, to abide with Him in the everlasting joy of the removal of all that is sinful and evil. Then the reformation shall be complete in time even as God has already declared it from eternity.

Until then, reformation is the continual life of the Church. Reformation is the work that God works among us as we gather to Him in His means of grace. Where these are administered purely, the blessed reformation continues. Where these are adulterated and where this adulteration is tolerated, God’s grace does not prevail, but rather, people focus upon many other things.

For those who are thinking that a new reformation is needed today, I would suggest that you are correct if you are speaking of the reformation that we each need to encounter anew each and every day. The reformation that is needed is the one that Adam experienced and that many years later Luther also experienced. That reformation is the repentance that the Holy Spirit works through the Gospel so that we are set free from our dependence upon all things that lead us into temptation. The Holy Spirit always leads us to the means of grace, where we receive Jesus, our God and Savior. In Him we are truly reformed again and again, and even forevermore.

A final and very important point to remember is that when we speak of the need for reformation we are not speaking of this need for other people, but for us. This is why the Lord Jesus reminds us of our need to remove the log from our own eyes first. We, ourselves, need to return to the pure Gospel and the pure Sacraments, where God washes us with holy water that cleanses to our very souls and covers us with the blood of purification and life from the inside out, removing our log so that we may see clearly the reformation that God alone can work for us, and does work for us and among us through the means through which He has promised.

Trick or Treat

To most people Halloween is just an excuse to enjoy children.

In our household we have wrestled with the issue of whether or not to give candy at Halloween. We despise the demonic associations of this tradition, but have found that since most do not even realize what they are partaking in, without a clear explanation we would only give offense.

So on the occasions that we are home on October 31, we have candy available to give out to those who come to our house. Last year no one came. This year we had a steady flow of children of various ages.

Does it hurt to show kindness to those who come to our house, even when they come on account of observance of a tradition that has questionable or even demonic roots and ties?

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. (Gal 6:9-10)

For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. (1 Pet 2:15-16)

In the faces of those who come to our door crying “Trick or Treat,” we see the joy of receiving kindness from a stranger. While this is not a direct witness to the love of our Savior, it is nevertheless an overflow of the love with which He has filled us.

It really is not much different than when the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormon missionaries and any other stranger come to our door with a false understanding of what is good and true or with some worldly thing to sell. I always show kindness to them all, inviting them into the house to sit and to share what they have to say or sell and offering them the Gospel of our Lord Jesus in the fullest measure that they are willing to hear it.

After all, rejection is not the witness of the Christian, but rather a kindly invitation to receive the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus. It is hard to imagine when showing kindness and love to a stranger should be counted as wrong, especially by the one who gave Himself as a ransom for His enemies.

God Hates Fags

What a sad, horribly sad, focus for a group that claims to gather in the name of Jesus!

On the opening page of their web site, the Westboro Baptist Church has the following graphic:


with the title for the page: "Warning Page."

The picture serves as a link to their home page, which is entitled, "God Hates Fags."

St. John instructs the Church that "God is Love."

Why then would this group seek "God Hates" as their primary focus?

Good question. Perhaps the answer is found in their understanding of salvation and their interpretation of John 3:16. They say:

JESUS CHRIST DIED ONLY FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

They quote the Lord Jesus as saying that the Son was given because God LOVED the WORLD, and then twist His gracious words to say that He did not die for that same world in love for the world.

"Jesus Christ Died Only for Those Who Believe." This is not what the Scriptures teach. The Scriptures do teach, however, that not everyone for whom Jesus died will receive the benefits of His sacrificial death that He offered in love for all. The very next verses of Holy Scripture say that those who deny and therefore do not believe God's love come to earth in the body of Jesus stand condemned by their own refusal to believe what God has demonstrated in unmistakable means. The gift is a real gift. He has been given for all. But most will never receive Jesus as God's gift, but will seek to substitute their own version and understanding of Jesus, whose name means, "The Lord saves."

The problem for the poor people of Westboro Baptist Church is that they do not know the God of love. Since they do not know Him, they cannot serve Him with a witness to His love. Their gospel is not "good news" but "bad news" for all. Their message to the world is "God Hates." Their answer to God's hatred is that people had better choose to be the kind of people that God is capable of loving.

The God who reveals Himself through the Holy Scriptures declares Himself to be the God who has loved the world from eternity, loving the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son on behalf of this lost world. This God does not declare that people must give up their sinfulness and become holy in order to receive His love. Rather, this God pours out His love freely through the preaching of Christ crucified, and applies this love to sinners in the waters of Baptism and in the bread and wine of His Holy Communion. This love is Jesus and the holiness of God. Those who receive Jesus through these ordained means of salvation are declared to be righteous and holy for Jesus' sake. As they live in this declaration of the righteousness and holiness of Jesus, they discover that God truly has made them to be His holy children once again. Far from being a choice on their part, this is the power of the Gospel at work in them.

