Christians today are concerned with one central issue: Where in the world is God?  How can I be reassured of his love in the face of the complexities and traumas of my life?…the historic answer of the heirs of the reformation has been: in the gospel.  Modern Evangelicals, however, do not see the gospel as the means of applying the love of God to the sinner as much as they see it as information about the love of God.  The gospel is understood to be an “offer of grace,” rather than the “application of grace.”  It has no power itself, the power is in your decision to accept it.

In contrast, the Lutheran church has always stressed that the gospel is both the offer of grace and the means of its application.  After dealing with the central doctrine of justification by grace through faith, that is, that God will consider our faith in Jesus as righteousness, the Augsburg Confession turns immediately to the application of salvation:

To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear the gospel. And the gospel teaches that we have a gracious God, not by our own merits but by the merit of Christ, when we believe this. (Augsburg Confession: Article V. “The Office of the Ministry”)

….Evangelical Christians today tend to see the gospel as mere historical data. Accordingly, if you want to take advantage of this information you do it by making a decision to commit yourself to Jesus. The Bible has a dramatically different view; here the shoe is on the other foot. God takes the initiative, just as he did in the incarnation of his Son.

The gospel is not just historical information, but the living power of the living God. Jesus said: “The words which I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). No wonder then that Paul saw the gospel not as a static message but as life-giving power: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

From Sanctification: Christ in Action by Harold L. Senkbeil, Milwaukee: Northwestern, 1989, pp. 166-7.

If any of you are well versed in this art, I mean, if any of you can rightly make this distinction, he would deserve to be called a doctor of theology.  For Law and Gospel must be distinguished from each other.  The role of the Law is to terrify men, to drive them crazy and to despair – especially rude and vulgar people – until they realize they can do neither what the Law demands nor achieve God’s favor.  That will make them despair of themselves.  For they can never accomplish that goal – to obtain God’s favor by their own efforts – and keep the Law.  I recall when Dr. Staupitz said to me on a certain occasion: “More than a thousand times I have lied to God, promising that I would become godly.  But I never did what I promised.  I will never again resolve to become godly, for I see that I cannot carry out my resolution.  I want to quit lying to God.”  That was also my experience under the papacy: I was very anxious to become godly, but how long did it last?  Until I had finished reading the Mass.  An hour later I was more evil than before.  This state of affairs goes on and on until a person becomes quite weary and is forced to say, ” I have had it up to here with being godly according to Moses and the Law.  I am going to follow another Preacher, who says to me, ‘Come to Me, if you labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ” ….

This Preacher does not teach that you can love God or that you must act and live a certain way.  Rather, He tells you how to be godly in God’s eyes and how to be saved, despite the fact that you cannot do as you should.  This kind of preaching is wholly different from the teaching of the Law of Moses, which deals only with works.  The Law says, “You shall not sin….Go and be godly….Do this, do that….” But Christ says, “Accept the fact that you are not godly.  But I have been godly in your stead.”

Quoted in Walther, C.F.W., Law and Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible.  St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2010, p. 27-28.  Cf. Luther’s Works: American Edition, Volume 23:271-73.

Look to Christ hanging on the altar of the Cross and pouring out His precious blood for your sins (1 John 1:7).  The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses you from all sin: He is the propitiation for your sins and for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).  For He did not come into the world to be ministered to but to minister and to give His life as a ransom and price for the sins of many (Matt. 20:28).  And lest any doubt arise or remain for you in this matter, from heaven, the throne of Truth, that most sweet and consoling name of Jesus, was brought by an angel, the spirit of Truth, proclaiming to us before He was conceived that He is our Mediator.

Indeed, is Jesus anything other than a Savior?  It is for this reason that He was given the name of Christ because He saves His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).  This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).  This is Jesus Christ who came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15).  This is the High Priest of the New Testament, who has given Himself up for our sins as a sweet smelling offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:2).  It was Christ who shed His own blood for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:28), who bore our sins in His own body on the Cross (1 Pet 2:24), who was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isa 53:5).  The Lord laid on Him, as a stream made to rush headlong onto Him, the sins of us all.  God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us (2 Cor 5:21).  That is, He imputed to Him our sins.  He placed on Him the punishment of our sins.  He made Him a sacrifice for our sins.  Nor did Christ oppose this counsel and decree of the heavenly Father but carried out His will with the readiest mind imaginable.  He gave Himself for our sins (Gal 1:4).  He loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20).  There is a certain Baptism I wish to be baptized with, He said, and how great is My distress until it be accomplished (Luke 12:50).  This was the Baptism of His Cross and distress in which our most kind Savior was wholly immersed for no other reason than His immeasurable and ineffable love toward us.  It was this that so distressed Him.

