Friday, June 28, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--From the Lutheran Confessions

It’s Friday!  That means we turn out attention to the Augsburg Confession.  This week’s topic is one that is near and dear to the heart of all Lutherans: The Lord’s Supper. Notice this article’s simplicity.  The Lutherans made every effort not to go beyond the Words of Jesus.  They wanted to avoid the error of explaining away one of the greatest mysteries of the faith.  And yet, they were determined to believe, teach, and confess what the LORD had given and taught. Enjoy!

Collect of the Week
O God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as surpass our understanding. Cast out all sins and evil desires from us, and pour into our hearts Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all blessedness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Article X (The Lord’s Supper)
1 Our churches teach that the body and blood of Christ are truly present and distributed to those who eat the Lord’s Supper [1 Corinthians 10:16]. 2 They reject those who teach otherwise. (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Edited by Paul Timothy McCain. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005, S. 35).

Note:
Note: By the time the Augsburg Confession was written, deep divisions had arisen among the various reformers concerning the Lord’s Supper. The Lutherans were very careful to distance themselves from those who reject that the body and blood of Christ are in fact truly present in His Supper and distributed to all those who eat and drink. Transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or any other human speculation asks the wrong question: how is Christ present? Lutheranism has no theory or philosophical explanation of how Christ is present. Rather, Lutherans insist on answering the what of the Lord’s Supper. We believe, teach, and confess that of the bread, Christ said, “This is My body,” and of the wine, “This is My blood.” These are given and shed “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26–28). We reject any teaching that is contrary to our Lord’s Word. (See also Ap X; SA III VI; LC V; FC Ep VII and SD VII.) (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Edited by Paul Timothy McCain. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005, S. 35)

Prayer
Almighty God, the found of all wisdom, by Your Holy Spirit enlighten those who teach and those who learn that, rejoicing in the knowledge of Your truth, they may worship You and serve You from generation to generation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen (LSB, Collect 115).



Ap Apology of the Augsburg Confession
SA Smalcald Articles
LC Large Catechism
FC Ep Epitome of the Formula of Concord
SD Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--From the New Testament

Collect of the Week
O God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as surpass our understanding. Cast out all sins and evil desires from us, and pour into our hearts Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all blessedness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Galatians 3:27 (From last Sunday’s Epistle Reading)
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.

Have you ever grabbed a t-shirt from your dresser drawer, thinking that you knew which t-shirt you were putting on, only to find out later—maybe even when someone pointed and laughed!—that the t-shirt you had on was not the t-shirt you thought you had on?  You know, like if I were to pull out a red t-shirt from my drawer, thinking I was putting on one of my many Cardinal t-shirts, and then head out to the game, only later to be asked why I had worn my Nebraska Cornhusker t-shirt to the Cardinal game.  How embarrassing that would be.

The Word of God for this week has asked us to consider the evil in this world that masquerades as the truth.  And in some ways, this is a bit like putting on the wrong t-shirt, and not knowing it.  You know you have a t-shirt on—that’s good!  And you know it’s red.  But you wonder why everyone is giving you a strange look, because, unbeknownst to you, what you’ve put on is not what you thought you had put on.

When we give in to the evil of this age, we’re wearing the wrong t-shirt, so to speak.  We may think we’re picking up reasonable views.  The rhetoric of the age uses terms like love, and rights, and freedom, but does it promote what God’s Word teaches?  The thinking that we adopt, and the habits we form, and even our attitudes toward others might be socially acceptable, but oftentimes they end up being contrary to the Word of God.  And what’s worse, the world doesn’t have the decency to tell you that you’ve put on the wrong t-shirt.

When you were baptized, you were baptized into Christ.  The old passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17).  In Galatians, St. Paul says this is like putting on Christ, in that you are clothed and covered with Him.  He is what you’ve put on, and what you put on each morning as you remember your baptismal identity as one of God’s own children.  And because you know that, in the Gospel, that Christ has covered you, and given you a new identity, you won’t walk around as if you’re wearing something else.

