Life and Death: Christ and Children

A Message from Pastor Hale

Life is what we make it to be – that is the lie we have been sold – that we get to be who and what we want, that our aspirations make life worth living; our dreams should be chased no matter the cost.

 

The reality is that human life, as the fleshly person knows it, is empty and futile – in opposition to God and His holy will, which we were created for. It is under the rule of death and in slavery to sin – no matter how alive or good someone feels. The proof is in the pudding: death – the effect of our sin – is inescapable, for those in Adam’s image. Nothing can be done by us to fix it, but that does not stop sinners from trying. “Because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man” (Rom. 5:17).

 

Without Christ, there is no life. But we see much death, even trusting in and being united to His death, which is life for us. Belief does not undo sin or our bad decisions. In Christ, justified through faith in Him, we are alive to God. But this change occurs in heaven in how He sees us. Our righteousness is hidden in Christ, so that we do not escape all the effects of sin in this life.

 

Being Christian does not mean having children. Marriage, marital knowing, and childbirth are physical, natural things. In fact, they are inescapable to a large extent, for most. God works through these biological commands, but not in a spiritual way – in a natural way. He has made us male or female, for the purpose of marriage, even if one never marries in actuality. But our design and function is of God.

 

The problem for the world and fleshly man is that God is not seen as good. Those who fight against His creation, fight against the Maker of heaven and earth. What is abortion? An unloving act of self-preservation. Kill the baby before he kills you. But the problem is not a child, or many children. The problem is with the giver of life – God Himself. God does not command us verbally to have children. Instead, He makes us so that most have to have children. When life is considered bad, God is seen as bad. Abortion is a heinous sin, a plight on our people and nation.

 

The worst part is that we are all abortionists in our heart. We murder, not physically, but in our attitude, our heart, and how we think and talk about children. A churchgoing Christian can easily use the same language as the abortion clinic and its customers, without incident or alarm, among other Christians: “I accidentally got pregnant”; “It was a mistake”; “It was an unplanned pregnancy”; “when do you want your family and how many precisely do you want?”; “What is your choice?”; “It’s not the right time to have a child.”

 

The language and philosophy are the same: Children are the problem, and not having children is the solution. The difference? Christians, of course, may not have a child physically dismembered in utero, so Christians are “stuck” with a child they didn’t “choose,” if a child is actually conceived. That is a difference, to be sure, but not so much when it comes to the heart and loving God’s will.

 

From our perspective children may seem accidental, but God does not make mistakes or unplanned decisions. And life is His, make no mistake – it is not ours. God is not surprised by His works. Children are His creations, not our pet projects. We can’t create in the image of God – having a child is not about following a recipe. It does not take holy thoughts or long preparation to physically have a child – our part is so minuscule, it’s silly to even talk about and take credit for it. But marital knowing has been de-sanctified and made common, instead of honored as God’s holy tool for divine purposes.

 

Is our family, that is, our children, ours, or does God have a say for His people? No one actually chooses their children, though many assume so. There is no catalog from which we may pick out our progeny and what they will be like. But we talk like it, and so devalue what God Himself makes. We just assume that avoiding children is a real choice – because it seems like life and possibilities to those in sin.

 

Christians like to talk up the blessings of children, generically, but there is a reason earthly mammon is more sought after than children: children are death to the sinful flesh of parents. They will bring suffering, and death, most literally – they are of Adam and must die. To bring a child into the world is to bring more death and sin into the world.

 

The Christian must face death, if he is to be saved, which is why God sent His Son in human form to die. Christ died for all death-infected sinners, impaling sin in its heart – the cause of our misery and death. But death did not slay Jesus forever. He rose, in the Spirit, to bring forth life. Life is everywhere in Christ. Because you live by faith in Him, united to His death, you are life. His salvation is life, and you have a good and kind Father above. Death has no hold on you.

 

So what about children? See them in Christ, not just with deathly goggles. God’s will, and therefore the children He brings forth, are always good. Maybe not to corrupt sinners, but to the holy God. So in faith, everything is sanctified and becomes holy, as we live to God. We want there to be more people to hear the good news and believe. There are no people without birth. Having a child is natural, but raising one to be a Christian is unnatural and difficult – you will have to face much death, inside and outside your heart.

 

Don’t sugarcoat having children as easy-peasy, or glorify a “prolife” stance that is actually quite cold to the reality of receiving and taking care of God’s blessings. But death to the flesh is not something to avoid for the Christian, it is life in Christ. The more we die with Christ to sin, the more we partake of His comfort and life. If we die with Him, we will live with Him.

 

Look beyond death and believe it has been extinguished, even as we live in the midst of death. See children as God sees them – and you. Look beyond death and earthly problems to the promise of glory with Him. We wait for resurrection – when there will be only life. Christ is life, all is life in Him. The death and sin we see is merely an empty husk, waiting to be discarded in resurrection life, by Life Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. Even He was not too proud to be conceived in a mother and be born in the normal way. We mourn death, but welcome life. Amen.

Details

Published: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

Last Updated: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

A New Year is not Really New

A Message from Pastor Hale

The world worships time. A new year is assumed to provide for the possibility of new and improved outcomes. The optimist is to expect more and better things to come to him. But time is not God, and neither is chance or possibility. Just as more time (even billions of years) does not allow the promise of improvement, via evolution, so more time in the future for us does not mean better earthly things are coming. To depend on a new year to fix things in your life and heart is to worship time, a thing that was created by our Lord. Time is a creaturely, fading thing, doomed to pass away when Christ returns.

 

The problem is not time, but what we do with the time. Sinners are not neutral actors that just need the right circumstances to do good or better. It is said that “Given enough time, a hypothetical chimpanzee typing at random would, as part of its output, almost surely produce one of Shakespeare's plays (or any other text).” But time is limited and what is new is soon old. But sin remains, as does God’s Law. The problem is that future time does not make us new or improved. From the standpoint of our sinful flesh, the future only allows possibility for more sin, if we trust in our own power to effect good.

 

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:23-24).

 

Newness in Scripture is connected with the Holy Spirit, not simply wide open prairies of possibilities. So turn to something old, which is always new: The Word of God and His Spirit given you in Baptism. This singular act is always a new beginning in Christ, our risen Lord. Three days did not stop Him, and no amount of time – or any created thing – can separate us from our Lord. So no past sin is to rule over us, through the Law. All sin is dead in Christ. This very message has the power to make us new.

 

But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code (Rom. 7:6).

 

We don’t just need a new year – every day is to be new to God in repentance and forgiveness. Turn from your possibilities and fake optimism, which can only be sinful and contrary to God, and hear God’s certain promises which will last beyond time and this earth. Live crucified to sin and the world in Christ, alive to God in confident faith. Every second is new and redeemed, because you are, through the promise of life.