Sadly, Westboro Baptist Church is not alone in missing this all important understanding. If only all the churches that claim to be in Christ would administer the pure Word and Sacraments for the benefit of all. If only all the churches would lead people to Jesus, who comes to us freely and graciously in the means of grace. Then people would not look to means of their own imaginations and would be guarded by the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, guarded and kept safe in Christ Jesus.

God has provided the means by which we may know Him as our God of love. If we want to find the answers to our shortcomings, they are supplied for us in His means of grace. Through these means God gives us Jesus, and in Him all of God’s promises are “Yes” and “Amen.” (2 Cor. 1:20)

As our Lord Jesus assures us in John 3:17,

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Is this not the message that God would have us proclaim? Is this not what people at funerals need to hear?

Repentance is not a turning from what is wrong to what is right. Repentance is the change of heart and mind and soul that the Holy Spirit works in the sinner through the means of grace, so that rather than seeking to be right in one’s own understanding and by one’s own efforts, the person trusts that God is right and that His righteousness is what is needed, the righteousness that Christ purchased for us with His own holy life, and pours out freely in Baptism and in the Cup of the New Testament in His blood.

We all become excited when we receive news of a great bargain, but what bargain can compare to what God offers freely through His means of grace, even Jesus Christ? And who can do better for oneself, than what God has already accomplished from eternity for us all?

Blessed Worship Experience

Which of the following statements best summarizes what you take with you from gathering for worship?


+ This surely is a friendly congregation.

+ That music is really inspiring and uplifting.

+ We surely have a wonderful church body.

+ Our church body is in big trouble.

+ Pastor surely is a funny and friendly man.

+ I surely need to clean up my life!

+ Pastor surely is a wonderful preacher.

+ Why is there so much fighting in our congregation?

+ What do we have to do to have peace?

+ There surely is a lot of work to do.

+ Why can't the rest of the world be like us?

+ Now we are entering the mission field.

+ Boy am I ever fired up about evangelism! Let's go conquer the world and win souls for Christ!

+ Why does everything have to be so rigid and negative?

+ Wow, I'd better get busy! I did not realize that God expected so much from me!

+ God surely is good and gracious. He really does love me. He provides the means of grace through which He reconciles me to Himself and to His Church in Christ Jesus!

+ Argh! That was lousy coffee! And why do they always get the same kinds of donuts?

+ Wow! Pastor finally got us out on time!

+ I like the other service better.

+ Wow! Something for everybody!

The lesser of two EVILS

Surely you have heard this phrase applied to something or other: “Well, we have to choose the lesser of two evils.”

Do people who say this ever actually stop to think about what they are saying?

With the acceptance of this mentality, what are people saying that they have accepted?

This is always, ALWAYS the way with compromise.

Is this ever really a choice for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness?

Good God!

Good God, I hate war!

I truly hate war and everything about it. I have seen many war movies, and my reaction is always the same. I appreciate the bravery and valor of those who fight for the good of others, paying with their lives for freedom and justice. But I hate war. War movies tear me up.

“We Were Soldiers” rips my guts out. This movie like no other leaves me bawling. War is evil. There is absolutely no excuse for war. War is beyond any question the work of the devil. Saint James writes:

From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Yes, the devil began warring against God and all that is good. He tempted mankind to break fellowship with God and to look for goodness and pleasure elsewhere. All evil is the result of the absence of God, the absence of God in people’s hearts and minds.

This is why war proves to me the absolute and unfaltering goodness of God.

Strange as this may sound, it is true. When I consider the absolute evil of war, I know the absolute goodness of God.

War shows what man is like apart from being in communion with God. This is the condition of the human heart without the counsel of the Holy Spirit. All manner of evil is perpetrated on this account. Yet for all of his efforts, man has not been able to destroy himself nor the world that God created for him. God is good and His mercy endures forever. Man cannot extinguish God’s goodness. God’s goodness is absolute and never failing.

St. James continues, saying:

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

The proud resist God and God resists their evil intentions. Wars and rumors of wars will surely come, but God gives grace to the humble, so that they may stand firm in His Holy Communion, from which the devil must flee. Where God rules, the devil flees. He cannot stand in the holiness of God. Evil as he is, the devil cannot bear to see himself revealed by God’s goodness. So when a person draws near to God in His Holy Communion, he stands unmoved against the devil’s attacks and the devil flees, while the saint is brought closer into God’s Holy Communion.

Such is the nature of God. Such is His goodness that it overcomes all things and restores peace and wholeness to the soul.