You see, remembering that we’ve been clothed with Christ affects how we live, and move, and have our being.  It means that you will wake up each morning, and in repentance and faith, you will crucify the sinful desires, and you will live in your baptism, wearing Christ in your thoughts, words, and deeds of service to your neighbor.

Isn’t it nice to know what you’re wearing?  In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Prayer

Merciful Father, through Holy Baptism You called us to be Your own possession. Grant that our lives may evidence the working of Your Holy Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, according to the image of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen (LSB, for Life as a Baptized Child of God).

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

There Is No Neutral Ground (Sermon Preached June 23, Proper 7-C)

Sermon Texts: Isaiah 65:1-9; Luke 8:26-39

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This morning’s sermon is based on both the Old Testament reading, from Isaiah 65, and also the Holy Gospel, from Luke, chapter 8.  Please pray with me:

 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of (our) heart(s) be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, (our) rock and (our) redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

In the name of T Jesus.

Both of the text’s for today’s sermon, seem to be so foreign to us, we might be tempted to forget how close to us they really are.  I mean, take Isaiah 65, for example.  When have you seen people “sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks”?  Who do you know that “sit(s) in tombs, and spend(s) the night in secret places”?  And since when is eating pig looked down upon?  I rather like a good bratwurst; and BBQ pork is a staple of life here in West Tennessee.  Portions of this text from Isaiah describe a world that seems so foreign to us, we might be tempted to believe it has nothing to say to us.
And the Holy Gospel, from Luke, chapter 8, is not so different.  I mean, how many times have you gotten into town and been greeted by a man who was obviously possessed by demons?  There he is, having been naked for some time, no longer living in a house, or an apartment, but making his home among the dead people in the tombs.  I mean, really, we may see people who are dirty, and down on their luck, but I have never witnessed a man with the demonic strength to break out of any chains that the authorities would put on him, nor have I ever seen anyone who was obviously possessed by a demon, much less 3 – 6 thousand of them.  And then, there’s an entire heard of pigs running down an embankment and drowning itself.  Seriously, there are elements in these readings before us today that are so foreign to us, that they might tempt us to think that these readings really have nothing to do with us; that we can just dismiss them.  “People of God, don’t worry about a thing, none of you are sacrificing in gardens, or living in the cemetery, or are visibly possessed, or have seen your livestock commit suicide.  There’s nothing to worry about.  Amen.”
But that would be a terrible mistake.  Like I said, both of the texts for today’s sermon, seem to be so foreign to us, that we might be tempted to forget how close to us they really are.  But in all actuality, those extreme elements in today’s texts, which seem so foreign to our daily lives, are just the symptoms of the real problems in the texts.  Let me say that again, to make sure you’re hearing me.  The sacrificing in gardens, and living in cemeteries, and even a naked man possessed by thousands of demons that give him the strength to bust through chains and shackles are indeed foreign activities to all of us, but in order to see the real problem in the texts, and to see their connection to our lives today, we must look past those extreme things, and the particular expression that look so foreign to us, so that we can see the source of all those extreme behaviors.  Because the source of those extreme behaviors, you see, is not so foreign to us at all.
So let us look again at Isaiah, 65.  But let us look past those extremely foreign behaviors, to see what really does sound quite familiar:
“I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.  I said, “Here am I, here am I,” to a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually” (Isaiah 65:1-3a).

I was ready to be sought be those who did not ask for me…
I was ready to be found…
I said, “Here am I, here am I,” to a nation that was not called by my name.
I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people…
A people who walk in a way that is not good…
A people that follows their own devices…
A people that would provoke me to my face continually…
A people who says, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”