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17).

 

Amen.

 

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4).

Details

Published: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

Last Updated: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

The Call to be Pastor: Theology and Practice

A Message from Pastor Hale

The call is easily misunderstood because it is not of this world, yet it is very much of this world because it is tied up with ordinary sinners and their arbitrary decisions. But it will never be understood unless we start with Scripture and God’s will. Pastors are called by God into His harvest field to preach His Word. He sends every pastor to be His ambassador and speak with His authority to free sinners from Satan’s bondage. This is an article of faith. Pastors do not always appear to be divine gifts, but they are not the point: God’s Word is the divine thing which pastors are called to deliver and Christians are to hear and obey as if God Himself is speaking.

 

The Word belongs to all the baptized and is the right of every Christian to believe and use it. But God is a God of order. When gathered together, we cannot all speak and exercise the keys to heaven in competition in a chaotic fashion without sinning. But this is not a human order, as if we need a boss or manager over all the saints in a congregation – it is a divine order. “And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ ” (Rom. 10:15). If anyone sees the pastor-congregation relationship as a fight for control or power, he does not see the divine relationship that the Lord established. The Lord rules over and works through both parties.

 

Pastors do not choose themselves to speak for Christ, but neither do congregations choose their pastors. This does not appear to be the case if we use our eyes. We see pastors making selfish, thoughtless decisions that do not honor the call from our Lord. Congregations vote to approve a call to a pastor with limited knowledge of him. But God works through sinners, even if they are following their own sinful will.

 

It is always God’s call, even when it comes through a voters’ assembly, so it cannot be rescinded, unless the Lord Himself does so. Pastors are not pastors for life, though. If they cannot do what God demands of the office or they sin against the scriptural expectations, then God is the one removing the pastor – as long as His Word is followed. As St. Paul often repeats, pastors are called to be God’s servants – not spineless lackeys or abusive kings. “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1). God’s call gives the confidence to preach the Word, whether it will be well received or not. But it also demands that the congregation listen and not let human pettiness get in the way of divine instruction.

 

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1). Pastors are not accountable to congregations and all their wants and whims. Neither are pastors tyrannical rulers that congregations must submit to unconditionally. The Word of God is the power of the office, not the person in the office. And the Word taught correctly has all the authority of God Himself. So Christians are to hear and submit to God’s Word, because it is Christ speaking to them – not a sinner who appears inadequate and weak. But apart from God’s Word and His ordering of pastor (which means shepherd) and sheep, there is no power structure or spiritual authority – as there is in every human relationship. The power is God’s Spirit in the Word and pastors are to use the Word publicly in Christ’s name, just like every layman is to use the Word at home and in their own earthly vocations. The public, external call makes demands on pastor and congregation, so that the Lord is foremost, not sinners. But understood rightly, the pastoral office is a great gift to His church and God’s express will for congregations.

 

Practically, the process of how a call is extended is a black box to many. And it is very earthly. Congregations develop personal feelings (positive or negative) toward their pastor, and vice versa, because we are real sinners. But that earthly attitude is to be subservient to God’s will and office. The pastoral office is to be honored and supported because of God and His Word we expect to hear from it. Christ trumps all emotional, personal sentiments. Pastors have the same personal reactions as congregations and may not feel like they are doing divine things when they preach and teach. But the call is an external thing – not an intangible feeling – that both pastor and congregation can point to. It is truly a comfort when earthly situations become difficult and trying. The public office allows God’s Word to be the center of attention in the midst of sinners who are forgiven. God’s will is to be done over our sinful will. And His divine will to relieve sinners of their guilt, so they partake of eternal life in the Son, is always present in His Word, no matter who speaks it.

 

But what about a pastor who receives a call who already has a call to serve? This is a perplexing situation for the pastor and congregations. Both calls are divine, even when one is from an unknown congregation. Yet, it is fully God’s will and call to preach there, as is the already existing call. Both are equally divine. I’ve heard several odd questions over the years that deny the divine aspect of the call: “Are you open to a call?” “Are you considering the call you received?” If calls are divine, doesn’t every one have to be taken most seriously? To not do so would be to dismiss God Himself who issued the call. How can a Christian ever not be open to God’s will? No, God’s call is never something to be dismissed. Even “retirement” is an unbiblical category when it comes to the pastoral office and is simply resigning the call to be a pastor for Christ. The call makes the pastor, not education, certification, experience, or aptitude. That is simply another way of saying that God Himself makes a pastor.

 

A pastor with two calls cannot serve God’s sheep in different locations. Both calls are fully of God and real, but only one can be lived in and served, so the other is not “rejected,” technically. It is “returned,” so another man can be sought to fill the call. It is not about the person himself in the office, but the hearing of the holy Law and forgiving Gospel of Christ that creates faith. The Word which makes faith makes Christians. So the deliberation of the call is not to be a negotiation or hostage situation. God works through every call, because the office belongs to him – not pastors or congregations. But this is something to believe, congregations or pastors are not promised to see it. Even when the call is mistreated or ignored, it remains divine.

 

Does a new call mean a pastor wanted out of a church or he is unhappy? It doesn’t matter – the call itself is divine and of the utmost seriousness. It is much like marriage. Whether a couple dated for ten years prior or got married after one date – marriage is always a holy and divine calling, not a personal choice for us to end. It doesn’t matter how much a married couple likes or dislikes one another – God’s call to be faithful is what matters. And just like every marriage must end, the Lord removes every pastor – in His own time though, not ours. But we are to respect and love God’s will more than our own.

 

In our synod, any church can call any rostered clergyman: active, retired, or without a call. There is no one secret, magical call list of pastors who want a new situation. They can tell certain people to circulate their name, but the call list is truly the entire clergy roster, in practice. The call remains God’s will and tells the pastor where to serve, even if it means laying down his life. Districts can have lists of names, but congregations are free to ignore them (and often they should). In practice, this process can appear quite messy and disorganized – but the call itself is always holy and above us and our sin. We are to trust that good results, and must, because it is the Lord’s work and office ultimately. It is God’s will for every congregation and Christian to have a pastor who preaches God’s Word faithfully. We are not to lead ourselves – but to be led by Christ, who always speaks in His Word. Amen.

