The Necessity of True Doctrine

Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.

1 Timothy 4:16

In the Name of Jesus.  Amen.

St. Paul, writing to Timothy, writes what he writes with a purpose in mind—the purpose of encouraging Timothy to remain in the true doctrine.  Contrary to the world, remaining in the true doctrine is not at all of insignificance.  It does matter, for “doctrine is life.”  I am not talking about man’s doctrine (i.e. Mark 7), for man’s doctrine only alienates from God and hardens the sinner against God.  God’s doctrine, in distinction, does give life, just as Jesus says, “My words are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).  Depart or stray from these, and there is nothing but death.  Continue in the very Word of the Lord Christ, and you are truly His disciples and “will know the truth” and will be set free by that truth” (John 8:31-32).

Such does God’s Word, The Truth (John 14:6), do.  It gives life, raises that which was dead, and also preserves one in the truth by that same truth.

To the Galatians, St. Paul writes, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?  Have you suffered so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain?  Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? — just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’” (Galatians 3:2-6)

Not by man’s doctrine and not by man’s doing were the Galatians being made perfect and complete, but by the hearing of faith (Romans 10:17), by hearing the Word of Christ.

The doctrine/teaching is important.  Get this wrong, and you get Christ wrong.  Geting Christ wrong leads to eternal death, not eternal life, for outside of Christ Jesus, there is no forgiveness and no peace with God.  But in Christ Jesus, there is nothing but forgiveness and the peace that surpasses understanding, which the world cannot ever give (Philippians 4:7)

The world and those of the world will go their own way, claiming that you cannot know the truth or that it is not found in the Bible.  But Christians believe differently, for the Christian faith is not of the world, but of God, revealed through the Holy Scriptures, and centered on Christ, and Christ alone!

Luther

‘Let every faithful person work and strive with all his might to learn this doctrine (of the Gospel) and keep it, and for this purpose let him employ humble prayer to God with continual study and meditation on the Word.  Even when we have done ever so much, there will still be much to keep us busy.  For we are involved, not with minor enemies but with strong and powerful ones, who battle against us continually, namely, our own flesh, all the dangers of the world, the Law, sin, death, and the wrath and judgment of God, and the devil h9imself, who never stops tempting us inwardly with his flaming darts (Eph. 6:16) and outwardly with his false apostles, so as to overcome some if not all of us” (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p65).

Prayer:

Lord, keep us steadfast in Your word; Curb those who by deceit or sword

Would wrest the kingdom from Your Son And bring to naught all He has done.

O Comforter of priceless worth, Send peace and unity on earth;

Support us in our final strife And lead us out of death to life.  Amen.

(Lutheran Service Book (2006), “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Your Word” 1, 4)

The Struggling Christian

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:21-25

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen!

The war and struggle between the human flesh and God’s spirit working within the Christian is real.  However, only the Christian has such struggle.  Such struggle demonstrates itself as one day may be of greater or lesser intensity than another.

Unbelievers do not have the same struggle as the Christian, nor do they see such a struggle of the Christian as of any major significance, for the unbeliever does not have faith.  Yet for the Christian, the battle within, even greater than the battle with out, can often be overwhelming and even paralyzing, because the struggle of which I speak is not merely of the mind or of the heart, but of the soul.  Does God still love me?  How can God still love me?  Things really shouldn’t be this way.  I shouldn’t be this way!  I should know better.

Granted, Christians don’t always ask such questions at every moment.  Sometimes the confidence of the Christian is unwavering.  The Bible does say that you are loved of God! (i.e. Romans 8:38-39)

God, in His tender mercy, gives such confident faith, and for this, Christians give unceasing thanks and praise.

There are times, though, that despondency and the sense of hopelessness, however brief or intense, may raise their ugly heads.  These, though, are not of God.  Therefore do we also pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

God instead gives certainty and promise.  God does not lead to doubt and despair, but instead gives joy and certitude in His blessed Son our Savior.

When the questions of God’s mercy and His kindness appear, and they will, and when you face such struggles, remember that God is your Helper.  He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).  His Word is sure and everlasting! (1 Peter 1:25)

These things are so, not because you believe them, but because God has declared them so.  Know that His love for you in Christ is abundant and abounding, and not at all dependent on how you feel or how you have failed (or are failing).

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.   For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.   And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation”  (Romans 5:8-11).

God also says, even to you, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you” (Jeremiah 31:3).