            Wow!  Some things never change!  God desires everyone to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the LORD, and it was no different in Isaiah’s day with the people of Israel.  There He was, having given His people His Word.  There He was, keeping His promises.  There He was, saying, “Here am I, here am I,” and there they were, choosing to walk in their own ways, following their own devices, and provoking the LORD to His face.
There was a people who claimed to be the people of God but who had decided that the Word of God had no place in their religious lives or their private lives.  There was a people who continued to call themselves Israel, and claimed to be the sons and daughters of Abraham—heirs of the promise—and yet, there they were, ignoring God’s call.  And worse, telling the LORD—whose hands were outstretched in an attempt to gather them—that He should keep to himself.  After all, they were too holy for him.  No wonder, the LORD became angry.
There was a people—a people who claimed to be holy; a people that claimed to be God’s people—but they were evil.  What was good, they called bad.  And what was bad, they paraded around like it was God’s way of doing things.  Their arrogance, their pride, their self-righteousness was a terrible stench rising up in the LORD’s nostrils—it stunk like a fire that had burned all day (v. 5).  And it was not pleasing in His eyes.  They were not pleasing in His eyes.  They were evil.
It’s pretty easy to see, isn’t it?  So why is it so hard for us to see it, when it happens among us?  I mean, the Lord still calls out to us, “Here am I, Here am I!”  The Lord still stands with open arms, desiring that all would hear of Jesus’ loving death on the cross, where he paid for the sins of the world.  The Lord still sends out His message of forgiveness of sins through His one and only Son.  The Lord still calls to us through the resurrection victory of the empty tomb, from which Jesus burst forth alive and well in triumph over sin, death, and the devil.  And even more, the LORD still gives us a Word of life that is rich, and full, and beautiful.
Remember, it’s the LORD that decided the man and woman should be joined together as husband and wife in that sacred union called Holy Matrimony.  Remember, it’s the LORD that created the miracle of child-birth, and the wonderful gift of parents and children living life in a household.  Remember, it was the LORD who gave us life, and urged us to protect it.  It was the LORD who gave us property and told us to help our neighbor to keep his.  It was our LORD who gave us our names and encouraged us to speak well of one another.  It was the LORD who have us everything that was good, and is good, and what is good in the sight of the LORD isn’t about to change, because the LORD isn’t about to change—He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.  What the LORD says in His word; what the LORD gives in His word; what the LORD instructs in His word—that is life.  That is good.  That is beautiful.
Anything else, you see, is evil.  And while it’s easy to call it evil when it happens 2,800 years ago, we struggle to call it evil when it happens among us today.  But how is it any different?  All around us, what God has given, and what God has created, and what God has established in His Word as good, right and salutary, is being derided, and destroyed, and desecrated, and often times, there’s a party or festival, or a parade when it happens.  And sometimes, it even happens in the name of the Church, or even in the name of Jesus!  Talk about provoking God to His face; talk about a people that stinks; talk about a people that is evil.
The LORD does not look down at a child’s life being ended in the womb, or upon a couple being united in a same sex union masquerading as His own sacred creation, or a generation of parents neglecting their God-given vocation of bringing their children to the LORD’s house on the LORD’s day, or any other willful disobedience and say, “Look at that, isn’t it wonderful!”  On the contrary; what was smoke in His nostrils in the day of Isaiah is smoke in His nostrils today.  What angered the LORD then is what angers the LORD today.  I’m afraid, the only difference might be, that we could see it as evil then, but when it happens today, we’re not so sure.
Dear people of God, there is no neutral ground.  When the Word of God is put aside, it is evil.  And unless we are willing to see the Word of God being put aside, and call it evil, we will never see why the world is so badly in need of Jesus.  For if marriage can be anything you want it to be, and if you get to choose when you want to keep a life, or get rid of it, and if it makes no difference whether or not the parents of our children are setting aside the day of the LORD as holy and sacred, then why in the world did Jesus have to die?  You see, if everything is good, and pleasing in the sight of God, then nothing is evil, and there is no sin, and you’ve gone ahead and done away with any reason for Jesus whatsoever.
And maybe that’s why the events of the Holy Gospel seem so strange to us.  Maybe we don’t see thousands of demons possessing a single man in our lives, because what has happened is that we’ve grown so accustomed to having evil all around us, that we don’t see it as evil, even when the evil is being shouted by thousands of voices or more.
But I am here to say, that is exactly what is happening.  Evil is roaring in the public square, and even in some sanctuaries that continue to call on the name of the LORD.  What God has given as good is being defiled all around us.  And even the name of Jesus is being used to bless what God has condemned.  And that is why, you see, the very thing that was needed in the day of Isaiah, and the very thing that was needed for that man with a legion of demons, is the very thing needed in your heart, and my heart, and in the heart of every person.  We need the Word of God to bring us to repentance, and to faith, so that we might see evil for what it is, and then see Jesus for who He is as well.
It’s no coincidence that when Jesus cast out those demons, and did away with evil, in the Holy Gospel, the next thing that was told to go away was Jesus Christ Himself.  It’s no coincidence, because that’s what happens when Jesus does away with evil in an evil world.  The devil, the world, our own sinful flesh will not like it at all.  The devil wants to kill, and the world wants to break us, and even our flesh begins to kick and scream when Jesus tells us that something we love is not pleasing in His eyes.
But once that evil is gone, and once that evil is seen for what it really is, we will find, that there is no safer place, then to sit at the feet of Jesus, and trust in His Word, and hold to His Word, no matter what evil thoughts are being spewed by the world around us.
In Isaiah, the LORD promised, that when He poured out His wrath on all the evil doers, there would be seen an offspring from Jacob, and from Judah there would be possessors of His Mountains.  In the Holy Gospel, when those thousands of demons were gone, and even the pigs had drowned, what was left was a man made clean, who remained at the feet of Jesus, for he did not want to be anywhere else.