The ultimate war was started long ago by one of God’s ministering angels. He had been given great power and honor, to use to God’s glory and to the benefit of mankind. But instead this holy angel broke away from God’s Holy Communion and lost all hope for restoration to God’s goodness. This one has been at war with God and Man ever since. His war works in our flesh and is manifested in our evil actions. But God has given His Holy Church on earth, where He baptizes us into Christ Jesus and keeps us steadfast in His grace, mercy, and peace. All who stand upon the rock of this confession stand upon the One who not only resisted the devil, but conquered him and sent him away powerless. God Himself went to war on our behalf, a war of love versus hate and good versus evil. Love has triumphed and God gives His love freely to all who will receive Him.

Yes, war convinces me of the absolute goodness of God.

Humanity and Diversity

Our Struggles with Prayer

This post is the first in a series of three that I am posting consecutively. I have wanted to write on this issue for some time. Today, reading a wonderful post entitled A Mystical View of Prayer, I offered the following response which I include here as the first of this three post series:

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Dear friends,

Prayer truly is an issue with which we struggle. What does it really mean to pray? What is the real purpose of prayer? Why does God command it?

The disciples asked these questions, and the Lord Jesus gave them the Our Father. When we examine our prayer given to us by the Lord Himself, (we often call it the Lord’s prayer, but it is OUR prayer), when we examine this prayer we learn what prayer really is. When in doubt, we should pray this prayer. Luther also suggested the Psalms and hymns and the Creed and the Commandments. If we spent our time with these, we would not have time for challenging the validity or purpose of prayer.

But we don’t and then we do challenge. We don’t trust God, and so we challenge His faithfulness. Then we spend our time pondering prayer rather than praying.

Nevertheless, some pondering is itself Prayer. True prayer leads us to hear God. True prayer is submitting to the Holy Spirit who leads us to the Scriptures which tell us of Christ, who is the glory and image of God.

God commands prayer because we need it. WE need it. God knows what we need. In fact, He has answered our prayers from eternity. He does not need for us to pray in order to know our needs. He does not need for us to pray in order to hear us. As St. Paul explains, the Holy Spirit searches our hearts and prays for us even when we don’t know what to pray.

Prayer is to answer OUR need to hear God, not to answer a need on God’s part to know us. We need to hear that He hears us. So He commands us to pray, even though He already knows what we will pray. Prayer is for US. We NEED to pray.

St. James speaks of the effective prayer of a righteous man and then holds up Elijah’s prayer for drought and then for rain as the example. But when we examine Elijah’s prayer, we learn that the Lord told His servant of the Word exactly what to pray and exactly when to pray it. Then both Elijah and the Church and then also the world saw the faithfulness of God. God commanded Elijah to pray God to withhold the rain so that the people would learn to know the one on whom they depend. Then He commanded Elijah to pray God to send the rain to show the people that God is indeed the one who sends His rain on both the just and the unjust. God answered the prayers that He commanded His servant to pray.

Intercessory prayer is the same way. God already knows what He will do for our neighbor. In fact, He has already provided for our neighbor, in part, by commanding us to love and pray for our neighbor and for our enemy. Yet as the Our Father teaches us, when we pray for neighbor and enemy, we are really praying to our mutual Father on behalf of us all. When we pray for neighbor, we also pray for us. What we learn is that God wants us to love neighbor as He loves all the world. Then we do not hoard our possessions, especially our most precious possession, the Gospel. Then also, we do not abuse the Gospel by making ourselves lords over it and the Church. Then we view the Church not as our church, but Christ’s Church. Then we are more concerned about forgiveness than we are about being right. Then we rely solely upon the purity of the Word and Sacraments rather than our own attempts at doing what is right. Then we direct others to leave anyplace where the Word and Sacraments are mingled with worldly things, and we do whatever is necessary to make the means of grace the sole purpose of the Church.

This is the purpose of prayer. Reliance upon God and His means of grace. Examine the Our Father and see if this is not what Jesus teaches His disciples of all time.

The reason that prayer ends in questions of doubt is because we think that prayer is about what we do rather than what God does for us and among us through the pure administration of the means of grace. And so we remain in church bodies where prayer is mingled with idolatry and the Sacraments are perverted into the works of men. Then we wonder why we don’t understand. We ask God why we don’t see the purity that He promised.

Thanks be to God that He does not deal with us according to our folly, but continues to come to us and command us to pray.

When in doubt, pray the Our Father. Pray it until He leads you to various Scriptures and the Creed and the Commandments and faithful Hymns and Psalms. Guess where you’ll find yourself: on your knees at His altar communing with the Holy Trinity and with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven and all the saints of all times and places. This is where all your doubts and all your questions are answered.

The Prayer of a Righteous Man

James 5:15-18

St. James speaks of the prayer of faith and the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man.

Yet there has only been One truly righteous man.

Worthy of consideration.

Whose prayer is truly effective and fervent? We see this in the garden of Gethsemane, do we not? We hear it also from the cross. We hear it in the liturgy and in the Sacrament.