If you don’t feel such struggles as God’s beloved child, you need not look far to find them.  They will find you.  But when they do come, whether big or small, do not give in to despair.  Rather, hope in the Lord!  It may be that at those times, all you can do is pray and call out.  Such is what faith does.  You don’t have to change for God to hear you or love you.  Know that He already does, in Christ!  He is your comfort, whether the struggle be slight or intense.  And should you ever sense that you can’t hold on any longer, know that it is He who is holding on to you.  It is not you that carry God.  It is He that graciously carries you! (See Luke 15:4-7)

Thus does your Lord say, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

And, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Your Lord does care, and because He does, so do His people!

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” ( Ephesians 6:10-13).

 

Luther

 

“Because the flesh cannot believe for sure that the promises of God are true, it resists the spirit.  Therefore it contends against the spirit and, as Paul says, holds the spirit captive (Romans 7:23), to keep it from believing as firmly as it wants to (Gal. 5:17).  This is why we continually teach that the knowledge of Christ and of faith is not a human work but utterly a divine gift; as God creates faith, so He preserves us in it.  And just as He initially gives us faith through the Word, so later on He exercises, increases, strengthens, and perfects it in us by that Word.  Therefore the supreme worship of God that a man can offer, the Sabbath of Sabbaths, is to practice true godliness, to hear and read the Word.  On the other hand, nothing is more dangerous than to become tired of the Word.  Therefore anyone is so cold that he thinks he knows enough and gradually begins to loathe the Word has lost Christ and the Gospel.”  (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p64).

Prayer: Lord Jesus, do not forsake Me.  Grant me faith to believe Your promises and to hold on to them as my own at all times, for You freely give them to me.  Amen.

Pleasing God

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10

 

To please God by what you do, apart from faith in Jesus God’s Son, is impossible to do.  To be sure, there are those who seek to please God only by what they externally do, erroneously believing that they will please God if they only try to be good on the outside.  Such is a main characteristic of all false religion—seeking to please (a) God only by what one does, apart from true faith in Christ.  However, the Bible states that, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).  And Jesus Himself says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

God is only pleased, according to Scripture, with one who first has faith in His Son.  If there is no faith first here, any works, though considered good by the world, are not considered so by God, not having been covered and cleansed by Jesus’ blood (1 John 1:7).  Of ourselves and apart from Christ, you are not pleasing to God, sinners as you are.  By yourselves, you cannot hope to attain God’s favor, for as Isaiah writes, “We are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

But you do have God’s favor through faith in Jesus Christ, having Christ’s righteousness credited as your own through that same faith (Romans 3:22).  Thus, it is not by what you do that you have God’s favor.  It is rather through faith in His Son that you are pleasing to God (Romans 14:23).

Does this mean, then, that having faith, you do not do good works?  Do you then just serve yourselves and not concern yourselves with anything else, but do everything only out of self-interest because everything is now “right with God” because of Christ?

Some might immediately assume this.  But the way of true and genuine faith has faith to God and love for neighbor.  Salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and Christ having fulfilled God’s Law (Matthew 5:17) in no way abrogates God’s command to keep the Law; not that you do this for God, as if God needs anything from you, but because God commands it, and for the sake of your neighbor.

The weakness of Christians in serving their neighbor should not be attributed in any way to God, as if God is to be blamed for Christian hypocrisy.  Rather, the burden remains on the Christians themselves, who continue to struggle with their flesh.  Though many readily acknowledge the weaknesses of Christians everywhere, those many also use the weaknesses of Christians as an excuse not to seek the truth and to reject God’s Word entirely.  But the Christian’s failure to “be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) does not at all negate the responsibility of nonChristians to also hear and believe the clear teachings of Christ.

As Christians have Christ’s righteousness covering their own sin so that their sinful actions or inactions not be counted against them, so also nonChristians, not having faith in Christ, will have all that they do on their own head.  They themselves will have to bear the consequences of their faithlessness, whereas the Christian, on account of Christ, remains forgiven.

It doesn’t matter not how good you are or how good you try to be in life for the inheritance of heaven.  God calls you to believe in His Son, and through God’s very Word, God creates and sustains such faith.  And having such faith, you are already pleasing to God because of Christ, and will all the more seek to live according to what God says; asking for forgiveness of your sin where you have done wrong and trusting in God’s absolution, therefore seeking to continual amend your sinful ways.