Today, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not forget that there is no neutral ground.  There is evil, and death, and destruction, and everything else this against the Word of God.  And then, there is Jesus.  And with Jesus, there is forgiveness of sins, and life lived in His Word, and an eternal salvation praising God for all He has done in Jesus.  You, my friends, there is no neutral ground.  Jesus destroys evil.  But He does it only with a Word.  And in that Word Jesus gives everything that is good: forgiveness, life, and salvation.  In the name of T Jesus.  Amen.

Daily Devotional Thought--From the Old Testament

Collect of the Week
O God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as surpass our understanding. Cast out all sins and evil desires from us, and pour into our hearts Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all blessedness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Isaiah 65:8 (Part of last Sunday’s OT Reading)
8 Thus says the LORD: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, 'Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,' so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all.

Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.

Collateral damage is unacceptable to the LORD.  That is to say, for the sake of the few who remain faithful, the LORD chooses not to destroy the whole.

If you heard—or read—Sunday’s sermon, then you know that verse eight (above) is written in the context of a people so sinful that they stink.  “These are a smoke in my nostrils,” said the LORD.  And yet, among that evil people, there remained a remnant, a few faithful people, for the sake of whom the LORD would not destroy everything.

Here the illustration is that of a few good grapes on a cluster of bad.  In the New Testament, the image of the wheat and the weeds (tares) is used to illustrate this same biblical teaching  (Matt. 13).  But the force of the teaching is the same.  God delights not in the death of anyone.  And if He were to bring down his wrath upon all those who rejected His Word and thus, were a stench of evil to Him, He would end up killing the faithful in the process.  And so, the LORD declares, “I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.”  Because collateral damage is unacceptable to the LORD, his relents in bringing judgment.

The LORD is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Ex. 34:6, et al).  And in Christ, all who believe will be spared any judgment whatsoever, for that has been poured out on Jesus on the cross.  But the LORD will not stay silent forever.  The LORD will come on the Last Day, and He will come to “judge the living and the dead” (Apostles’ Creed).  On that day, the good grapes will be separated from the bad; the wheat from the weeds; the believers from those who live in unbelief, even while giving the impression of being religious.

And so, the work of the Church continues.  The Gospel goes out.  And even among a Church that has hypocrites among its membership, those who are called, gathered, and enlightened by the Gospel to believe that the work of Jesus is sufficient, will be spared, and will be blessed, to remain in the presence of the LORD forever!  In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Prayer

Almighty God, You have called Your Church to witness that in Christ You have reconciled us to Yourself. Grant that by Your Holy Spirit we may proclaim the good news of Your salvation so that all who hear it may receive the gift of salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen (Collect 104, LSB).

