True Love

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. -1 John 4:10

There is no true love apart from Christ Jesus. The "love" known and accepted by the world apart from Christ Jesus is false. The world may sing songs of love, and may even band together in a grand display of sweet emotion, but apart from Christ Jesus this love is false. Do not be deceived.

What kind of love is demonstrated by Christ Jesus? A love that forgives sins and iniquities. A love that lays down one's own life for the sake of enemies. It is most keenly demonstrated through His innocent sufferings and death to take away the sin of world. It is the love of God. It is true love. The only true love, from which all other true love is derived.

Do not expect your reason and experience to see it or ferret it out. True love comes from God and is bestowed by Him upon His creation through the same Christ Jesus. You cannot possibly reach up for, or attain to, this love by your own devices. Rather, it rains down abundantly wherever His Word is preached and taught purely. From His Word as it is preached and taught there comes abundant fruit consisting not only of love, but also of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

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So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

While Confirmation is not a sacrament, it is a significant milestone for anyone who partakes of the life of the Church, which is life in the body of Christ, which is eternal life through the forgiveness of sins in His Name.

Confirmation is chiefly an affirmation that the individual Christian has been examined and has exercised the opportunity to confess out loud who God is and what He does. Of course the same thing happens often through Matins, Vespers, Divine Service, and any number of occasions where Christians gather together to hear the Word of God, to pray, and to encourage one another in good works.

Because eternal things are so easily despised, neglected, and forgotten, the Holy Spirit through St. Paul admonishes us to receive a "sound pattern of words," which in turn directs poor sinners to the Word made Flesh, so that our hope is in nothing and no one other than the One true God, who reveals Himself to be merciful not merely in abstract terms, but in Christ Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, and risen as our substitute before God the Father, and who makes intercession for us, having made children out of what, essentially, are stones; who distributes His righteousness and benefits concretely upon the living bodies of poor sinners who once were dead.

Because eternal things are so easily despised, neglected, and forgotten, the Holy Spirit continually impresses them upon Christians from their baptism until their departure from this life, using pastors, teachers, fathers, mothers, fellow Christians, and the gift of memory to encourage and admonish along the way.

The most difficult thing about this Faith is how it is a hidden treasure, despised and unrecognized by the world. This is no surprise, because this is exactly how it has been from the beginning. In due time, however, it will all come to light. For now it is a considerable mess, with many doubting, many falling, many weak, many sick, and many having the appearance of indifference. Since all things came into being out of nothing by virtue of the Word of the LORD, we should not despair when considering how the Church appears in these latter days, but take heart because it is the LORD who speaks and does these things. Amen.

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Where are You?

Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

God approaches fallen man in terms of proximity, space, and physical being, and not merely in terms of philosophy, ideas, or wishful thinking. This is because it is His aim to draw near to us physically, and not merely philosophically or as an idea.

He could have asked Adam, "Why?" Instead it is Adam who, to this day asks, "Why?" "Why is there evil? How could a loving God allow so much suffering in this world? Why did He allow Adam to sin?"

But it has been in the heart of God from the beginning, for the praise of His glory, to work all things through His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

So, when the LORD God asks Adam where He "is," the answer could easily have been given in terms of GPS coordinates, but Adam, out of an ungodly fear, starts making excuses.

It is the same today when ever the holy things of God are brought to bear in the midst of fallen man. He makes excuses, runs away, and hides.

This, however, will not change the heart of God. He continues to speak His Word and will in Christ Jesus, calling you to repentance and faith so that you may be where He is.

For you know that in Christ Jesus the LORD God has drawn as near as possible by becoming bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh, and then bearing in His own physical body the wrath you richly deserve. Therefore you may draw near to Him with a true heart.

The proximity of you to God, and vise versa, is bound up in His preaching to you, and in His administration in these latter days through His Holy Baptism, Holy Supper, and Holy Absolution.