 

 

Details

Published: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

Last Updated: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

Pastors are not God

A Message from Pastor Hale

Pastors are called by God into a divine office. This is a heavy responsibility and great honor. However, they are merely servants of Christ. They have no authority to go beyond Christ’s written Word, the holy Scriptures. Where they do not speak for Christ, but depend on their on their own authority or knowledge, apart from the Scriptures, they are as worthless as salt that is no longer salty. Certain pastors in the LCMS love to extol the office and boast about their learning and achievements, but this does not, in itself, honor Christ. Pastors who actually do what Christ gave them to do – to preach the Word faithfully, use the keys of heaven to bind and forgive sins, and faithfully give the sacraments to repentant sinners – do extol the office of the minister in the best possible way. This is the true way to bring honor to the office – to do what Christ actually called the pastor to do: to be His mouth and speak for Him. An empty office, where the Word of Christ is not at the forefront of what is preached is no office of Christ at all. The man God called is irrelevant to a large extent, since the Word is to dominate, so that Christ Himself speaks in the office through His Word. Man, as a sinner, can only get in the way of Christ’s Word. As St. John the Baptist said: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30). But where the authority of Scripture is lost in confession or practice, the status and personal authority of a pastor is often offered as a substitute. This poor replacement for God’s own authority is endemic in our circles, even among the most conservative of pastors.

 

One case is in the doctrine of marriage. God creates the one flesh union of man and woman, which exists until God parts them in death, or man destructively breaks this union by adultery. Christ’s own word confirms that marriage is no human arrangement: “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mt. 19:6). Man cannot create this one flesh union, he can only break it. So the “no divorce policy” in the church is not merely a rule or arbitrary guideline – it is God’s express will, which the Christian will respect. It may mean suffering and anguish, but the Christian should see this as a cross to bear in hope. A legal divorce, where the marriage is unbroken by adultery, seems like an easy way out of earthly difficulty, but the marriage union remains intact in this case, despite what government paperwork or society says. A husband and wife remain one flesh – joined by God Himself directly – until God breaks it in death or man does so by the sin of adultery. So to pretend the marriage union is not there by obtaining a civil divorce, which is a public confession to the world, is sin and unchristian, if the other party is willing to remain married. Jesus explicitly says this legal action is tantamount to adultery, since it leads to it in practice: “whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery” (Mt. 19:9).

 

While plenty of people do get divorced for selfish reasons and fall into sin, causing adultery, which is by definition a breaking of God’s martial uniting, this is not God’s will. That is also what the command says: “You shall not commit adultery.” It is Christ’s will that husband and wife love and honor each other. God hates divorce because it directly infringes on His personal work of uniting in marriage, which is also for our good and protection. Marriage is not about happiness and fulfillment. It is protection from sexual sin and a divine vocation into which the Lord Christ places each husband and wife to give them opportunity to serve Him in love, and also so He may multiply them and fill the earth with people to hear His Gospel. Although not a mandate, it is a practical necessity for most people to be married: “because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (1 Cor. 7:2).

 

The sin of sexual immorality, unlike sins of the heart and mind, directly affects our bodies, which for the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So this outward sin goes against the Holy Spirit in the body and is incompatible with true repentance and faith. “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.... But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1 Cor. 6). One cannot love the Lord and also hate and willingly destroy His uniting work, in which He has personally joined the two into one. And the Lord also says through St. Paul that every act of sexual immorality, imitating marriage, physically creates a new one flesh union between male and female, but outside of God’s order, Word, and blessing. Our marriage ceremony proclaims: “What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.” Every marriage union is a holy thing, a divine creation. The Christian who submits to Christ and His works will respect this and not sin against it in his own body, thereby grieving the Holy Spirit he has been given.

 

But egotistical pastors who are sympathetic to the plight of those who suffer want to go beyond God’s Word to offer a comfort that is not in the Gospel. An LCMS pastor who fancies himself a true Lutheran recently defended legal divorce to me, apart from adultery or desertion. But he was unable to make a case on the basis of Scripture. He generally advised against divorce, in theory, but could not say: “It is God’s will for you to stay married and if you wish to be considered a Christian, you must not divide what God has joined together or pretend that you are no longer married by obtaining a legal divorce.” His conclusion was that marriage and divorce is “complex” in practice. This is not God’s Word, but contrary to it. A pastor, no matter how smart, decorated, or respected, is not God Himself. And where he speaks beyond or besides God’s Word, he is nothing and should not be listened to. A pastor who cannot explain his action and support it by Scripture is a false shepherd and should not be listened to. You can only have one master, so listen to Christ's voice alone. This requires a firm knowledge of Scripture by laymen. Faith holds to the Word of Christ, not the flimsy and changing precepts of men.

 

Divorce is not a matter of “casuistry,” which is defined as “a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending theoretical rules from a particular case.” If “no divorce” is a vague and general guideline open to exceptions, then it is assumed God has not spoken explicitly on the matter. This is a lie. No doubt there are very difficult circumstances that tug at a pastor’s heart strings. But pastors do not get to make exceptions to God’s Word or speak new words for Him. Separation of a married couple for a time is permissible, but the goal must always be to preserve a marriage union, since it is God’s work and calling. It takes two to remain married, to be sure, but the Christian will not willingly and gladly abandon a marriage union into which Christ has placed him. In fact, Scripture says that only an unbeliever will leave a marriage which is unbroken by adultery: “if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him…. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so” (1 Cor. 7). Nowhere does Scripture say that a Christian may go against Christ’s physical work in marriage. So “no divorce” is not a rule to be bent or made vaguely “complex,” even by a respected pastor, but a consequence of God’s holy union to respect. No word of man can nullify the Word of God or His work of marriage.

 

The Gospel does not give earthly relief from suffering or permission to sin against the holy God. So no matter how much horrible drama occurs or how bad a pastor may feel for a struggling parishioner in an unhappy marriage, God’s marriage union – the one flesh bond itself – remains a divine work the Christian and pastor must respect. God will end every marriage in His own time, but not ours, unless we sin. St. Paul, regarding marriage in 1 Cor 7, confirms that the Gospel and our hope in Christ require no outward change at all, not even in marriage status, but only inward repentance by the renewing Spirit: “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches…. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” Pastors must bind consciences regarding marriage and call sinners to repentance, even the divorced, in the name of Christ.

 

The Gospel does not prevent sin, divorce, and great harm, even by one’s own spouse, but it does give hope of a better world, in which there is no marriage. However, Christ who gave the Gospel never gives permission to sin against marriage, which is always a sin against the Holy God. “To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband,” just as Christ Himself also commands: “the husband should not divorce his wife” (1 Cor. 7:10, 11). It is not a different god who creates each marriage, than the One who also forgives sinners by the Word. The sin of man surely occurs in this cursed world against marriage, but it can only be grieved and preached against, not excused or defended in the name of Christ. Divorce, which Christ says implies an act of adultery, is a direct sin against the Lord who died for our sin and rose for our justification.