No matter how great the outward pain in His suffering, nevertheless, you must know that His inward love for us was greater and more ardent.  Indeed, He was prepared to suffer more for our sins if the price He paid for our redemption did not seem sufficient.  But we should not doubt the sufficiency of that price, a redemption that is absolutely complete with Him.  As Bernard says, “for not a drop but a stream of blood flowed abundantly from the five wounds of His body.”  Indeed, Christ called out that all things were finished on the Cross and by the Cross.  Therefore He made through Himself a full and perfect purification for our sins (Heb 1:3) and by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (Heb 10:14).  By His blood He cleanses us from our sins (1 John 1:7).  Therefore, believe such plain, clear, and carefully expressed words of the Holy Spirit and firmly know that the suffering and death of Christ made a complete and sufficient satisfaction for your sins.

From Johann Gerhard (first pub. 1611, translated by Carl Beckwith), Handbook of Consolations: For the Fears and Trials that Oppress Us in the Struggle with Death.  Eugene: WIPF and Stock, 2009, pp. 11-12.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the very midst of life
Snares of death surround us;
Who shall help us in the strife
Lest the foe confound us?
Thou only, Lord, Thou only!
We mourn that we have greatly erred,
That our sins Thy wrath have stirred.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Save us lest we perish
In the bitter pangs of death.
Have mercy, O Lord!

In the midst of death’s dark vale
Pow’rs of hell o’ertake us.
Who will help when they assail,
Who secure will make us?
Thou only, Lord, Thou only!
Thy heart is moved with tenderness,
Pities us in our distress.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Save us from the terror
Of the fiery pit of hell.
Have mercy, O Lord!

In the midst of utter woe
When our sins oppress us,
Where shall we for refuge go,
Where for grace to bless us?
To Thee, Lord Jesus, only!
Thy precious blood was shed to win
Full atonement for our sin.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Lord, preserve and keep us
In the peace that faith can give.
Have mercy, O Lord!

Lutheran Service Book (LSB) 755
Text: Martin Luther, 1483-1546, tr. The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, alt.

Should the Christian stand all day long at the grave of all joys which he enjoyed in past years?  Through Holy Baptism a great stream of joy has been conducted in his heart, which does not drain away, but streams forward with his life until its waves carry him into the sea of a blessed eternity.  Should the Christian be reminded all day long that the flowers of his youth fall more and more?  He stands planted by God in the water of his Baptism as a palm tree which becomes greener and greener and whose leaves never wither.  Yes, his Baptism makes death for him like a short winter’s nap, out of which an eternal spring – an eternal youth – follows.

For Baptism is a bath that washed me not only once when I received it – washed me pure with Christ’s blood – but it continuously washes me clean even daily for as long as I hold it in faith.  For just as that same water of the flood drowned the sinners, but Noah with his relatives were brought to salvation and carried to Mount Ararat, so also did the water of my Baptism drown my sins, but my soul was brought to the eternal mountain of divine grace.  And just as once those same waves of the Red Sea, which swallowed up Pharaoh and his army, were a protective wall for Israel, so also has my baptismal water swallowed up all of my damnation and is for me a sure wall before God’s wrath and punishment….

Now then, all of you who believe in God’s Word, let your watchword for entering the new year be this: “I am baptized!” Although the world may laugh at this comfort, the enthusiasts vex its confidence … nevertheless, abandon any other dearly held pledges and speak only throughout the entire year to come, in all terrors of conscience and necessity through sin and death: “I am baptized!  I am baptized!  Hallelujah!”  And you shall prevail!  In every time of need, you will find comfort in your Baptism; on account of it Satan will flee from your faith and confession; and in death you will see heaven opened and will finally come into the joy of your Lord to celebrate a great year of jubilee, a year of praise, with all the angels forever and ever.  Amen!

From the Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, 2008, pp. 1077-78.

I often struggle with darkness.

Not the type of darkness where you can’t see with your eyes.  But a darkness where it feels as though all the joy has been sucked out of your soul and nothing remains but a dark, blank fog.

In this kind of darkness, everything seems hopeless.  Like falling into a deep, black pit with no chance of escape.  Deep down inside you feel as though no one really cares about you, that you are alone and will always be alone.  Alone.  Alone.  Alone.  Like a voice echoing in your mind daring you to defy it.  You are alone and will always be alone.  And it spirals down – darker and darker, blacker and blacker until “shadow of death” really is a good way to describe it.