Seeking to live this way as a servant of God and pleasing God rightly first has to do with faith.  If faith be absent, any service of God is not in service of God, but is in service of self or pleasing others.  Thus do you see the myriad of Church bodies, congregations, preachers, and people who demonstrate the absence of true faith.  Though many may and do indeed use biblical language and verse, their meanings are devoid of the true biblical doctrine.  What they seek to do and to accomplish, as well as what they teach, is contrary to what God clearly says in His Holy Word.  They themselves will use Scripture to their own ends, working the text to fit their own conceptions.  They do not let the text change them.  Rather, they themselves seek to change the text (and its meaning).

Such activities are welcome and pleasing to men.  Such activities also are pleasing to the world, for then they do not have to hear about the extent of their corruption and man’s need for a Savior.  Sinners do not like to hear about their sin.  They do not like to hear how God condemns what they do and how their corrupted nature moves them away from God.  Sinners mistakenly believe that they understand and know God apart from His Word and apart from His Son.

Saying otherwise and speaking according to the truth, however, does not at all please the world, or the unrepentant sinner.  Such preaching of the truth brings the world’s wrath and displeasure.

For those of the world, acceptance and tolerance is the gospel.  Such things characterize the desire to please men.  Yet characteristic of the desire to please God is faithfulness to Christ and His Word, come what may.  Such faithfulness will bring persecution in its myriad of forms, but having peace with God for all eternity through faith in Christ is immeasurably greater than the acceptance of a temporal world.

 

Luther

 

“Today you will find many who try to please men.  In order to live in peace and in the smugness of the flesh, they teach human doctrines, that is, impious ones.  Or they approve of the blasphemies and wicked judgments of our opponents, contrary to the Word of God and their own consciences, just to be able to retain the favor of princes and bishops and not to lose their property.  On the other hand—because we try to please God and not men—we bring upon ourselves the envy of the devil and of hell itself.  We bear the slanders and curses of the world, death, and every evil.”  (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p60).

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, forgive me for my weaknesses and for seeking the acceptance of the world.  Keep my eyes firmly fixed on you, that I find in you my life, strength, and peace, now and always.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Announcements for the week of August 26, 2012

 

12-08-26, Pentecost 13, Announcements, 2012B

Colossians 2:6-10,16-23

6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. 20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations — 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Luther’s Large Catechism

The Fourth Commandment

¹⁰⁹ …learn what this commandment requires concerning honor to parents. You are to esteem and prize them as the most precious treasure on earth. ¹¹⁰ In your words you are to behave respectfully toward them, and not address them discourteously, critically, and censoriously, but submit to them and hold your tongue, even if they go too far. ¹¹¹ You are also to honor them by your actions (that is, with your body and possessions), serving them, helping them, and caring for them when they are old, sick, feeble, or poor; all this you should do not only cheerfully, but with humility and reverence, as in God’s sight. He who has the right attitude toward his parents will not allow them to suffer want or hunger, but will place them above himself and at his side and will share with them all he has to the best of his ability.

The Word of faith which we preach

 

 

“ ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’

(that is, the word of faith which we preach)”

Romans 10:8

 

Commenting on 2 Corinthians 11, verse two,[1] Luther writes some penetrating words (see below).  In the context, St. Paul writes, “I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted — you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 2:3-4).

Paul indicates that there is only one genuine Jesus.  All others are other Jesus’.  In other words, only One Jesus is the Savior from sin.  All other Jesus’ are counterfeits.  So does Paul also indicate this where he distinguishes gospels, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.  For do I now persuade men, or God?  Or do I seek to please men?  For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.  But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.  For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-12).

According to God’s inspired Word through His servant Paul, one who seeks to please men cannot also at the same time be a “bondservant of Christ.”  Those preachers who do seek to please men preach a different gospel and not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Here we must say that just as there are preachers who seek to please men, there are also hearers who seek to please, not God, but themselves, for they do not seek out the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ, but another.  They look for that which God has not promised.  They seek to have their “itching ears” scratched.  They do not seek to repent at the hearing of God’s Word, but they seek another Jesus.

Thus, when they hear things they don’t like to hear or how they like to hear it, they turn the power button off and refuse to further listen.  Rather than test the preaching they hear with the Holy Scriptures, they test it according to what they would like to hear or how they would like the message to be delivered.

Essentially, however, doing these things only demonstrates the characteristic of so many who are Christians in name only—the refusal to listen to the Word and the despising of the very Office of preaching which God has established.

Here, the question arises, “How does God come to us?” “How does Christ give us the forgiveness we so desperately need?”  Another way of asking the question is this, “by what means does God give His forgiveness of our sins that we know with certainty that it is ours?”

