Victory and Spoil from the Stronger Man: Thoughts on Lent 3

In Judges 14, Samson, that strong nazarite hero of God, went out to find for himself a bride. Along the way, he was met by a ferocious young lion, prowling around seeking someone to devour. By the power of the Holy Spirit which had come upon him, Sampson, with his bare hands, ripped the lion apart.

Having found his bride, he passed by the carcass of the lion a few days later. There he found it swarming with bees and laden with sweet honey. Thus he composed this little riddle: “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet” (Judges 14:14).

Just as Sampson had to first overcome a roaring, threatening lion before he could get his bride, so also Christ our Lord, the Stronger Man, the Nazarene hero sent by God into the flesh, had to overcome the hellish lion, the devil, who prowls around seeking to devour sinners, in order to gather His Bride, the Church. And from this victory comes the food of our salvation, the sweet taste of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life (Gerhard, Postilla, Vol. 1, 241).

Jesus Christ is the Stronger Man who entered the strong man's house and overcame him. And overcoming Him, He divides the spoils. He gives to us the spoils of His victory over sin, death, and the devil. For Jesus came into the flesh, was born of a woman under the law in order to redeem those under the law. He came to die on the cross so that in His death, death would be put to death, and in His resurrection, life would reign in victory. He came to bear our sin, for He who knew no sin became sin for us. In His baptism, He stood in the place of sinners, so that in our baptism, we sinners would stand in the place of Christ. For all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have put on Christ. You are a new creation in Him. All He is and has belongs to you--His righteousness, His purity, His holiness, His life--because all that you are and have belongs to Him--your sin, your impurity, your death. All this is yours in Christ through Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Holy Communion.

The devil and his demons have no sway over you because you have been cleansed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God given in speech and action, in Word and Sacrament. They go running away, they flee and are driven out by the Word of God spoken and enacted in Word and Sacrament. "For this reason alone you ought to read, speak, think, and use [God's Word and His Sacraments], even if you had no other profit from them than driving away the devil and evil thoughts . . . . For [the devil and his minions] cannot hear or endure God's Word. God's Word is not like some other silly babbling [that we hear on television, the radio, or the news]. But as St. Paul says in Romans 1:16, it is 'the power of God.' Yes indeed, it is the power of God that gives the devil burning pain and strengthens, comforts, and helps us beyond measure" (LC, Preface, 11).

But we receive far more than this by means of the Word and the Sacraments. We receive the very life and righteousness of Christ Himself. By these things, we are reconciled to God the Father, we receive our place as His children, and we have the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. All that belongs to Him is ours because we belong to Him.

And yet we do not prize these gifts that God out of His love and mercy has given to us as we ought. We despise them. It's not that we hate them. But we do not give them the honor they are due. We treat them as insignificant and unimportant. Like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, we grumble. We do not look forward to hearing God's Word. We get bored in church. We get bored with our prayers. We get bored with reading and delving into the Word of God, the history of our salvation. And so we put off the things of God until all other things are done. We don't put Him first. We put Him last, after sports and exercise, after work and school, after running to this event or that event, after all the things that we think are really important, then we will focus on the things of God. And what usually happens is that we end up devoting no time to them at all. We crowd God out of our schedules. We cut ourselves off from the very thing that gives us life. Repent.

Jesus said, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." That is, whoever is not where Jesus has promised to be, where Jesus has promised to give His gifts, is against Him and scatters. And when we do that, we leave ourselves, our bodies and souls, clean and ready for the unclean spirits to return with his friends. And the last state is worse than the first.

The unclean spirits must be replaced with the Holy Spirit. And those who have the Holy Spirit hear the Word of God and keep it and are thereby blessed.  Blessed are those whose wickedness has been covered and sins have been forgiven. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Blessed are those who take hold of God's Word and Deeds by faith and never let go. Blessed are those who guard and cherish the gifts of God in His Word and Sacraments.