These are not ideas, abstractions, or philosophies, but they bear the very substance of heaven come down to save and bless for all time those who were once enemies of the LORD God. + + +

Even the Crumbs

After the Divine Service this past Sunday I was gently, and rightly, admonished in regard to breaking the Host over the Ciborium after it was consecrated. This admonishment I receive gladly, and can only think it is a lack of comprehension on my part as to how the proper altar manner escaped me (besides that I had never been taught in this specific practice).

The Sacrament of the Altar often does not receive the reverence it deserves. I happen to be an unfortunate example of one who lacks comprehension when it comes to what is truly laid out for mortal flesh to receive thereby, and will remain so unless and until the Lord deals with me in a manner that causes me better to comprehend the breadth and depth of His grace and mercy.

In thinking this through a bit further, it occurred to me that there must be occasions where the Lord’s body and blood are ultimately not consumed. There is absolutely no way to avoid the loss of a small portion of the sacramental elements to the balance of creation – those places where body, soul, and spirit are not present, and thus not in need of the preservation obtained through the forgiveness of sins.

One could think through the Supper as it was instituted and scarcely imagine any of the disciples or the Lord Jesus scrambling to make sure not a single crumb or drop was lost. We do not have a word on that. It is out of a confession that upholds the reality of Who is bodily present that we take care to treat the consecrated elements with the utmost respect and reverence and consume them together as we have been taught from Above.

But when it comes to these tiny portions that are lost, what shall we say?

"Even the crumbs . . . ." Yes, perhaps. Even more, however, this body and blood is not only the subject and object of those who consume it, but also the subject and object of all creation, so that where the Lord’s body and blood are distributed, even if they do not enter into the mouths of mortals, they sanctify those places whereupon they are distributed, whether it be His altar, His sanctuary, or any place where His word of forgiveness is preached and administered. We do not have a word on that, either, but what else could we possibly make of it?

Let these words in no way be understood as license to treat the consecrated elements with any less reverence than they deserve, but let them serve as small comfort for those who administer His gifts with not only fear and trembling, but also a small dose of muddle-headedness.
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The World Accuses Christians

Most often when Christians hear accusations that they do not "love the way Jesus loves" or "act the way Jesus acts," the accusations come from those who are not found where Jesus teaches and preaches the Gospel, namely inside a church sanctuary where His very body and blood are distributed to poor sinners who need it. The accusations of those who refuse to sit at Jesus feet hold no sway, nor will they have effect on the Day of Judgment accept as words by which the accusers themselves will be condemned.

As for their use of Sacred Scripture to accuse those who are within the ark of Christendom, they are little different than howling beasts. Proper accusation originates from a holy God, who demands a love they do not know, because they do not fear, love, or trust in Him. If they did, they would regularly hear His Word and follow Him, abiding in His forgiveness and disciplining every urge that militates against God.

They are invited to the same feast of forgiveness that all Christians participate in, yet the invitation falls on deaf ears, else they would be where Jesus is. The Scriptures remain a closed book to them; therefore, like the devil who tempted Christ in the desert, they cherry pick from the Sacred Scriptures and twist them to suit their pleasures. Rather than accept discipline and rebuke, like fools they carry on in delusions as if love is without discipline.

For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.
For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.
And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.

Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me!
Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation! -Psalm 38:17-22

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Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. - Matthew 9:10

A self-righteous person, when he reads how Jesus dines and associates with sinners, will consider it to be a tacit endorsement of sin, assign guilt by association, and then accuse Jesus of taking part in the other person’s immorality. This is what the Pharisees and other Church officials did. An unrighteous person will consider it to be an explicit endorsement of sin, as if Jesus accepts all types of behaviors and has nothing to say about them in the way of judgment.

Both are wrong. Jesus does not endorse sin either tacitly or explicitly. As the Holy, incarnate Son of God, His whole purpose is to enter into this cosmos where sin holds sway with everyone and everything – the proof of sin being death, disease, all manner of evil and more – and take it all away, first by becoming sin on the cross and atoning for it, then by being raised up through the glory of the Father as proof and substance of a righteousness that avails before God, through which He intercedes for all who call on His Name. His purpose is not to endorse sin, but to remove it and thereby embrace poor sinners so they may enter into His courts with praise both in this life and in the life to come. But how will sin be removed from those who do not even know what it is or do not treat it seriously?