Some would, of course, answer the question with the word “faith.”  But is it upon your faith that you have absolute certainty of God’s grace and favor?  If the answer here were yes, then certainty is really upon you. And any certainty upon you is really nothing but uncertainty.

On the other hand, if the answer to the question of means is not on my/our/your faith, but on that which is sure and true, that which God does and gives, there can be no uncertainty in it at all, except that which we add to it of ourselves, if it were possible for us to do so.

Faith has been defined by some as “certainty.”  Such a faith, though, does not have foundation in itself.  We do not trust our faith to be certain because of or on account of our faith.  Rather than trust in one’s own faith or in one’s own certainty, the Christian trusts in nothing less and nothing more than the Word of God that establishes that faith.

And where is that Word preached and heard?  In the Lord’s house.  And by whom?  The pastor.  And what is the pastor to be preaching in the Lord’s house?  Only the Word—only Christ.  Where the pastor is doing this, there you can be sure that God is forgiving sins.  There, you can be sure that God is giving you salvation, because of the Word that is preached.

Also in the Lord’s house, God established the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar.  For what purpose?  For the purpose of bringing to you that salvation won by Christ’s cross.  Thanks be to God for such gifts!  And instead of murmuring and grumbling about the way God brings these gifts (i.e. through human voice, water, and bread and wine), we rejoice all the more in them (see 1 Corinthians 1:27-31), trusting God’s Word and sure of His goodness, not because we “see,” but because of His blessed promises.

Luther

“Christ has instituted this (apostolic) office as if to say, ‘I send you that you should claim and fetch me my bride who was previously prepared or was washed from sins and became pure and holy.’  Now this happens daily in Christianity through the preaching office, in which one proclaims and preaches that Christ has given himself for you, as St. Paul says.  This was done when he suffered and died on the cross and on the third day was raised again.  For through that he has earned grace and the forgiveness of sins for us.  But if that were left there, it would not yet help us.  For even if he earned the treasure for us and has done all, we would not yet receive it.  But how does this same salvation which he has bestowed finally come to us?   For has he now gone up to heaven and left us behind?  He says it must go to us through the Word and Baptism which he has mandated the apostles to bring to us, to bring us home.  Namely, that through them they should bring us  forgiveness of sins, in his name.” (Geo. Link, Luther’s Family Devotions, 648-649)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, grant that my faith not be founded on anything in me, but only upon You and Your Holy Word.  Keep me from doubting the way You work and the means by which you give me life and salvation through Jesus Christ.  Rather, lead me to give thanks and to rejoice all the more in Your blessed kindness and favor in coming to me in what is esteemed as humble and lowly in the eyes of the world, that Your Holy Name be exalted continually.  Amen.

---

[1] “For I have betrothed you to a man so that I present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

 

 

What Did You Say?–By Rev. Timothy J. Scharr, District President

The concern is genuine; the apprehension palpable.  Worry gives way to fear that sounds the alarm.  Income lags behind expenses.  Fewer people are attending church on a regular basis.  The slide parallels that of the surrounding community.  How are we going to turn it around?  What will it take to get more people in church who then contribute money to meet the budget?  Sound familiar?  It is being voiced throughout the United States in communities large and small, urban and rural.

Scapegoats are sought.  It doesn’t take long before the target is acquired. Sharp barbs of accusation are launched.  “The pastor is driving people away.”  “His personality is not winsome and charming.”  “The sermons are lack luster and boring.”  “If only he was more like Pastor So and So.” “You know, the one nearby.” “He’s a great story teller and loves to crack jokes.”  “Ah, if only our pastor was not such a loser”  “We expected the perfect pastor for our situation but each one that comes is flawed in ways we refuse to overlook.”  “What’s wrong with our universities/seminaries/district/Synod?” The same thing that is wrong within you and me.

There is none that is righteous, no not one.  No one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one (Rom. 3:10-12).  Stop and think about what people in your congregation say about your church, your workers and your people?  Is it positive?  Is it negative?  Does it glorify God’s name and His Word (Ps.138:2)?  Sinners excel at sin. Their throat is an open grave.  The venom of asps is on their lips.  Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness (Rom. 3:13-14).  What do your words sound like to God and others? James writes regarding the tongue.  It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people.  From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not be so (James 3:8-10).