I struggle with another type of darkness too – the darkness of my heart.  I fail to do the good that I should do, and instead do the evil that I shouldn’t do.  I am plagued with the awareness that even the best things that I do are tainted by my own selfishness and pride.  No matter how good I try to be, it is never good enough.

And then a light shines in the darkness, a light that the darkness cannot overcome.  A light of humanity untainted by sin and evil.  God, in whom there is no darkness at all, becoming human like us – a light so beautiful that we who sit in darkness cannot even comprehend the wonder of it.

In place of my life tainted with the darkness of sin, I receive the merit of His sinless and perfect life, lived for me – from His sinless conception and birth to His sinless death on a Roman cross.  On Him the Lord placed my iniquity and the iniquity of us all.

In this truth my soul lives, and is pulled back from the precipice again and again. I am not lost.

As I make the sign of the cross I remember the name that is upon me – the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, given to me in the washing of water with God’s Word.  I am sealed for the day of redemption. I belong to Jesus Christ.  And as He comes to me in His precious body and blood under bread and wine, for the forgiveness of all my sins, I know I am not alone.  He is with me always, even to the end of the age. As the darkness is illuminated I can see that there are others who care for me, too.  And I am free to care about others.

God loves me dearly for the sake of His beloved Son.

For the sake of His beloved Son, He loves you just as dearly.

May the light of Christ shine upon you during this holiday season.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God’s Love Covers Me With Christ

Advent Midweek 1

December 1, 2010

Jeremiah 23: 5-8

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

God loves you dearly, and that is shown most clearly by the Lord’s desire to come to you to save you. Advent means “coming.” The Lord is coming. During Advent we joyfully relive the countdown to Bethlehem, waiting for the perfect timing of our God to send us our Savior as Mary’s son. We also rejoice that the Lord comes to us here and now in His forgiving ways—the Gospel, Baptism, absolution, and Christ’s body and blood. We might call this current Advent of our Lord in His forgiving ways as His second advent.

But we also wait for another coming of our Lord—Jesus’ final advent. He is coming to set His people free. On the Last Day He will judge the living and the dead. How can you be sure you are prepared for that day? How can you be sure you will be found righteous, innocent, pure, and holy? By trusting God’s beautiful, comforting promise in Jeremiah 23:6 where God promises that Christ will be your righteousness, your perfect record—no wrongs and all good credited to your account as you trust in Christ. Because “this is the name by which He will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ ”

“The Lord is our righteousness.” There can hardly be better news than this, for we are certainly not good enough in ourselves.

Rod Torreson, the poet laureate in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a Missouri Synod Lutheran school teacher. He grew up on a farm in Iowa. His family had a loyal farm dog. The dog was a tame, helpful, protector of the chickens and sheep. He was joyful. His whole back half would swing as his tail whipped when greeting his master. But this dog had a dark secret, a terrible double life. At night he would catch up with a pack of wild dogs and hang out. They didn’t smoke and play cards. They’d track down sheep; sink their canines past the wooly fluff right into lamb’s flesh. One morning the Torresons caught him sneaking home at sunrise with some lamb caught between his teeth.

O Christian, you are living a double life too. We look so tame and domesticated, pious little Christian family dogs. But there is a battle going on inside me, inside you. Wild dog thoughts race through our fevered minds. Animalistic instincts leap within us, seeking to be free. Free to sink our teeth into our best friend’s reputation by barking out cutting words. Free to wander off wherever we want into dens of iniquity. Free to stare our sharpened eyes on what the Lord does not want us to see, leering into the glowing computer screen, panting in the dark corner. Free to dump our Master and be our own masters as we chomp down hard on the flesh of rebellious fruit. Oh sure the loyal dog inside gains control for awhile, but “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15). We have divided hearts and split minds. We’re tame on the outside, wild on the inside. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

Lord have mercy on us! Hosanna, that is, save us! Deliver us! And even before we cry out, He already has. For God loves us dearly. He saw our need before we were. Before His advent to judge our Lord comes twice—both advents to cover us with Christ’s righteousness, His perfect goodness, that at His last advent we can stand and live forever.

That is why the God who loves you dearly sends a righteous branch from David’s clan. A beginning tree doesn’t look like much, especially a little shoot growing out of a stump. But this shoot from the stump of David’s nearly decimated family tree has got a name: “the Lord is our righteousness.”