 

Some pastors play god in another way. They take the place of government and try to regulate marriage by having a marriage ceremony for those who are not intending to be legally married. But there are not two different types of marriages, one spiritual and one worldly. Marriage is always a fleshly, bodily thing, and so it is regulated among us by government, which has God’s authority. But the work of every marriage remains God’s own. Civil laws cannot nullify the command and work of Christ. So a pastor who does not require a couple to legally marry, but preforms a mock wedding ceremony anyway, is approving and blessing fornication. We ratify our public commitment by fulfilling the government’s obligations. Marriage is a public act and institution, not a private decision or spiritual choice. Pastors may not make a new form and way of entering marriage. There is only one institution of marriage, which is a natural right, from God the Father, who created man male and female for this purpose.

 

Another common error among both conservative and liberal pastors is to think that church fellowship, and therefore Communion fellowship, is entirely their domain and prerogative. This is sometimes well meant, but it is extremely arrogant. A particular pastor may think his opinion and verdict of visitors or other pastors and churches determines “his” fellowship – who he is joined to publicly. But Christ’s Church does not revolve around a single pastor and his personal judgment. So to think the pastor alone in his judgment may decide arbitrarily who may commune, or the minister who leaves it completely up to the unknown visitor as to whether he should to take Christ’s most precious body and blood, is wrong and unfaithful.

 

External church fellowship is based on mutual recognition of the teaching of the Gospel. One person does not decide the bounds of the visible church or the confession of another. No one gets to decide what another believes. His confession alone – his words and actions – speaks to his doctrine. So the person a god-like “conservative” pastor likes, feels a bond with, or personally knows is in their “fellowship” – or conversely those who they don’t personally know, sympathize, or agree with are not in his own clique of “fellowship.” Church membership, official confessions, and the other party must take a back seat in this scenario, and therefore the actual confession of Christ. It is selfish and puts the pastor in place of Christ.

 

While there is a place to discipline false doctrine and rebuke actual sin, by refusing the Supper to the unrepentant, pastors do not mentally delineate and manipulate church boundaries based upon their own subjective emotions. The pastor’s thoughts are not more holy than the layman’s. To think the pastor determines the bounds of fellowship is as absurd as saying, “I personally set the boundaries of all countries, by merely thinking thoughts in my mind.” So church fellowship is much bigger than a pastor and his limited vantage point. It must be based on and related to the tangible and public Word of Christ, a public badge of confession. An individual pastor alone assuming he determines fellowship himself makes as great an error as those refusing to consider public fellowship at all when inviting everyone to Christ’s altar, abdicating the responsibility to be Christ’s faithful shepherd.

 

Connected with this error is thinking that a synod (a church body united around a particular teaching of Christ) and its inherent public confession of unity around the Word doesn’t mean anything. I heard the comment at a conference this summer that a synod and her implied fellowship is like a teacher’s union, so that it is merely the price of admission for having a congregation. This might sound practical and relieve somewhat the personal anguish of dealing with heterodox congregations and pastors in one’s fellowship, but it makes the confession of a synod, and what it says about Christ and His doctrine, to be nothing. To say we are united in a synod around the teaching and sacraments of Christ has to mean something, if confessing the teaching of Christ is to mean anything. It can be a false union and denied in practice, but the public confession of unity in the Word of Jesus still counts for far more than the personal thoughts of any pastor or layman.

 

To be in a synod is itself a confession to everyone, even the unbeliever, so to denigrate the very idea of external fellowship within an individual church body is inconsistent, but also duplicitous. It also conveniently allows one to think, do, and practice anything he wishes with impudent freedom and without the constraint of maintaining church unity, as if each expert pastor were his own church body, and perhaps even divine being. But pastors are not the oracles of God, the Scriptures are (Rom. 3:2).

 

To say being part of a synod, in itself, means nothing is to confess one thing, but to actually be in a synod says the opposite. Our public confession to the world in giving the name and appearance of unity is an important thing. That is why, no matter how flawed, church fellowship must be based on tangible things, of which nothing is more official than congregational membership. It matters to what church we belong. So to ignore that public aspect of confessing Christ, and prefer one’s own private opinions and ideas, is to arrogate divine status to oneself. Pastors do not admit to communion on their own whims or feelings, but on behalf of the public confession of Christ, whose Supper is being served. The Supper belongs to no sinner, even the pastor, nor should anyone demand the right to take or modify what is God’s gift and institution. As Communion is always a public act, with implications of public fellowship, so communion admittance should be based on something public indicating fellowship – not simply the personal thoughts of a pastor, who is not Christ.

 

Pastors must be kept honest by their parishioners, who in turn must actually know what God has said in Scripture. It does no good for a pastor to play the expert and to think he is above questioning. He is then only preaching his own, sinful idea of Christ, not Christ Himself. Conversely, laymen should not think they are automatically Lutheran, and above correction by the divine Word, because of their experience, tradition, or voting power. It is Christ’s church. All Christians need to be continually reminded that we do not need a substitute for Christ. He is not dead; He is risen. Amen.

Details

Published: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

Last Updated: 08 February 2020 08 February 2020

Pastor's Pen 10/01/2019

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6)

 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. LAW & GOSPEL. This summarizes the teaching of the bible. The LAW teaches what we are to do and not to do. The LAW places demands on us. Love perfectly God and your neighbor. Sinners fall short of the glory of God. By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3)

 

The wages of sin is death. The LAW is: you get what you deserve. Our labors bring the payment. The payment for our sin is death. Sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1) The LAW shows our sin and God's anger. The preaching of the LAW calls sinners to repentance. Repent…that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3)

 

The GOSPEL is ALL GIFT. Jesus comes down out of heaven to save sinners. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1) The GOSPEL teaches us what God has done and still does for us by His Grace. The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1)

 

God so loved you that He has gifted you His only Son. Jesus comes to stand in the place of sinners as our substitute. Jesus loves God and His neighbor perfectly. We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5) Jesus stands in the place of sinners under the wrath of God for all our LAW breaking. JESUS takes the punishment for all our sin. Christ crucified.

 

For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5)

 

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (2 Corinthians 9)

 

GOSPEL Good News – Jesus has bled, Jesus has died, Jesus has risen from the dead. Good News – JESUS has done it all for you! Salvation is a gift full and free in the Gospel preached to you. For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works. (Ephesians 2)

 

The Holy Spirit is at work on sinners by the power of the Word of God. Both LAW & GOSPEL. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10)

 

Receiving GIFTS is a GREAT JOY. No need to wake up children on Christmas morning to receive gifts. Sunday morning is time for God's Baptized Children to gather around our Risen Lord Jesus. The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1)

 

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2)

 

Christians happy hearing God’s Word of LAW & GOSPEL. REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS ALL FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

 

The Gifts Christ Freely Gives  LSB 602:1

The gifts Christ freely gives

He gives to you and me

To be His Church, His bride,

His chosen, saved and free!

Saints blest with these rich gifts

Are children who proclaim

That they were won by Christ

And cling to His strong name.