What’s a sinner to do? Repent, repent and repent again as often as necessary.  The good news is that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.  It is not the healthy who need a doctor but those who are sick.  By nature everyone is born with the terminal disease called original sin.  This soon gives way to actual sin, even among the baptized.  Those who are baptized have the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38-39; Titus 3:5).  This is not a license to sin for hateful words grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph. 4:29, 31-32).

The questions raised at the beginning are genuine. No one person is to blame. Go back and read President Harrison’s column in the June/July Lutheran Witness. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  The first three commandments are routinely broken with hardly a blush of shame or even an apology.  The answer is surprisingly simple.  It follows the actions of those baptized on Pentecost.  They continued steadfast in the Apostles’ Teaching, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42).  These are the reasons for the Divine Services and Bible classes.  When you are in Bible class it is like Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet.  When you attend worship you are knit closer in the fellowship as forgiven sinners receive the body and blood of Jesus.  The prayers are another way of saying the liturgy, the ordered service of the church back to the days of the synagogue rich in Scripture and the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.  Miss any of them and you are spiritually starving yourself. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it (Luke 11:28).  Why not say with the psalmist: I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” (Ps. 122:1).  I look forward to seeing you in worship AND Bible study.

(Found originally here)

 

 

 

The Preaching and Hearing of God’s Holy Word

The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:28

Faithfulness to the Lord in preaching is a hard thing!  It is a hard thing because many will grumble.  Many will complain.  Many will grow tired and turn away from that which gives life.  The many do this because the Word of God does not “fit” them.  The Word of the Lord does not “do” for them what they think it should.  The Word of the Lord, essentially, is not to their own liking, independent of the outer dressing in which it is delivered.  It does not scratch the itchy conscience as it wants to be scratched.  It does not tell one troubled by sin that things are not that bad, that things will only get better, and that peace and joy is just around the corner.

The Word of the Lord preached faithfully speaks the reality of how things really are.  The Law of God does not mince words.  It does not pull back the punches.  Like the doctor who speaks the truth about one’s condition, so the Law reveals the hopelessness of our situation.  The Law says that you are a poor miserable sinner, deserving nothing but death and eternal condemnation.

Such a message does not sit well with one who wants to be his/her own savior.  Such a message does not parallel the false hope preached so often today, that all you have to do is try harder, or “give your life to Jesus.”  The Word of God contrasts the “it is not so bad” mentality of today’s church, for faithful preaching consists in addressing the condition and not only the symptoms of sinners.  Only by doing so is the true proclamation of the Gospel clearly heard and believed.

Jesus came to save real sinners, not partial sinners (Luke 5:32; 1 Timothy 1:15)! Jesus died in order to save real sinners from real condemnation and hell.  And this is just what Jesus did, not to make the world a better place, but to give eternal life.

While many go on proclaiming a false gospel of earthly hope and worldly utopia, true preachers of Christ preach the sure and certain hope of heaven.  They teach the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), for the very purpose of leading the hearers to Christ and to heaven.  They call sinners to turn from their evil ways and to believe the Good News of sins forgiven through faith in Christ Jesus.

Not all who hear this message appreciate it.  Many turn away from it.  Most reject it.  Such is the world in which we live.  But by God’s grace, there are also most certainly those who do hear, who do believe, and who do confess Jesus Christ to be Savior.  They know God’s Word when they hear it, for they are of God (John 8:47).  They hear Christ’s voice and follow Him (John 10:16, 27).  And they seek none other than the true doctrine, for in this true doctrine is true and everlasting life.  And of this doctrine they are not ashamed, for it is not their own, but God’s.  Thus do they boldly declare it, and of it are most sure!

 

Luther

“With Paul, therefore, we boldly and confidently pronounce a curse upon any doctrine that does not agree with ours.  We, too, seek by our preaching, not the praise of men or the favor of princes or of bishops but only the favor of God.  We preach His grace and gift alone, treading underfoot and condemning whatever is our own.  Therefore anyone who teaches something different or something contrary – we confidently declare that he was sent from the devil and is avna,qema.” (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p59).

Prayer: Gracious Father, you have given us Your holy Word that we believe it and boldly confess it.  Grant us not to be ashamed of what you say, nor to depart from it all of our days.  Forgive us our weaknesses, and bring us to firm confidence in Your doctrine and eternal life.  Amen.