In Jesus there is one case where it happens literally to be true: “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” His Church would damn him for associating with sinners, and sinners who looked on and wagged their heads as His crucifixion took place, would damn him, too. Most of all, He would be forsaken of God, which is truly what it means to be damned. This damning took place upon Him for our sakes, because He is our true Substitute in our flesh, who renders satisfaction before the Holy Creator for our offenses.

The entirety of the Sacred Scriptures point to this very Christ and His work on behalf of poor sinners, a work that continues to this day because He lives and distributes His benefits in His Church through His Word and preachers.

It is inappropriate at best to toss Matthew 9:10 out into print as red meat in the interest of stemming a perceived hypocrisy or injustice. The sinners whom Jesus joined – He chose to join them, they did not invite him unless they first realized their sinful condition before God – they were not there to hurl obscenities and insults like so many today who howl, yowl, indulge in all kinds of sexual immorality and debauchery and then throw Matthew 9:10 out like so much fodder for pigs as if there is an excuse for wrongdoing.

Some of the sinners and tax collectors mentioned above doubtless wandered in after Jesus was present, and Jesus was intent on dining with them, too. But it would be a sorry conclusion to suggest Jesus throws Himself into debauchery or welcomes it. He is a perfect example of being in the world but not of the world, as He also disciplines His followers to be.

It is also unbecoming at best to publish verses of Sacred Scripture and comment upon them without being subject to discipline, both by the Scriptures and by the Church to whom the Scriptures are given. There is a reason Jesus speaks of His followers as disciples. Unless one is under the care and tutelage of one who has studied and knows the Scriptures, it is best not to speak and apply the biblical texts until one is under such care and willing to accept admonition. Jesus says, “Test the spirits.” He also enjoins all under His care to be continually devoted to His teaching.

Tossing out a few Bible verses and then assigning applications on the fly is hardly characteristic of Christian disciples or the Church. It happens all too often, like certain hyenas who quote from the Book of Leviticus and then suggest Christians think they are enjoined thereby to carry out the laws prescribed to the people of Israel at that time. Such people are not willing to be subject to Church discipline. They would rather do their own thing. They have accepted themselves as an authority. They will not tolerate correction. As a result their comments are worse than misleading. They are an abomination.

This is not characteristic the Christian Church, where, by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, Christians, pastors, teachers and all are subjected by the Holy Spirit to the biblical texts as a whole, and to one another so that they are built up. This is God’s doing. It not some kind of voluntary association, because God ultimately speaks His truth when and where it pleases Him, and works faith when and where it pleases Him, and He is not confused as to what we are to believe, teach, and confess.

Yes, there are manifest differences between Church bodies and even controversies over biblical interpretation. That is the nature of living in a sinful world. But just as Jesus' presence at table with sinners is not an endorsement of sin, the presence of divisions in the Church, or even sinners in the Church, is not an indictment against Jesus. He is the Head, and His Christians, weak as they appear to be (and are), are His members, who are placed into His body unto life everlasting.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

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Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. -Romans 3:19

Much of life is spent trying to prevent failure or covering it up when it happens. As it stands, neither strategy works. It is bad enough that your ideas of failure miss the mark. How much worse when your true failures are laid bare before the eyes of God and His Law.

As long as you are born of a woman, you are under the Law of God. Therefore the Law of God is speaking to you when it demands total fear, love, and trust in Him. In consideration of this, nothing is left to be said when failure of any kind happens.

There is instead a Word to be received, namely, the Word of Christ, whose obedience as One born of a woman, born under the Law, satisfies the most stringent demands of God. It cares not a whit about the laws of man and his petty notions of offense.