Yet for Christ’s sake, others also have been called “righteous.” Noah, Job, Abraham, and Elijah, are all named as the “righteous.” In Baptism, you and I also are named with the name of righteousness.

James speaks specifically of Elijah and the effectiveness of his prayer. Job is another example for us to remember. Both Job and Elijah were commanded what to pray. Both of these men were commanded by God to pray for the forgiveness of others and for their restoration. Both men’s prayers were fervent and effective.

What is the cause of all of our unfulfilled needs? Is Sin not that cause? What is the answer? The prayer of the righteous man, Jesus. And where does His prayer lead us? His prayer is that we may be one even as He and the Father are one: John 17:11 . And where is this prayer answered? When we kneel at His Supper to receive the body of unity and the blood of forgiveness and life.

So then, where is the answer to the effective and fervent prayer of the righteous man? In The Sacrament of the Altar!

Give Us Our Daily Bread

In our prayer that the Lord Jesus supplied us, He teaches what we are unwilling to hear.

Right in the middle of this prayer He teaches us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

What does this mean? Why is this placed in the center? We tend to want to put it first, asking for this and that need and want of body and soul. Yet the Lord Jesus places it squarely in the center of the prayer that He commands us, “Pray like this.” In our attempts at piety we may even be tempted to place this at the end of our prayers. But not our Lord. He places it in the center, where we cannot miss it.

Why?

Because this petition is not what we think it is.

If we examine this prayer carefully, very carefully, and if we examine it from the perspective with which our Lord commands us to pray, we learn that each petition is really a repetition of the previous one, with them all centering upon the central petition of “Give us this day our daily bread.”

If you doubt this, consider what Jesus told Satan.

Matthew 4:3-4

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Then again in Matthew 6:31-33 the Lord declares:

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Is this not what the Our Father teaches us to pray? If so, then, where do we find our daily bread?

Acts 2:44-47

And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Is this not what our Lord teaches us to pray in the prayer that He gave to us?

If we prayed with this as our understanding, would we not continually say with David in Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. . . . Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Where Is Your Faith?

While pondering a very intriguing article at Cranach Institute entitled Objective Justification, while considering the way in which the Lord Jesus challenged His disciples regarding their faith, I remembered especially the occasion where He was awakened by His disciples on account of their fear of perishing in the tempest on the sea. Their Lord was with them in the storm battered boat, and they awakened Him from His much needed rest and accused Him of not caring. ( Matt 8:23-27 ), ( Mark 4:35-41), ( Luke 8:22-25) (Hover here – or click here for the passages) Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25

Matthew records the Lord Jesus saying, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Mark records, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” And Luke records, “Where is your faith?”

Luke’s record is perhaps the most precise. “Where is your faith?” Where or in what is the faith of you-all?

Isn’t that really the issue?

“Why fearful are you-all little faiths?” is literally what Matthew records. And Mark: “Why fearful are you-all? In the same way, how not have you-all faith?” Then Luke: “Where is the faith of you-all?”

What is the Lord Jesus asking them?

Their response tells all. They ask among themselves, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”

Their faith is subjective rather than objective. Their God is too small and so their faith is too small to save them. Thus, even though the Creator of all that exists rested peacefully (Sabbathed) in their boat, they feared that they would perish. Why did they fear? Because they did not look to Jesus but to other things. Their faith was not really based upon Jesus but upon what they saw, believed, and perceived.

Faith looks to God alone. Faith is God’s work. Faith does not falter. Thus, their faith, subjective faith, is not faith at all. It is produced by too small of a god. Only the faith of Jesus can save, the faith that He gives in Baptism as He gives Himself to be believed. This is The faith that is renewed and nourished in the Sacrament of the Altar, as Jesus is renewed in the Baptized one in whom Jesus dwells, producing His faith within the person.

Where the Word is, the Holy Spirit is at work. This is the faith that overcomes all. This is the perfect love that drives out all fear. This is the love of God, which generates love for God and likewise for neighbor. When we experience this subjectively, it is only because it has been produced objectively.

Even though the disciples were drowning in their subjectivity, they did turn to the Lord Jesus and were saved. This is the beauty of the objective nature of true faith.

Cute & Happy Baby

Matthew 18:3-4




Mark 9:33-37

The Historic Practice of Closed Communion

For a long time I have procrastinated regarding the need to revise the little statement on The Historic Practice of Closed Communion that is posted on the congregation’s web site. Today I have provided that revision, and since I have noticed a few links to this paper, it is appropriate that I give notice of this revision.

The paper is available at The Historic Practice of Closed Communion.

Comments are welcomed either in the comments section of this post, or by E-mail.

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Technorati Tags: +the historic practice of closed communion

In Remembrance of Typewriters

Remember typewriters and carriage returns?

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.