Details

Published: 16 October 2019 16 October 2019

Last Updated: 16 October 2019 16 October 2019

Firstfruits

A Message from Pastor Hale

I was recently told how to use my bank’s bill pay service to send a monthly offering check to Zion automatically. Because of this I don't have to write a physical check and remember to put it in the offering anymore (Sundays are busy, of course, with a lot to do). It removes the necessity of trying to remember this monthly duty and makes it an easy task to plan out our family’s regular giving. But perhaps the best thing about it is that this regular gift comes out first, regardless of all the others ways that money could be spent. I can report it has been working flawlessly for us the last few months. I get an email reminder when the check is made and mailed to Zion by my bank, but it has been completely automatic and hassle-free.

 

While Christians are not bound to Jewish ceremonial customs, like the tithe, faithful, mature Christians choose to be generous in supporting God’s Word and His public ministers of the Word. And should God get the leftovers—the change and spare dollars we have in our wallet or purse, after the “important stuff” is bought? By no means. Does giving to God’s house get left out due to bad, icy roads, vacation travel, or sickness? Very often it does, due to not planning ahead and making generous giving a regular discipline.

 

Giving does not make one Christian, but a Christian must discipline his flesh and control his sinful nature, which does not love God. So we should not expect ourselves to be automatically generous and to give faithfully, without some effort, intention, or discomfort. The flesh does not cooperate with the Holy Spirit. We must resist the flesh, which has all kinds of selfish ways to employ time and money. But we are simply stewards for the Lord, who must give an account for our actions. We are not baptized to be foolish, lazy, and ungenerous. People who say, “I have faith, I’m baptized, so I don’t need to go to church or give to support my congregation regularly,” are testing God and not following the Spirit’s direction. This is very dangerous to faith itself. We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit, given to us to produce the fruit of good works.

 

God does not want giving to be accidental or randomly spontaneous: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion” (2 Cor. 9:7). This conscious decision is to be made in the mind, which is renewed by the Word. The flesh wants to “wing it” and do whatever feels good in the moment. But without some choice and decision no one would be regular at church or read God’s Word. The flesh will not naturally follow God’s will—instead, it resists it. So we must control it and make some effort to do what is God-pleasing. And doing good will also mean some planning and sacrifice.

 

If we spend more on eating out, gourmet coffee, or entertainment than we give monthly to church, aren’t we signaling our priorities? Let us make a good confession by being intentionally generous. You can’t get closer to God by what you do, but good Christian discipline helps restrain the flesh and its desires. We are to be self-controlled and wise with what we are blessed, not ruled by our passions and a slave to the moment. Christian giving should be intentional, not accidental. One’s congregational offering is not a bill under some sort of legal obligation, but Christian giving is more significant and should come before all earthly invoices and responsibilities. It supports the preaching of the Word of Christ, which gives eternal life. It should rightly be viewed as more important and significant than water, electricity, or natural gas and put in first place in one’s life. Our Lord does not just want to be first in our heart, He also calls us to live a holy life in our deeds to Him.

 

Of course, to decide to give a fixed amount regularly limits future options. To have your bank send a check automatically to your church, that is a percentage of your income, rules out doing some things that could be fun and opportunities that might come up at the last moment. But we are not to be tossed to and fro by new, exciting things. We are to be content with what we have, since the Lord is the one who gives us our daily bread. Consider what Christ as done for you, and all the spiritual gifts you have in the Gospel. That is why, “if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6:8). There is no true spiritual generosity without Christ and His forgiveness of sins, which renews a person by the Spirit.

 

To give first is different than just seeing how much is left over, after living selfishly for yourself. The Jews were required to give firstfruits (the very first portion of their crops and income) as offerings and sacrifices to the Lord, signaling that all belongs to the Lord and that He alone deserves the first of what we are given, not the last leftover bits (see, for example, Deut. 23:1-3). Firstfruits were to be given in faith, believing that God, who owns all, will supply all needs. It was meant to be an act of faith.

 

While we are not under the Jewish obligation to give a certain percentage of our income, we are to see God in the same light of faith and not worship unrighteousness mammon, thinking it sustains our life and comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ is to be first in all things. Those blessed materially in this age “are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Tim 6:18-19). Christian giving, that pleases our Father in heaven, is done in thanksgiving for what Christ has already done for us.

 

Giving seems like a worthless and pointless activity to the unbeliever. It looks like self-inflicted pain. But Christians are to live to please their Father in heaven, not themselves. And He gives promises to us that He will reward the generous. “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed” (Pr. 19:17). Giving to support the preaching of the Gospel is not like paying taxes, since we are not free to ignore Caesar. Generosity, in however we give, is to be of love, motivated by Christ. Paul urged the Corinthians to give, but not reluctantly or under compulsion: “So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:5-6). Do you want to reap more, then you must sow and plant more! God multiplies the seed and causes it to be fruitful, according to His wisdom and generosity. We are called to trust His good will in Christ.

 

Trust the Lord and listen to Him. Your reward is safe in heaven. On the other hand, you can’t take any earthly goods with you when you leave this world. You are not to give out of fearful obligation, dread, or guilt, but love for all our Lord Jesus has done for us. We give and help others because He first loved us. “The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives” (Psalm 37:21).

 

We can be generous, because we have the Lord’s promise and do not have to depend on our own strength or resources to survive and scrape by. On the contrary, glory awaits you in faith: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:20-24). Christ is our firstfruits when it comes to death and life. Resurrection glory has been assured us in Jesus’ rising, so we are rich in God, free to be generous with all which the Lord has blessed us. Christ’s death and resurrection is the pattern for every believer. The firstfruits is significant—it determines how we view the rest. Amen.

Details

Published: 22 September 2019 22 September 2019

Last Updated: 22 September 2019 22 September 2019

Zion's Updated Communion Announcement

A Message from Pastor Hale

After running very low on our printed attendance cards recently, Pastor Berndt and I, with the help of the elders, took the opportunity, as we must order new cards, to fine-tune Zion’s Communion policy. While our practice and who is invited to Communion is not changing, this gives an opportunity to be more clear and upfront with visitors and prospective members. It also gives us the occasion to discuss the practical issue of how to talk to visitors and family who are not versed with our doctrine and practice – and may have never even heard of such a thing as “closed communion.”

We live in an inclusive (at least in theory) society. No one is excluded based on personal beliefs, actions, or characteristics. So many people can be downright stupefied that a church would not offer a gift from Christ (the Lord’s Supper) to all. But we are not discussing donuts or breakfast pizza between the services. We show hospitality to all, when it comes to human things that do not compromise the revealed teachings that Christ Himself gave us. We can be as loving and generous as possible when it comes to giving out earthly food. As pastors, we can pray with and visit anyone, even if they have no church or professed religious belief. We would, however, be respectful of those under another’s pastoral care. But Christian love reigns in human things, as long as good order and unity in Jesus are not sacrificed.