This Word is freely offered and given, daily and richly in Christ's holy Church, where His pastors preach and apply the benefits of Christ's obedience. For this reason there is no need to think failure is yours either to prevent or hide. It is rather yours to confess in repentant faith, because God the Father is intent on chasing you down and seeking you out in and through His only Son.

Whatever accountability is yours due to failure, Christ Jesus has borne in His body on the Cross, and washed away by His resurrection from the grave.

The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. -Romans 3:21-22

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"The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel." -Mark 1:15

In saying "the time is fulfilled," Christ is incorporating all of history as we know it into His Word and presence. Past, present, and future are all fulfilled in Him, because He is the Creator come down in human flesh to save you through the same flesh He carries to the cross in perfect obedience and raises up for your justification before God.

In saying "the Kingdom of God is at hand," Christ is drawing near so that His hearers may receive through faith what He offers by grace, namely the forgiveness of sin and everlasting life. His body is to be identified with the Kingdom of God not merely symbolically, but substantially.

In saying "repent and believe in the Gospel," Christ urges His hearers to take hold of a righteousness no man can obtain of his own will. It is a righteousness that satisifes the wrath of God and turns the hearts of men away from sin and death and toward the life of the world to come, urging them to abstain from idols and the corruption inherent in the present age. Repentance is offered and received in the person and work of the very One speaking these words.

All of these words are as applicable today as they have been throughout the ages. The state of affairs between God and man is one of reconciliation by grace, out of a boundless love that will never cease, but will seek out and carry home the fallen, the broken, the weak, the sick, the lame, the sinner who is dead in trespasses and dead to God. This is as true and certain as Christ crucified and risen for the sin of the world.

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There is a great deal of hand-wringing within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod because she is found to be afflicted with false teachers. While officially the LCMS in no way gives sanction to false teaching, nevertheless it happens today as it has happened throughout history. False teachers arise from within and are also found outside the Church.

What is a Christian to do, especially a Christian who is found to be within the LCMS when false teachers are in her midst? A Christian should first look to the standards espoused by the Synod, not the results when applying them and struggling to honor them. In the LCMS those standards are the Holy Scriptures and the Book of Concord of 1580, both of which set the foundation, by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, for perfect agreement in the articles of faith.

Members of the LCMS – her parishes and pastors – are bound to these not because they somehow came to an agreement, but because they are given from Above and are perfect in the first place. When a parish or pastor is found to be teaching and practicing contrary to these standards, these are first of all marked as such and avoided. “My sheep hear my voice,” says the Good Shepherd.

And so it happens in the LCMS on a regular basis that false teachers are marked and avoided. How they are dealt with beyond that in more official, temporal ways is important, but not nearly as important as seeking out those places where the Word of God is preached in its truth and purity.

Speaking from personal experience, the LCMS is rife with parishes and pastors that place the works of men above the works of God. It is a significant challenge when travelling with my family to find a place where the Divine Service is treated with the reverence inherent in its substance, which is the bodily, concrete administration of Christ’s benefits to poor, weak, sinful people from all walks of life.

If anthropocentric tendencies are found in an LCMS parish liturgy, you will not find my family or me attending that parish if we can help it. If we know in advance we will be out of town on a Sunday we will either make an effort to identify a faithful Lutheran parish or, if none is to be found, make use of what we have as a family.

We do not hold the presence of false teaching against the LCMS, but realize there are weaknesses and teachings to be avoided for the present moment, just as there are throughout the entire world. At the same time we continue to pray, “Hallowed be Thy Name,” knowing that God is at work through the means He has established.

We pray for those who are given to offices in the LCMS that they be faithful, strengthened, guided, and sustained by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. We also pray for the erring in our midst. There are many. It does little good to beat them up. At the same time we are bound to point them out and stay away until they repent by the grace of God.

Above all, we are subject to test the spirits. They are found wanting not only in the LCMS at times, but in every place other than those where the Word of God holds sway, and Gospel is lavishly preached and applied for the comfort of those who are terrified by all the afflictions that attend to mortal flesh.