Built on the Foundation of God’s Word

¹⁹ So then, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (NKJ)

Dear brothers and sisters in the one true faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The practice of playing down sin & God’s Word, and playing up acceptance of even the most grievous types of sins and man’s notions is becoming the norm.  But God speaks differently.  And lest some say that churches still holding firmly to the teachings of our blessed Savior Jesus Christ are immune to such atrocities, one only has to consider that what’s going on in Christendom today did not happen overnight.  Just as illness often remains unnoticed until the symptoms bear themselves out, so the disease of false doctrine often creeps into the church unnoticed, and damage is done even before any acknowledgment of a problem exists.

Therefore, it is necessary for God’s people to be ever vigilant in the Word of their Lord.  This is so in order that “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:14).   “Nor should we be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds in the doctrine of Christ Jesus (Romans 12:2).

“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”  And, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:6-8).

The proclamation of God’s church throughout the ages that distinguishes Christians from nonChristians is the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s death on the cross.  But this cornerstone of the Christian faith is being molded and formed into an entirely different message, even a different Gospel, one which falls under God’s anathema (Galatians 1:6-9).

The church today is seen more as a place for man’s activity over and above God’s and more emphasis is placed on man’s endeavors and actions rather than on what God is doing in Christ through the blessed Word and Sacraments of our Lord.  God’s Word has become less important than man’s determination and will power to do.  It’s no longer Christ that unites God’s people into one body through faith, but man’s efforts which unify under the same cause.

Christ is preached as example, not as Savior.  Lip service is given to the Word of Christ, but hearts are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8).  Ambiguity of speech is the common practice.  What is said is not what is meant and what is meant is not what is said.  Words are given different meanings and cause greater confusion rather than drawing together to Him who is the Head of His body.  Hearers are motivated and even encouraged only to hear what they want to hear rather than fight sinful temptations and listen to God’s law which condemns sin and God’s grace which forgives it.

The gospel in today’s church has not to do with God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness for Christ’s sake.  That doesn’t work.  That kind of message doesn’t have a place in today’s world where results and what is seen run the show.  Thus, a new kind of gospel has been established.  In the place of the historic gospel of the Christian faith of God’s love in Christ, tolerance and acceptance of anything and everything, as well as whatever works, is the proclamation that liberates and frees from the tyranny of oppression.

Houses of God have become houses of man, going the way of the world, having left their first love (Revelation 2:4).  The state of visible Christendom is in disarray, to say the least.  It appears broken, disunited, and worldly.  Regardless of the attempts to bind together, unify, and sanctify, of ourselves we have no ability to accomplish these worthy, but unattainable, goals.

The church of Christ, contrary to popular belief, is not bound together because of common activities and agendas.  Instead, according to Holy Scripture, it’s not what we do that unifies in the true and godly sense, but what God has done and continues to do in Christ Jesus.  This is the glue that binds God’s people as one.  Christ and Christ alone is our peace that breaks down the wall of hostility between us.

It is the unity of a common faith in the Lord Jesus as Savior, Him and no other.  This is what brings God’s people together and joins them together into the living body of the living Christ.  There, no one who believes is a stranger or foreigner, whether Jew or Gentile, for all are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

For this reason, visible Christendom remains divided – because not all hold to the clear teachings of Scripture.  Though Christ is not divided, there are dissensions and schisms among the visible churches and congregations of Christendom because not all believe and confess what God has given to believe and confess.  Some simply flat out deny the very Words of God, even rejoicing with pride in their sinfulness.

But what a different and true picture St. Paul paints of the true church in His letter to the saints in Ephesus!  Just as Christ is not divided, so His beloved Bride, the Church, is not divided, “for there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

In Christ Jesus, those who were strangers and foreigners to one another are no longer these, but members of God’s household, “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).  They who were far off are brought near by the blood of Christ.  Those having no hope and without God in the world now are hopeful and with God in the world, they with Him and He with them, having faith in Him whom God sent and believing that Christ is where He promises to be in His Means of Grace.

The reality of what is visible in churches and church bodies across the nation cannot be ignored, but neither can God’s inspired Word given through St. Paul.  What we see is not always what we get and what we get is not always what we see.

There is another church that is completely unified, not at all broken, disjointed, or worldly.  It is a glorious church, not having blemish or wrinkle.  It is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone.  This church we confess in the creed as we say, “I believe in the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints.”

This church we do not see with the eyes.  But God’s true church is as much as a reality as the churches that we do see.  The hidden church which is confessed among us is Holy because of Him who sanctifies.  It is Christian because of Him who is its head.  It is Church because it is the assembly of all who believe in Him who died and rose from the dead according to the Scriptures.  They who belong to this Church are strangers to the world, but not to Christ.  Nor is He a stranger to them.  They are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God by adoption into God’s kingdom through water and the Word, even the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

This Communion of Saints, the fellowship of God’s people who believe Christ to be their Savior, who hope in the Lord and wait upon Him, these are all united in Christ Jesus by faith.  Here there is no denominational demarcation or Christian classification in the One Holy Christian and Apostolic Church.