So what makes Communion different? That is a very divisive question within Christianity. Historically, before the days of the Reformation, it was universally confessed that the bread and wine of the Supper is Christ’s actual body and blood. This is what the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches still hold, as do we. But right after Martin Luther, many teachers and churches said that Luther did not go far enough in reforming. Almost out of spite, and in an unchristian reaction to the Roman church, false prophets denied what is a truly universal, Scriptural teaching – that Christ was serious when He instituted Communion on the night that He was betrayed. These various teachers became the forefathers of the protestant/ reformed/evangelical churches we have around us today. They have a radically different view of what Communion is, opposing not only Lutherans, but all of historic Christianity. They deny Christ’s actual words: “Take, eat; this is My body… Drink of it all of you; this cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins.” It becomes to them merely a symbol or reminder, and therefore, just an earthly meal.

A characteristic understanding of most all generic Protestant churches is that Holy Communion is not Christ’s real body and blood for all who commune. Some talk in the traditional language, and it may sound compatible with Lutheran teaching, but when the rubber meets the road it is offensive to most of them that the unbeliever would also receive Christ's body and blood, along with the believer. Faith and what the person is and does, not Christ’s Word, are the main thing for them. So the question of what the unbeliever receives became the litmus test for determining who has the right understanding of the Supper. The unbeliever also receives Christ’s body and blood, though not for forgiveness, but to his condemnation (1 Cor. 11).

If the Supper is not Christ’s body and blood for all who receive it, then the visible elements are not the main concern. Sure, many churches speak of God’s action surrounding or as being simultaneous with the reception of Communion, but the Supper alone is not the sole cause of forgiveness and the Spirit’s work. Usually faith or remembrance – what man does – is the focus for churches who deny Christ’s body and blood in this meal.

If the Supper is not holy in itself – actually distributing Christ’s body and blood to all – in the eyes of many churches, we should expect them to have differing views of who may receive the supper. And they do. If it is not anything for all who receive, it is nothing in itself. It cannot hurt, the deniers of Communion think, though with faith it may help. But this assumption goes against Scripture: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11). The Supper always does something, because it is not just a human meal. Therefore, it is not ours to offer as we see fit – we must answer to Christ in how and to whom it is served. We must not treat as common what is holy. Those churches that confess the Lord’s Supper as truly Christ’s body and blood, by virtue of Christ’s all-powerful Word, will take who can publicly receive it together very seriously. All churches affirming this truth historically have also practiced closed Communion – it is not open to all Christians. Why is it not just a personal matter for each person to decide whether they wish to receive it or not? Because Communion is not a private ritual, it is a public act, administered by publicly called ministers. It is not something Christians do at home in their basement, rather it is a communal meal received in common, hence the name “Communion.” We share something in common (Christ’s body and blood) when we take the bread and wine. This is also a public act, so it matters with whom we take it. Very few Christians would want to take Communion with a Jew, Muslim, or Atheist that denies that Jesus is the Son of God. But some supposedly Christian churches allow and celebrate unity in receiving communion with such people. They blaspheme Christ and make a mockery of Christ’s holy Supper. But how much division does Christ tolerate in this meal in which He offers Himself?

Christ is not divided – He is one. But actual Christians here on earth are divided in what they say and confess about Christ, unfortunately. Yet Communion is more than the strengthening of personal faith – it says something to take Christ in common with others. In communing together, we are making a statement about the content of our faith (the teaching of Christ), not just our personal faith. Scripture says that communing without thinking of or preserving unity in Christ is not really the Lord’s Supper: “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal” (1 Cor. 11).

On the positive side, we are also told in 1 Cor. 10: “I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” We demonstrate our unity with each other when we receive the one Christ in His body which was given unto death and His blood which was shed for us. So Lutherans have always seen Communion as the highest form of fellowship, which expresses unity in the things of Christ.

But where there is not unity in the teaching of Christ, we should not say or pretend there is. And since we do not judge the hearts of people, nor personal faith (which we cannot see or judge), we must go on one’s public confession or statement. How do we know what a Christian stands for and what teaching he approves of? Must we administer a lengthy theological test on all aspects of the Christian faith before Communing with someone? No, church membership is a simple and quick way to signal our beliefs. It says to the world what we believe. Though of course there will be hypocrites, we expect and assume that all people agree with what their church teaches. A person who disagrees with his own church is inconsistent – and is really saying two different things about the one Christ. May that not be among God’s children! So our closed communion policy is not about us or our personal relationships, it is about Christ and His teaching. Fellowship is not determined by laypeople or pastors. It is done at the church level – for us by the official representatives of our synod. And so membership is not merely a human thing, it is divine, insofar as it expresses what we confess about Christ. It is shorthand to refer to what is taught in our churches and how the Lord’s sacraments are distributed.

C.F.W. Walther, the first president of our synod, taught that Communion fellowship is Church fellowship – and vice versa. This means that to take Communion at an altar is to make the teaching of that church one’s own, just like membership expresses. It is not just a statement about your beliefs on the Supper by itself (though it includes that too). Communing with other Christians publicly is a public statement about Christ – and we know believers by their teaching and fruit. We cannot judge people’s hearts and minds – God does – but we are told to judge others’ teaching: “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting” (2 Jn.). To love the truth of God more than human acceptance is obedience to Christ.

Our new Communion statement also positively states that no one is excluded from the possibility of communing. Thanks be to God, one’s beliefs and confession can improve and be corrected by God’s Word. So we want all who desire to receive Christ’s body and blood with us to have the opportunity to do it in a way that is God-pleasing and based on God’s Word, not merely human emotion. Only instruction in the Word, which is free of charge, and membership, where one says that our church’s teaching is his own, is needed. But remember, unity is not about our action or attracting, it is God the Spirit’s work to teach, convict, and move one to confess Jesus as Lord and His Word as true. So this unity in Christ is precious and well worth safeguarding among us. It is out of love for Christ and His Gospel, not intolerance or hate, that motivates genuine Lutherans to preserve Christ’s Supper and the unity it professes.

It is Christ’s will that we be united, but a unity apart from, or in place of, God’s Son who died and rose, is not a real unity. We rejoice that we have Christ’s Holy Supper and it remains His. It not only signals unity among us, but fosters such unity by the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. Our Lord invites sinners to Him and would have us receive His Supper according to His Word and our public confession of Jesus. Amen.

Zion’s Communion Statement:

Because communing together in the Holy Supper of Christ’s body and blood presupposes unity in Christ’s doctrine, we cannot invite all guests to the Lord’s Table. Only members in good standing of a church in official fellowship with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod are invited to commune at this altar.