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--From the Psalms

Collect of the Week
O God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as surpass our understanding. Cast out all sins and evil desires from us, and pour into our hearts Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all blessedness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Psalm 3
1 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah1
3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah

Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.

“This psalm recounts a dark period in David’s life. His enemies, including his own son (Absalom), have overwhelmed and opposed him. Despite his foes’ claim that David’s sins preclude him from salvation, David remains confident that God will protect and deliver him” (TLSB, p. 848).

Your enemies are mine aren’t nearly the political force that David had against him.  Even his own son sought to usurp his kingly, and God-given, authority.  Imagine the turmoil David must have felt.

Though your enemies are of a different nature, the Devil still puts your sin before you as his exhibit of your condemnation.  The world still puts worldly pursuits in front of you to entice your heart’s own evil desires.  And your own flesh is part of the problem.  That flesh struggles against your New Man, who is there by virtue of your Baptism, and who is strengthened in the hearing of God’s Word and the receiving of His Supper.  David’s enemies were many, and so are yours.

But you and David have the same LORD.  You and David have the same Savior.  He is a shield about you.  As you hear what He has done for you in His death and resurrection, His shame is what you glory in, for there you know your enemies will taste defeat.  And because of the empty tomb, you can lift up your head, knowing that you share in His victory.  As God’s own child, when you cry to the LORD, your prayers are a pleasing fragrance to the LORD.  The Father hears them, and delights in them, as a father delights in his own child’s requests.

Knowing this to be true, with David, though our enemies remain, we are able to lie down and sleep.  And we do, we sleep in peace, knowing the forgiveness of sins is complete in Christ, rejoicing in the promised resurrection, and trusting, that all things are in our Father’s hand.  Salvation belongs to the LORD!  In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Prayer

“You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God!” Amen (TLSB, p. 848).

Monday, June 24, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--For the Family

Collect of the Week
O God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as surpass our understanding. Cast out all sins and evil desires from us, and pour into our hearts Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all blessedness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.

In yesterday’s readings, and the accompanying sermon (see the previous email), we were reminded that there is no neutral ground, but that we live in a world surrounded by evil.  There is God’s Word, and what He gives, creates, institutes, and commands in that Word—everything that is good.  And then, there is everything that is against that Word—everything that is evil.

One of the most difficult aspects of this biblical teaching, I suspect, is that, oftentimes, it is those within our family, or some of our dearest friends, in whom we see thoughts and actions that are contrary to the Word of God.  These are people we love, people with whom we’ve grown up, people we work with on a daily basis.  Do we really want to start looking at these people as evil?

The Holy Spirit would remind us, through the Apostle Paul, that our battle is not with these people.  To be sure, when they speak of desires, and have ideas, and seek to live in a way that is contrary to God’s Word, those desires, ideas, and actions are evil.  And, of course, they are sinners—just like the rest of us.  But our battle is not actually with these people.

These are people we are called to love, and to serve, and to whom we have an opportunity to speak of everything Jesus has done for us—and for them!  These are people who need the wonderfully good truth of God’s Word, for that is the very thing which has the power to change their minds (Rom. 12:2), and to bring them—by the power of the Holy Spirit—to repentance and faith.

The very thing that has called us, and gathered, us, and sanctified us in the truth of the Gospel, is the thing that will do it for our family, our friends, and our neighbors and colleagues who are currently calling good evil.

And so we trust, that the Jesus who has power over every evil foe, will keep His promise, and will use His Word, to make all things new.  In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Prayer

Savior of the World, who desires everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth, we pray you to give us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a great love for all, to remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood, and to trust that Your Word alone has the power to bring about the conversion of repentance and faith; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--From the Lutheran Confessions

It’s Friday!  That means we turn out attention to the Augsburg Confession.  This week’s topic is one that is near and dear to the heart of all Lutherans: Baptism. As you read the Church’s teaching, take time to look at the passages sited.  I think you’ll find that this view of Baptism is nothing but what the Scriptures teach.  And oh, what comfort that is. Enjoy!