Only one thing distinguishes members from nonmembers in this Church – belief in the Lord Jesus.  Those who call upon the Lord for mercy and trust in God’s beloved Son are already members.  Those who do not, though they be members of local congregations and be affiliated with this or that denomination, are not.

As we believe in the 2^nd Person of the Holy Trinity, so we will also rejoice on account of God’s kindness and favor.  His Holy church will not waver nor will if fail, nor can it be destroyed.  It is eternal, not temporary as earthly and worldly churches are.  It is built on the foundation that has already been laid and that cannot be unlaid.

It continues to grow, even though it appear not to grow according to human perception and recognition.  It’s growth is not observable by statistical figures and demonstration of numerical strength because it does not grow in ways that we see, but according to God’s Word that “shall not return to Him void, But shall accomplish what He pleases, And prosper in thething for which He sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

This article of faith concerning the Holy Christian Church will not be a visible physical reality seen in our day, as if it is a goal for which we are to strive.  But it is a present reality.  Though unseen, God has revealed this teaching of Christ’s Holy Church in Scripture.  And what a blessed comfort and assurance it gives to all who grow weary with the reality of church struggles and its spots and blemishes before its members and in the sight of the world!

There is one church, true and faithful, which will endure for all eternity.  This church is not affected by the world or its ways.  It is founded only on God’s Word and united in the faith of her Lord Jesus.  Though hidden, wherever God’s Word is preached and the Sacraments are administered according to their institution, there you will find members of this Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints.  This we believe and this we confess.  Amen.

—

The Book of Concord

(Tappert Edition)

The Augsburg Confession,  VII. The Church

¹ It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among who the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel. ² For it is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian church that the Gospel be preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it and that the sacraments be administered in accordance with the divine Word. ³ It is not necessary for the true unity of the Christian church that ceremonies, instituted by men, should be observed uniformly in all places. ⁴ It is as Paul says in Eph. 4:4, 5, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

The Smalcald Articles, XII. The Church

²… a seven-year-old child knows what the church is, namely, holy believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd. ³ So children pray, “I believe in one holy Christian church.” Its holiness does not consist of surplices, tonsures, albs, or other ceremonies… invented over and above the Holy Scriptures, but it consists of the Word of God and true faith.

We seek to please God, not men

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men?

For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10

Our Lord Jesus says to his disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me” (John 15:18-21).

Those who seek to please Christ are those who seek to abide by His Word and remain in it, regardless of the cost involved (John 8:31-32).  Such cost may include the loss of friends, family members, or job.  The hatred of the world may include isolation and persecution.  Collectively, also, for Christ’s Church, for His people gathered around Word and Sacrament, such hatred of the world may present itself in the refusal to hear the Word of God preached by the pastor, the denial of Christ’s absolution, the promotion of schism contrary to the true doctrine, the despising of God’s Means of Grace, and the desire to change the worship service from being that which God works through to deliver His blessed gifts of life and salvation in the hearing of His Word and the distribution of Christ’s body and blood, to what we give to God, without first acknowledging the extent of our sin before Him.

Like the Pharisee, we come to God’s house to tell God what we have done and how we have lived, and thus do we seek His favor based on our work and apart from His mercy in Jesus His beloved Son.  Contrast this Pharisaical approach to God based on oneself with the manner that the tax collector approached God.  He could not even look up.  He did not claim any goodness of himself, but simply confessed what was right and true.  He had nothing to give. He had nothing to offer to God-only his sin.  So he says, “God, be merciful to me the sinner!” (Luke 18:9-14, my translation: the definite article is in use here in the Greek text, v13).

This “poor miserable sinner” claimed no merit of his own.  He did not at all trust in himself.  Nor did he look to himself for any “spark of goodness” whereby he might gain God’s favor.  Instead, He trusted only in the mercy of God for help and salvation.  He came expecting to receive from God, not to give.  And Jesus says receive everything, this sinner did, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:14).

To be justified before God means nothing less than having peace with God (Romans 5:1ff), having your sins forgiven, being unconditionally in God’s favor, and having nothing but God’s compassion and kindness upon you.  On the other hand, to not be justified before God means nothing less than having God’s wrath and judgment upon you and to not at all have God’s favor towards you.