You are such people. For though you have not loved and cherished the things of God as you ought, you have also confessed this as sin. You repent of it. You are not a hypocrite. You have not claimed to be anything other than a sinner forgiven by the grace and mercy of God in Christ. Thus, you hear the Word of God and keep it. That is not to say that you obey it perfectly, for you don't. We are sinners. No, you hear the word of God and keep it. That is to say, you cling to it, you believe it, you trust it, and you hope in it because it is your life and your salvation. It drives away demons. It slays your sinful flesh. It forgives your sins. And it tells you not only of your history, but also of your future: eternal life for heaven is your home. 

On the abdication of the Bishop of Rome

A very thoughtful piece by Prof. Stephenson. We are not likely to see another pope with such a great understanding of and appreciation for the Lutheran confession. For our part Ratzinger's greatest legacy must surely be the promise of dialogue with specifically confessional Lutherans. What will come of it, God only knows - but how refreshing it is for Rome to recognize that there are Lutherans-who-have-abandoned-their-ancient-confession) and then again there are just plain Lutherans.

+HRC

Around the Word Journal

Here is a little blurb Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller sent me:

"Brothers,

Thanks again for all your work on this project. We're hearing a lot of great feedback, how the journal and your articles in it have been helpful to the people reading it. 

If you would like to help publicize the journal in your congregation, here's an announcement. You should put yourself in there. Thanks!

Around the Word is a new theological journal for the curious Christian. With articles ranging from “Sanctification and Suffering” to a review of Les Mes, there is something in these 108 pages for everyone (including an article from our own Pastor *** on *****). Three months of devotions also help gather our families around the Word. ($5 for the electronic version, print on demand is also available.) Check it out at www.aroundthewordjournal.com.

Thanks again, 

Bryan"

Wolflmueller sent it to me because Around the Word reprinted an article I wrote for Gottesdienst in 2006. 

At first glance, this is quite an impressive endeavor. It is available as a .pdf for a mere $5 is 108 pages long. If you don't want to print it yourself, you can buy a print on demand copy and have it sent to you, but I don't know what that costs and am not going to look it up, because, frankly, while it is nice of them to offer that, I can't imagine anyone doing it.

The .pdf is beautifully done. The graphics and text are appealing but the emphasis is clearly on the words. I am printing it out right now, black and white, double sided, stapled. I have a pretty fancy copy machine / printer here at Church. It was too big for the machine to handle as a single document. So the last 10 pages were stapled separately. But I could have just printed the pages I wanted. I can also cut and paste if I want to quote and cite anything.

On second glance, this thing is still impressive. It contains five articles and sixteen features it calls "in every issue." I think the rest of us would call those "columns." I don't know, however, if they're really columns. Some of them don't seem like they are wide enough to be explored indefinitely. In any case, those 21 features are mostly about 2 pages long and were written by seventeen different authors. One of those features is a book excerpt from Edersheim's The Life and Time of Jesus the Messiah and one was a reprint from Gottesdienst. The other nineteen features appear to have been written for Around the Word, or, at least, never printed before. The last significant piece is three months of devotions and some Bible chart stuff.

The list of authors looks a lot like the contributor's list for Theology is Eminently Practical: Essays in Honor of John T. Pless. (available here: http://www.lutheranlegacy.org/publications/Pless.aspx). Beyond Wolfmueller, whose fingerprints are everywhere, the authors include: Geoff Boyle, David Petersen, Jonathan Fisk, Brian Kachelmeier, Mark Taylor, Eric Andersen, Scott Diekmann, Jacob Corzine, Jared Melius, Eric Andersen, Timothy Koch, Alred Edersheim, Sarah Ludwig, Bror Erickson, Hans Fiene, and Warren Graff. Besides the fact that these are all Wolfmueller's drinking buddies, I think all the pastors except Graff and Fisk are Ft. Wayne grads. Graff, Diekmann, and I are probably the only ones over 40. This is no criticism. I know most of these guys and am glad to see them writing. In interest of full disclosure, I think I see a few of my fingerprints here and there also. I am about 95% certain Melius is quoting, in part, one of my sermons, whether he realizes it or not. So it is possible that I am a bit biased, still, I think Wolfmueller's drinking buddies are pretty talented and I am glad to listen to them and hope they keep it up, the writing, that is, not the drinking.