Collect of the Week
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us Your gifts of faith, hope, and love that we may receive the forgiveness You have promised and love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Article IX (Baptism)
1 Concerning Baptism, our churches teach that Baptism is necessary for salvation [Mark 16:16] and that God’s grace is offered through Baptism [Titus 3:4–7]. 2 They teach that children are to be baptized [Acts 2:38–39]. Being offered to God through Baptism, they are received into God’s grace.
3 Our churches condemn the Anabaptists, who reject the Baptism of children, and say that children are saved without Baptism (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Edited by Paul Timothy McCain. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005, S. 35).

Note:
The Bible teaches that Baptism is a gift of God’s grace by which He applies the benefits of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection to us personally. Because all people are conceived and born in sin, we all need salvation. Because Baptism is God’s way of bringing us salvation, infants should also be baptized. During the Reformation, as now, some Christian groups turned Baptism from God’s saving activity into an act of Christian obedience. This view of Baptism arises from the denial of original sin and a semi-Pelagian view of salvation, whereby faith becomes the good work we contribute. This article concentrates on what God gives in this Sacrament. (See also Ap IX; SA III V; LC IV.)[1] (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Edited by Paul Timothy McCain. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005, S. 35)



Ap Apology of the Augsburg Confession
SA Smalcald Articles
LC Large Catechism
[1] Concordia : The Lutheran Confessions. Edited by Paul Timothy McCain. St. Louis, MO : Concordia Publishing House, 2005, S. 35

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--From the New Testament

Collect of the Week
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us Your gifts of faith, hope, and love that we may receive the forgiveness You have promised and love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Galatians 2:15-16
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;  16 yet we know that a person is not justified1 by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,2 so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.

Faith in Christ brings certainty.  Faith in anything else, even the works that you do in love toward your neighbor, can bring doubt or fear, self-righteousness or despair.

It was years ago, in a Thursday morning Bible class, if I remember correctly, and I asked what I thought was a simple question: “How many of you are certain that you will be going to heaven?”  I thought this was a slam dunk of a question; that all those pious Lutheran Christians would confidently raise their hands and say something like, “Yes, I know I’m going to heaven. Christ died for my sins.”  But they didn’t.  They weren’t certain.  And after a bit of further discussion, I soon learned why.

All of them, every single one of them, believed the biblical (and historical) account of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection.  All of them believed that when Jesus died on the cross, He had paid for the sins of the world.  All of them believed that Jesus’ resurrection was the sign of victory.  But all of them, it turns out, were somehow afraid that if they didn’t do enough to live life as a Christian, they would somehow void the Gospel for themselves.  They were certain of Jesus’ story, but they were still afraid that their own works would still somehow contribute to their justification—or in this case, their lack of it.

Thankfully, by the end of that session, when I asked the same question, all of the hands in the room went up immediately.  Of course, they could have done that because they now knew the answer I was looking for.  But I prefer to think that they had actually been reminded of what Paul writes in the passage above.  I think they just needed to hear again, the Good News that “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”

You see, looking to your heap of good works, or the many acts of service you’ve done for your neighbor in love, end up being the same as looking at your lack of good works—your sin—and fearing that it will separate you from the love of God in Christ.  In either way, you end up trying to find your certainty—and as a result, your comfort—in something you are doing, rather than in what Christ has already done for you.

And that’s why faith in Christ brings certainty.  Because in Christ, nothing is left undone.  In Christ, the entire Law has been fulfilled.  In Christ, everything demanded by the Father has been finished.  And by faith in Christ, all of that is credited to you as your very own gift—a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ.

So if you’re ever in one of my Bible classes, or I happen to run into you, and ask you the question, “Are you certain that you will be going to heaven?”  Don’t think about what you’ve done; think about what Christ has done, and you will have the certainty to answer boldly, by faith: “Yes, because Christ has covered all my sins.”  When Christ is your confidence, faith always brings certainty. 