Only in Christ Jesus do you have such true and lasting peace with God!  This is the Christ who God reveals in His Holy Word.  And this is the Christ which God’s Holy Church proclaims and who God’s people unashamedly confess.  This, too, is the same Christ which the world hates, and for which God’s people joyfully suffer. But God’s people suffer for the sake of Christ and for the sake of His Name because He is their Savior, “for there is no other Name, under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  They know no other God, for there is no other God (1 Corinthians 8:6).  All others are nothing but false God’s, man-made, and of the devil (Revelation 9:20).

This is why the world hates Christ, His Church, and His people—they are of God, not of the devil, the world, or of sinful man.  They teach the way of God aright, neither compromising or weakening God’s message.  They boldly confess and unashamedly proclaim the way of God in truth.

God’s people come before God’s throne of grace, not giving to God, but seeking to receive from Him the mercy that God gives through faith in His Son (Hebrews 4:16).  And by God’s mercy, that have it!

This is indeed not a popular message, for many, even within the church, reject it.  But it is only Christ who gives life (John 6:63).  We are lost and condemned in our sin, with nothing to give to God.  But God covers such sinners with Christ’s righteousness (1 John 1:8-9), and we, now, live unto Him, rejoicing in His bountiful goodness and believing His unmerited and undeserved mercy on account of Jesus, His Son and our Savior.  Amen.

Luther

“We do not seek the favor of men by our teaching either, if we may be permitted to say this without boasting.  For we teach that all men are wicked; we done the free will of man, his natural powers, wisdom, righteousness, all self-invented religion, and whatever is best in the world.  In other words, we say that there is nothing in us that can deserve grace and the forgiveness of sins.  But we proclaim that we receive this grace solely and altogether by the free mercy of God and His works, universally condemning all men for their works (Ps. 19:1).  This is not preaching that gains favor from men and from the world.  For the world finds nothing more irritating and intolerable than hearing its wisdom, righteousness, religion, and power condemned.  To denounce these might and glorious gifts of the world is not to curry the world’s favor but to go out looking for and quickly to find, hatred and misfortune, as it is called.  For if we denounce men and all their efforts, it is inevitable that we quickly encounter bitter hatred, persecution, excommunication, condemnation, and execution” (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 24, p.58).

Prayer: Dearest Jesus, preserve us to be Your Holy people.  Keep us from compromising Your Holy doctrine or accommodating ourselves to the ways of the world for superficial peace in the world.  Give us strength to endure the temptations that befall us that we not forsake Your Word, but remain steadfastly in it and in the true faith for our salvation.  Amen.

Certainty in Christ!

Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.

Psalm 119:89

What blessed and eternal comfort the child of God has in God’s own Word!  You see this according to faith, not according to sight, for you live by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).  But what kind of faith? The faith that believes that anything is possible? The faith that believes you can do anything you set your mind to?  The faith which blindly trusts that all things will work out the way we hope them to?

Such description of faith is not that description of faith revealed by God in His Word.  The Christian faith is not “blind.”  It trusts in God’s promises.  Such faith does not trust in worldly expectations or self expectations, but only on the mercies of God in Christ.  Such faith does not believe that anything is possible by oneself or by putting one’s mind to something.  It rests on God’s unchangeable and unconditional grace, revealed in Christ.  Also, such faith does not rest on false or misguided hopes, for its foundation is God’s Holy and faithful Word.

Such faith as the Christian faith rests squarely on the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And this Gospel is nothing but certain and sure, and not at all because I believe it.  The Christian faith rests upon God and His Son.  He makes it sure.  I do not add anything at all to it, but simply believe it.  This, after all, is what Christians do.  They confess Christ and believe His Word.  And they are sure that God’s Word “abides forever.”

 

Luther

“Christ and His side are weak, and the Gospel is a foolish proclamation.  On the other hand, the kingdom of the world and the devil, its prince, are strong; in addition, the wisdom of the flesh is very impressive.  But this is our consolation,that the devil with his members cannot accomplish what he wishes.  He may trouble many persons, but he cannot destroy the Gospel of Christ.  The truth may be endangered, but it cannot perish.  It is attacked, but it cannot be conquered; for ‘the Word of the Lord abides forever” (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p54).

Prayer: Gracious Father, forgive me for doubting Your promises and Your undeserved mercy.  Help me at all times to trust in Your Word and be ever sure of Your abundant grace and mercy in Christ.  Amen.