Those who eat and drink our Lord’s body and blood unworthily do so to their great harm. Holy Communion is also a confession of the faith which is confessed at this altar Any who are not yet instructed, in doubt, or who hold a confession or membership differing from that of this congregation and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod are asked not to commune with us until instruction can take place and your confession in God’s Word fully matches our teaching and practice. Please speak with a pastor or elder if you have questions or would like to find out more about the path to communion fellowship with Zion.

Details

Published: 11 September 2019 11 September 2019

Last Updated: 11 September 2019 11 September 2019

Review of "The Path to Understanding Justification"

A Message from Pastor Hale

Justification, God’s declaration of sinful man to be righteous on account of Christ, has always been a central topic of Lutheranism. Justification through faith in Christ, as opposed to man’s works, was a stirring refrain of the Reformation. However, in the last century and a half there has been a new debate over the cause of man’s justification before God within Lutheran circles. It precedes the issue of faith versus works, portraying how Christ’s work activated and brought forgiveness to mankind. This is a needed doctrinal emphasis, since “faith” is often considered a worthy, active power meriting salvation within modern Christianity. This wrong view of faith within Protestantism has become just as dangerous to justification and prevalent as works-righteousness within the Roman church.

What is termed “objective justification,” that is, the basis for personal justification by faith, has divided modern Lutherans off and on at various times, but especially this decade. Put another way, objective justification is not another sort of justification apart from faith, but brackets off faith doctrinally to look at the foundation for justification – what brings about Christ’s righteousness that is applied to man. This world reconciliation is considered from God’s side, apart from man’s response. It highlights the objective power of the Gospel and the cause of the forgiveness of sins, regardless of whether one believes or disbelieves the Gospel of Christ preached in time. Objective justification, properly understood, does not deny that God declares sinners righteous in Christ through faith, but highlights that justification depends in no way on man or his faith, but solely on Christ Jesus. Indeed, it is this prior, existing righteousness that the reconciled God offers to the world, and which comes in the Gospel, upon which faith feeds and lives. The increased emphasis on the objective side of justification is necessary because faith is actually a preeminent work for many Christians today that earns and deserves forgiveness from God, eclipsing entirely what Christ did in dying and rising from the dead. The teaching of objective justification preserves the universal character of the Gospel of forgiveness which Scripture presents.

In The Path to Understanding Justification, Gregory L. Jackson continues what seems to be his singular mission in life – that of trying to convince basically all of American Lutheranism that they have been wrong on justification for at least 150 years. Though he once published in support of objective justification in an early writing (the first edition of Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant), he is now convinced that it is the greatest error possible in doctrine today. According to Jackson, it bridges the conservative–liberal divide by including: the “ELCA,” “LCMS – Concordia Publishing House, Higher Things, both seminaries, Christian News,” “All the mainline, apostate denominations,” “The Evangelical Lutheran Synod [ELS],” “WELS,” “The Church of the Lutheran Confession [CLC]”, and “Francis Pieper and his acolytes” (8). Jackson is brutally direct, inflammatory, and takes his status as an “independent Lutheran” seriously.

However, simply put, Jackson is wrong. His argument is actually not theological, but instead evolutionary. He traces the history of this supposed error (objective justification) through different historical periods and theological schools, as if it were a virus infecting people genetically within institutions. “The great and wise Pietists and Rationalists, even since Halle University’s F. Schleiermacher [1768–1834], have defined Justification as God declares the entire world forgiven and saved, apart from faith” (8). But even on the historical side, Jackson is in error.

Most conservative Lutheran churches in America have confessed that Christ’s righteousness avails for the world, since justification depends on His finished work, not the presence of faith in the individual. But the church bodies that denounced the Synodical Conference (the WELS and LCMS) on objective justification in the 19th and 20th centuries (such as the Augustana Synod, and later, the Iowa and Ohio synods) ended up merging into what eventually became the liberal ELCA. It was the doctrinally flimsy Lutheran churches that thought objective justification was offensive to reason and piety. Furthermore, there has even been a divergence in how this teaching is applied in the parties that hold that the world was absolved in our Lord when He rose from the dead. Since the early 19th century, specifically, several theologians at the WELS Wauwatosa seminary, certain elements of WELS and ELS have applied this teaching of world-forgiveness to specific individuals who are outside of Christ, that is, faith. The LCMS for the most part did not do so, but left this world-forgiveness generic, saying that the world as a whole, or unit, was absolved in Christ's resurrection, as Scripture does – not particular individuals outside of Christ (faith). So, not all who uphold the term or concept of “objective justification” fully agree. This 20th century development and the theological nuances of this issue are detailed much further in my 2019 book Aspects of Forgiveness: The Basis for Justification and its Modern Denial.

The conflict over objective justification has been purposely made vague and confused by its deniers. The real argument is not over human words, as if we need perfect, heavenly terms to speak the truth of God. Instead, at the core of this debate is whether Christ’s finished redemptive work is the cause of the forgiveness applied in justification or faith in man activates Christ’s righteousness. The main issue has not been elucidated in The Path to Understanding Justification. It includes many Bible passages (even some in Greek), but does not honestly show what his opposition (all of Lutheranism) actually believes. Instead, Jackson chases lines of endless theological genealogy and casts odd insults without helping lead anyone to understanding.

What is the main issue, according to Jackson? He accuses most modern Lutherans of universalism – that all are saved, regardless of faith or belief. But this is not the position of those he attacks. He provides no citations or quotes to buttress his argument. In his mind, it is the inevitable logical conclusion. But Scripture’s words establish true Lutheran doctrine, not what we think a doctrine must lead to or imply. Surely over hundreds of years of this “error” and thousands of pastors being taught this he can quote one seemingly orthodox man who simply says that because of Christ’s righteousness being won for the entire world, all people are automatically saved by this world-forgiveness without faith. But he cannot seem to find in practice what he accuses so many of. Instead, like the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA), a small church body who has similarly aligned themselves against all of North American Lutheranism on justification, Jackson delights to single out Samuel Huber [1547–1624], a minor, long dead errorist, who is inconsequential to the real debate.

Jackson’s foundational premise is flawed. He thinks “justification by faith,” as a slogan or summary formula, is the only way to talk about justification. A justification without mentioning faith must be a personal justification leading to salvation without faith, in his view. But justification in Scripture, according to its root, deals with righteousness. Objective justification is not the full picture of justification or some kind of blatant universalism. It merely highlights what the Gospel and Christ’s righteousness is, before faith and preaching come into the picture. It describes and upholds the universality of the Gospel, which is not dependent on whether man believes it. This is a very practical issue. If personal faith actually completes forgiveness, then the true Gospel must not (and cannot) be spoken to one who does not believe. If objective justification is denied, then the Gospel becomes a conditional statement demanding a work of faith: “If you believe, then you will be justified.” But the Gospel itself is unconditional forgiveness to the world, and though it is only personally received in faith, it has been earned by Christ for the world. “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5:18). The forgiveness of all sin for all mankind is complete and accomplished in Christ. This truth establishes the power and sufficiency of the Gospel to create the Church on earth.