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Prayer
Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appall me; Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done! From the grave will Christ recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence.

Jesus lives! I know full well Nothing me from Him shall sever. Neither death nor pow’rs of hell Part me now from Christ forever. God will be my sure defense; This shall be my confidence (LSB 490: 1,4).  Amen.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--From the Old Testament

Collect of the Week
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us Your gifts of faith, hope, and love that we may receive the forgiveness You have promised and love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

2 Samuel 12:1-7
1 And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.  2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds,  3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms,1 and it was like a daughter to him.  4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."  5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,  6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."
7 Nathan said to David, "You are the man!

Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.

David had been working hard to cover up his many sins, and to keep them “secret.”  It’s hard to say how much time had passed from the time David had first laid eyes on Bathsheba, and coveted his neighbor’s wife, to the time that Nathan was sent by the LORD to bring him to repentance with a harsh word of the Law, but it’s safe to say that this was no momentary lapse of judgment, or a sin of weakness.  This was thoughtful, premeditated sin which flowed from David’s sinful heart, and which, in the weeks and months that followed, he would work very hard to cover up so as to continue to live the lie that he put forth as a righteous king.

Our Lutheran Confessions have this to say about David’s spiritual condition: “When holy people—still having and feeling original sin and daily repenting and striving against it—happen to fall into manifest sins (as David did into adultery, murder, and blasphemy [2 Samuel 11], then faith and the Holy Spirit have left them. The Holy Spirit does not permit sin to have dominion, to gain the upper hand so it can be carried out, but represses and restrains it from doing what it wants [Psalm 51:11; Romans 6:14]” (SA III, iii, 43).

Did you catch that?  During this time when David was working to cover up his sins, and act as if he was innocent, we say that “faith and the Holy Spirit have left (him).”  Of course, this is why they LORD sent Nathan, for David needed to be confronted with his sin, and admit that it was, actually sin.  David needed to be brought to repentance so that he might also receive the forgiveness of sins.  For unless he saw his sin, what need did he have for forgiveness?

But notice how Nathan delivers that Word.  He doesn’t come right out and say, “Hey David, if you died right now, you would go to hell.  Who do you think you’re fooling?”  He doesn’t enter the chamber of the king and say, “You’re a charlatan!”  He tells a story.

Now, granted, the Law is delivered in all its severity.  Nothing of God’s wrath or threat of punishment is diminished.  But that difficult word of judgment is delivered in such a way that it is heard.  Even more, it is delivered in a way that it is zealously agreed with.  It is delivered by Nathan so carefully, that the truth of the Law makes David angry at the sin he sees, so that he responds with fury, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!”

And that’s when the sword of the Law is delivered into the heart of David, so that the LORD might create in him a new heart, and a right spirit.  Nathan simply says, “You are the man.”  That man who deserves to die is you.

You see, preaching the Law of God is difficult, because the old sinful nature doesn’t want to be crucified with Christ and cast out.  And hearing the Law of God preached to you; agreeing with what the Law of God says about you; desiring to be told what of your life deserves to have the wrath of God brought down upon it is not at all something that our sinful nature desires.  And yet, that Word of the Law is God’s Word, and it is true, and like David, is the thing we often need to hear.

Thankfully, not all of us live in manifest sin that we spend our days working to cover up.  But nevertheless, for us to rejoice in the forgiveness of sins which our LORD gives us so freely through Christ, we must, like David, be brought to repentance through the preaching of the Law.  And even that is a gift given by the Holy Spirit.

When confronted with the Law of God, by faith, David confessed, and was forgiven, and would respond with prayer, praise and thanksgiving (remember yesterday’s Psalm!!).  May we also, through the power of the Holy Spirit, be given the faith that receives God’s convicting Word of the Law, and does not deny it, but agrees with it.  For then we will also rejoice that, like David, even though we are “the man” who is guilty, our sins have been put away, and are forgiven.  We shall not die, but will live with Christ.  In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Prayer

Gracious Lord, thank You for putting Jesus away on the cross, that I would not be put away in my sins. Amen.