First, this branch that God raises up is not just anyone. He is “the Lord!” This is not just some regular old descendant of David. This offspring is not another Solomon who starts out with great promise but fails miserably. This is Yahweh Himself.

Second, this branch that God raises up is not just His own righteousness—proof of the Lord’s own holiness, goodness, and perfection—but He is your substitute. He has come to stand before the court of God’s judgment in your place. He has come to be your not guilty verdict and your straight A report card. “The Lord is our righteousness.”

What a blessed substitute before God’s judgment. In place of our sinful conception—for we all like King David, as Psalm 51:5 testifies, inherited sin from our parents—God places in evidence the sinless conception of Jesus. In place of our childhood disobedience, God places in evidence the perfect obedience of Mary’s Son. In place of our teenage foolish choices, God places in evidence the wise choices of Jesus’ early manhood. In place of all the good we’ve meant to do but left undone, God places in evidence the completed work of the God-man. In place of our death, part of the wages of our sin, God places in evidence Jesus’ death because it is the wages of all our sins. In other words, when God the Judge opens your record, O Christian, He sees Jesus’ record. According to God’s judgment you’ve lived every moment from the womb to the tomb without a single failure of any kind. For “the Lord is our righteousness!” Not even the tiniest smidgen of your sin is showing—only Christ.

But remember, it’s not that you are righteous, that you’ve done the good you ought. It’s that He is righteous. And by being in Christ you are righteous, for “the Lord is our righteousness.”

So, repent. Fess up. Yes, I am a poor, miserable, wild dog of a sinner. And the eternally free Son of God, who willingly bound Himself into our slavery, proclaims you free. And the angels are rejoicing. Welcome home. Eat the Lamb of God’s flesh to feed the believer and strengthen him for the daily battle against your wild dog flesh.

Abide, that is, hang out, stick around with, Christ and His Word, Holy Scripture. Abide, hang out, dwell in the Church, the hospital for dogs infected with mad dog disease. Live in the embrace of your Baptism into Christ’s resurrection. You are God’s own child—even as the war in your body continues. The Son has defeated sin, satanic wolf, and death for you and declared you free. And on that last advent, the Day of the Resurrection, you in Christ will be completely free, no more sickness, no more aching tiredness, no more chaos, no more sin—you’ll then be as righteous as Jesus is for you today and on Judgment Day.

Until that final advent, return to the new life God gave you in Baptism. Hear your true Master’s voice. Confess the truth God’s Scripture gives you: I am a sinner. I deserve eternal punishment. But the Lord is my righteousness.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Now Scripture sets forth two kinds of teaching – Law and Gospel.  The Law, in condemning sins and setting forth the gravest threats of God, is that hammer (Jer. 23:29) through which God breaks rocks, that is crushes the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humbles it, so that truly and earnestly acknowledging the multitude and magnitude of sins and of the wrath of God over sin, the mind begins to hate and detest sin, to fear the wrath and judgment of God so that it is unwilling to perish eternally under them but sighs and struggles with groaning that it may be freed from them.  There the Law indeed has and sets forth promises of life, but on condition of perfect fulfillment …. the Gospel, however, teaches that what was impossible for the Law on account of the flesh, God provided by sending His Son (Rom. 8:3).  Therefore it shows Christ, the Lamb of God, born under the Law for us, in order that He might make satisfaction to the judgment of God, revealed in the Law, by His obedience and suffering on our behalf.  This Mediator the Father sets before us in the Gospel as a propitiation by faith in His blood through the remission of sins (Rom. 3:25).  “For this is the will of the Father, that everyone who believes in the Son should not perish but have eternal life” (John 6:40).  Thus the Gospel proclaims, offers and sets before contrite and terrified consciences the grace of God, reconciliation and remission of sins freely on account of the merit of Christ; and it is His will that everyone should lay hold of and apply this benefit of the Mediator to himself.  The ministry of private absolution applies this general promise of the Gospel to the penitent individually, in order that faith may be able to state all the more firmly that the benefits of the passion of Christ are certainly given and applied to it.  Moreover, in the use of the Lord’s Supper, Christ offers, applies, and seals, to all who receive it in faith, the New Testament with the precious pledges of His body and blood, namely, that God wants to be gracious with respect to our sins and to remember our iniquities no more.

From the Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, 2008, pp. 902-903.

-Pastor Jonathan Fisk, Worldview Everlasting 9/3/10

In this episode Pastor Fisk gives the best and most concise explanation of the differences between Calvinism and Lutheranism that I’ve ever heard (or seen). It basically comes down to how the two groups view reason – and how they handle paradox.