The devotions are surprisingly nice given the fact that they are devotions. I have to admit that I ruined family devotions at my house. We were raised on Portals of Prayer. I tried to switch to the Treasury of Daily Prayer because I thought I wanted something meatier. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I don't know,  but the Treasury readings were too long for my weak-minded family gathered around the dirty dishes after dinner. Wolfmueller has provided a very workable and sustainable model for family devotions and I am eager to put them to use. The structure is simple but deep, built for children and chaos, but still satisfying. The short devotional part is probably shorter than Portals but that is simply because it is all meat - not stories or applications or long metaphors. He gets right to the point. I think these devotions, which, by the way are written by another dozen of Woflmueller's buddies not listed earlier, are really a gem. The charts and such are nice also. I am not too into those things but a lot of people are and I think they will be well-liked by the laity.

Seriously: this thing is very impressive. There just isn't any other word to describe it. You should buy it. It is only $5! It is 108 pages for $5. That is an incredible bargain. It is very accessible, easy to follow and understand by teen-agers and the laity, and yet, it has real depth. Pastors should promote it in their congregations.

And writers should submit stuff to Wolfmueller. He will be needing material, if he doesn't already. I like that he is spotlighting the next generation, but I don't think that should keep old guys from writing. What sort of stuff? Based on this first issue, I'd say he likes history stuff. He likes things like "Who is Bo Giertz?" or selections from Edersheim. He likes the sorts of things that could show up in a really well crafted Church newsletter on hymns, Bible stories, or contemporary issues. He also likes some light research stuff on theological topics. It is, after all, huge. There is lots of room for your stuff.

So follow the link with credit card in hand and plop down your $5 and then get to writing. www.aroundthewordjournal.com.

P.S. If you don't know about these printable, customized Baptism and Confirmation certificates from Wolfmueller, you should: http://www.wolfsoncreative.com/

A Little Perspective: A Tale of Two Seminaries...

... or ELCA vs. LCMS

by Larry Beane

As members of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, many of us offer well-deserved critiques of our church body and its institutions.  But it is easy to lose perspective.  There is still a great deal to be grateful for within the LCMS - especially when it comes to our formation of pastors through our seminaries.

But a couple videos for prospective seminarians make the point...

ELCA Seminary:


Note: Neither Gottesdienst nor its editors are liable for head explosions or projectile vomiting that the viewer may experience

... followed by the (Deo gratias)  eye-bleach:

LCMS Seminary:


Note: this video is actually from about 1998 and reflects the thinking of that time that there was an impending clergy shortage

I understand that the Chicago seminary is resorting to humor as a recruitment tool, and I'm not arguing that there are no serious pastors or theologians there, either on the faculty or in the student body.  Nevertheless, I think the contrast speaks volumes - especially in the kind of students being sought and the way the seminaries see themselves and their place in the Church.  For all of our problems, there is a sense of pastoral formation and a joyful seriousness in our LCMS seminary experience - at least that was my own at Fort Wayne from 2000 to 2004.

There was plenty of laughter and humor, but we took our sense of vocation and the eternal ramifications of what we were being formed into seriously and with a deeply-rooted Christological foundation that I believe is necessary for preparing a man to be a parochial shepherd.

And for that I am grateful to God and to my professors.

If being a clown is your vocation, join the circus.  Or you could attend a seminary like one of the two above and serve accordingly.  Choose wisely.

What sola fide does and does not mean

Another crystal clear statement from Gerhard. For a while back in the late 1990's it was fashionable in some confessional theological circles to say very provocative things about "sanctification by faith alone"or "sanctification is Christ in action,"etc. Whatever valid points the purveyors of these statements were making, I was always leery of them. Justification is by faith alone and we are purely passive, but in sanctification we are active, though in great weakness, in our will and works. Here is a classic statement of this from Gerhard.

Toward the end of this chapter Bellarmine attributes to us that we claim that “the renewal of man takes place through faith alone,” which is clearly false, because regeneration is one thing and renewal another, although they are very closely connected. Regeneration takes place through faith and indeed through faith alone, but renewal includes many more things, namely, the new spiritual impulses kindled in the heart of a person reborn through the Holy Spirit.