We do not say Christ died for only some (the error of Calvinism), nor do we say our Lord assumed human flesh only for the elect. The critical issue in making the Gospel truly good news is: who was Christ raised for? Rom. 4:24-25 states that Christ “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” There is a biblical parallel between Christ’s death and His resurrection. His death was for the world, as also, in some sense, was His rising from the dead. While Rom. 4 and many other parts of Scripture connect justification to faith, it does not always do so. This is because justification is only received in faith, but it does not depend on faith. It is complete and whole in Christ. The real issue is Christ’s work, the source of the righteousness received in personal justification. Is it complete, and forgiveness truly valid for all mankind, because of what Christ did in the flesh? Or is the free forgiveness of sins something that is illusionary, until the ingredient of faith is added and makes what Christ did in His body truly effective? The latter is the error of much of general Protestantism, implying that forgiveness is something that is brought about or completed by the act of faith. Personal faith becomes more important than Christ. “Objective justification” is not a necessary term, but it has been helpfully used by many to highlight the source of our righteousness and the power inherent in the Gospel.

The proof text for this teaching is 2 Cor. 5: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (18-21). God has reconciled the world in its entirety through Christ, meaning its status has changed to God the Father. But that does not mean every sinner is ok and does not need to hear the Gospel or repent – quite the contrary. Because of Christ’s completed work of appeasing God’s wrath and His resurrection to life in mankind’s stead, the Gospel must go out to all, so that Christ’s presently available righteousness is applied to individuals. This happens through “the message of reconciliation,” which is a universal message of forgiveness to the whole world. The preaching of Christ does not bring about forgiveness in believers when faith is added, since the Gospel itself is the actual forgiveness of sins offered to all humanity.

The Gospel is empowered and valid because of what Christ has already done in defeating sin and rising to life for all. It does not depend on whether a particular hearer accepts the message or not. But Jackson says we cannot take a few individual Bible verses too seriously: “The sectarian approach is to isolate a verse, part of a verse, or a few verses to shape their little group, to the exclusion of the rest of the Scriptures” (43). Much like ELDoNA, Jackson cannot fit this universal nature of the Gospel into his rational scheme. Since it does not fit logically, it must be the error of universalism. But true Lutherans uphold the unity of God’s Word in all its verses. We must hold together, and not assume a contradiction, the twin truths that a person is justified by Christ in faith and also the biblical truth that righteousness has come to mankind in Christ. This justification of the world is not outside of Christ, but comes in His Gospel. This confession of the objective nature of the Gospel allows forgiveness to be spoken to all, so that faith is created and sinners justified. It is the greatest comfort to know that the forgiveness of my sin does not depend on my faith or reaction to the Gospel, but Christ alone. It is because its power does not depend on man’s response, that it saves poor, wretched sinners who cannot stop sinning against their God on their own. This objective side of justification does not dull the need for sinners to actually hear the Gospel, nor the demand to stop sinning and repent of deadly sins.

While “justification by faith” can be understood correctly, as a simplistic slogan it is not the full picture of justification because it does not even mention Christ! And our Lord who died, and did not stay dead, is the source of all justification. Forgiveness is not won or created within the believer when faith comes, instead the sinner is made alive by the Spirit in the external Word, so that he believes in the objective righteousness of Christ that exists for the entire world. Forgiveness, Christ’s righteousness, and real absolution for all sinners must precede faith in that same forgiveness. The failure of Jackson to address the real concerns of the proponents of objective justification makes his writing most unprofitable and The Path to Understanding Justification a path not worth taking.

Details

Published: 11 September 2019 11 September 2019

Last Updated: 11 September 2019 11 September 2019

Pastor's Pen 09/05/2019

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122)

In Name + of Jesus. Amen. Glad to go to church? Really? Pull over the covers, hit the snooze, sleep in, it is the weekend. It is football season. Glad to go to church? Indeed you are – for you are the NEW creation in Christ.

The 3rd Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.

Gladly hear and learn the Word of God. What is it that Holies the Sabbath Day? The Word of God. Go to church! Sinners get to go to hear the proclamation of the Gospel! We get to confess our sins to the Lord (1 John 1). I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15)

Repenting of our sin and turning to Jesus in faith, our sins are forgiven. Rejoicing in Christ mercy. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51)

O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. (Psalm 26) The House of God is WHERE the Lord gives out His gifts. In Church we see the FOUNT OF MERCY. Where the flood of forgiveness never runs out.

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6)

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12)

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6)

Walking by the Spirit you live the sanctified life. Fighting against your sin. (Repenting). The fruit of repentance is to live by faith. To love God and serve your neighbor. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6)

God’s Word is the power for you to live the sanctified life. Living selflessly, giving yourself to serve one another. God’s Word fills you with peace and mercy all for the sake of Christ. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4)

You shall love your neighbor as yourself…..the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5)

Entering the House of the Lord with gladness because Jesus is here. Christ is in His Word. We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10)

Jesus is here with His good gifts of life and salvation overflowing through His Holy Word and His Blessed Sacraments. Gladly we enter the Lord's House at His invitation. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100)

Details

Published: 07 September 2019 07 September 2019

Last Updated: 07 September 2019 07 September 2019

Pastor's Pen 08/21/2019

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matthew 3) John is the Voice in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. Preaching God's Holy Law. Repent of your sin. Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. (Mark 6)

BUT there was something Herod loved more than the Word of God. Herod loved his sin. He refused to repent. I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. (John 8)

It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. (Mark 6) Preaching has a goal. That sinners REPENT! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6)

By the Holy Spirit's power God gifts to you REPENTANCE. The Lord is working through His Word on you. Repenting you. Herod attempts to silence the Word of God by having John the Baptist beheaded. It does NOT work. The Word of God remains forever. Jesus preaches: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1)

The Lord has sent you your Pastors. The Pastor’s job is to preach the Word of God. Law and Gospel. Calling sinners to repentance. To speak the truth in love to sinners. How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? How are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10)

By the Holy Spirit's power you repent. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. (2 Corinthians 7) There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15)

Rejoice in hearing the call to repentance. Jesus took the wrath of God for all your sins on Good Friday's Tree. In Jesus’ death and resurrection your sins are forgiven. You are the Lord’s Baptized Children. To live a life of repentance. Turning in faith to Christ for forgiveness. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1)

Repent and be forgiven. Confession and Absolution. Rejoice in God's Word reigning in your ears and hearts. The Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

 

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered…

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32)

Details

Published: 07 September 2019 07 September 2019

Last Updated: 07 September 2019 07 September 2019