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Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for Your servant is listening." -1 Samuel 3:10

God comes to you, stands in your presence, and speaks to you. Where does He do this? In Church, where His Word is preached and His benefits given bodily through ears, eyes, and mouth.

God comes to you, stands in your presence, and speaks to you. How does He do this? Through His called and ordained servants of the Word.

God comes to you, stands in your presence, and speaks to you. What does He say? Your name as it is comprehended in His Name through Holy Baptism, and His Name as it is your eternal salvation.

Since you were dead in trespasses and sin, He forgives your sin and leads you in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, not because His name is in need of polishing up, but because His name is holy.

Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ that He comes, stands in your midst, and speaks as He did to his servant Samuel, so that you may take hold of Him by faith and He abide in you to strengthen and sustain you at all times and in all places by His perfect work in Christ Jesus.
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And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

There is very little argument over how this verse of Holy Scripture is to be translated. Almost every English version translates it the same way. Among the most interesting is Young’s literal translation which reads, "and God saith, 'Let light be;' and light is."

This is the earliest attribution of speech to the Creator. It takes place on the First Day of Creation. In fact, besides creating all things out of nothing, this is the first act of God we are given to know by the Holy Spirit: He spoke. In His speaking, creation is subject to bring about precisely the very thing He speaks.

Both explicit and implicit in speech is a recipient, or one who hearkens. Hence it is part and parcel of the creation from the beginning that it is subject to a Speaker, or a Giver. Our experience bears out in multitudinous ways the fundamental reality that nothing happens without cause and effect. So too, we confess that the Word of God blesses and sustains the creation as we know it, even in its fallen state.

Also explicit in speech, cause, effect, and creation as we know it are male and female, a complimentary arrangement whereby new life comes into being by mutual correlation, through a mutual give and take characterized chiefly by love.

Also explicit and implicit in this first speaking (and every speaking from God thereafter), is love. The words, “Let there be light” have a clinical sound about them to our weak hearing, but we have the full, retrospective account of Holy Scripture to attest that God is love. Therefore every word that proceeds from His mouth is characterized by the same.

Note the voice of this first speaking. It is not a question. It is not a declarative or descriptive sentence. It is not an exclamation. Nor is it vocative. We would call it a command (or imperative), and yet it is a command that brings into being, not a command for something that already exists to behave a certain way.

It is characteristic of a man to say, “Look at what I did,” or “Look at what I can do.” To speak this way is quite often the entire aim of a man so that he might be praised for his abilities and skills. Here the Holy Spirit teaches a man to think and speak otherwise, and to say, “Look at what God has done.”

A reading of Holy Scripture will reinforce this truth over and over again, so that a man is continually drawn not to himself and his accomplishments, but first to God, in whom and through whom and to whom are all things.
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To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ....

Much is made of reaching across the aisle, making amends, setting matters at peace where once there was enmity, and rightly so. The enmity between God and man, as well as the apparent enmity between Jew and Gentile are all done away with, because Christ Jesus, who is God in human flesh, has made atonement for the sin of the world and is seated at the right hand of God, ready to come in glory to judge both the living and the dead.

The Apostle’s past, and well as the Gentile’s past, are just that: past. Abiding in Christ, both are mindful of the depths to which God has gone to reconcile all things. Both have the prophets and apostles who told before hand and bore eyewitness testimony to Christ’s life and love. Now it is a matter of being built up into Him while enduring tribulations in this life. This building up takes place not merely in platonic realms, but really and truly in body and soul.

The life and conduct of Christians, therefore, is one of peace and reconciliation with an eye not only to those within the Church but also those outside. It is not that we excuse or wink at sin, but deal with it through the unfathomable riches of Christ, which are not merely all things in heaven and on earth, but especially the fruits of His innocent suffering and death and his resurrection from the dead. These are preached and administered in the Church continually, as by faith the Church apprehends what is unseen while awaiting the Last Day.

Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

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