Category: From Pastor

This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of Unlikely Heroes – A Monk (CLICK HERE)

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So, you’re Lutheran?

Yes. Do you know what that means?

Well, my uncle was a Lutheran pastor but we never went to church.

This brief dialogue occurs periodically as people visit our church.  It is a launching point to a discussion not just about theology, but also about history.  Christianity has been part of history for 2000 plus years.  Different eras affected the focus of Christians and yes even the theology of Christians.

So does it matter?

One often hears that today about denominations and reflections that there is so much division in the church and wondering why churches can’t just all get along. Often in the discussion there is a quotation of Jesus’ words in John 17:20 “I pray that they all may be one.”

Does it matter?

Yes, it does. It would be wonderful to have all Christians united in all aspects of faith based on the teachings of the Bible.  It would great if the second half of that verse was true, “I pray that they may be one, just as you are in me and I am in you.”

But this unity only happens when theology matters.

Jesus didn’t agree to the minimal standards of unity with his Father.  He and the Father were one…in every aspect. His prayer is that our unity is rooted in a oneness that covers every aspect of his Word and teaching.

When it doesn’t, the opposite of unity happens: division.

Jesus warned us to be on the look out for those that would teach falsely and claim to be of Christ. Mark 13:5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 

500 years ago one such division occurred.

It wasn’t arbitrary.  It wasn’t a personality conflict or a division over the color of carpet in a new church or the type of music that was being played in worship.

It was over the truth of God’s Word and how someone was certain they were saved.

Martin Luther was the man God used to bring the truth of the Scripture back to the forefront after it was clouded over by erroneous teachings and practices promoted by the church and its leaders.

Like many in Europe in the early 1500s, Martin Luther grew up under the direction of the Catholic Church.  His parents were devout Catholics and raised Luther the same.  However as Luther grew up an agonizing pit grew in his soul.  He knew God as an angry judge ready to pounce on every sin, but yet felt empty after he worked hard to do right to overcome the wrong.  Surviving a thunderstorm at the age of 21 he vowed to become a monk…and he did.  The monastery was his path to peace…so he thought.  Yet the more he tried to obtain a righteousness by his own works, the more he feared the wrath of God.

Grace was covered by a system of earning forgiveness for the temporal punishment your sin deserved.  He felt no peace.

Until God revealed his truth in Romans 1:16-17.  Righteousness that God demanded was given by God as a gift of grace to all who believe.

The truth had been revealed and the deception became obvious and Luther could do nothing but ensure the message of grace, central to the Bible’s teaching, became at the forefront of the church’s teaching.

The church of Luther’s day would not change and that’s a key reason why I am a Lutheran today.

 

Apply: As you study the Word of God, what teachings do you notice seem true but are not biblical?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us your righteousness so we can stand before you as fully forgiven because of the perfect life of Jesus.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Stormproof – Election Earthquakes (CLICK HERE)

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We are just a few days from the presidential election.  We have heard much rhetoric, listened to debates, watched the news and followed the polls.  At the end of the process, one of the candidates will be our next president and one will not.

So if your preferred candidate wins or loses, how do we as Christians want to respond?

It would be easy to have a strong despair if your candidate loses or a strong cockiness if your candidate wins.  The thing to do is avoid either of these ditches – the ditch of gloating and the ditch of despair.

Every American owes the newly elected president his or her honor and respect as the Apostle Paul encouraged in Romans 13:1.  You may not agree with the policies, or like the personality, but we honor God by honoring the authority he has allowed to be over us.

The promises of God are still real and bear keeping in mind as we realize while the president of the US has consequence in our earthly existence, the president has no bearing on our eternal status.

I saw this list on Facebook and found it sharing helpful reminders:

1. God will still be on his throne.
2. Jesus will still be King of kings and Lord of lords.
3. The Bible will still have all the answers to every problem.
4. The tomb will still be empty.
5. Jesus will still be the only way to heaven.
6. Prayer will still work – it will still make a difference and God will still answer prayer.
7. The cross, not the government, will still be our salvation.
8. There will still be room at the cross.
9. Jesus will still save anyone who places their faith and trust in him.
10. God will still be with us always – He will never leave us or forsake us.

Elections can bring out the best and the worst in us.  They challenge us with a level of anxiety over the policies we hope will be implemented or ones we don’t want to find codified.  They can lead to division in relationships over strong feelings one way or the other.  Elections don’t often bring the best out in people.

So, as a Christian, remember the constant of the God who loves you and is the one who allows or doesn’t allow an individual to be president.  He answers to no one, but ensures his children are blessed.

What does that mean for us?  First, get involved and cast your vote.  Second, direct any fear or anxiety to the Lord.  Third, do as Jesus encouraged in Matthew 5:14ff:

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Apply: Prepare your heart and mind now, with the guidance of God’ Spirit to not be anxious about the election and know that the constant of the Lord will overcome the ever changing patterns of the world.

Prayer: Lord, as the election comes closer, remind us that you are King of kings and Lord of lords.  We treasure that you guide all things for the blessing of your people, the Church.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Stormproof – Election Earthquakes (CLICK HERE)

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507 years ago today, a piece of paper with 95 statements on it was nailed to a wooden church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  They content of these 95 Theses were challenging the sale of indulgences in the church to merit forgiveness for someone living or dead.  The author was Martin Luther.  The audience was the people in Wittenberg to the officials of the church. 

The “95 Theses” as they are known captured the attention of not only the locals in Wittenberg, but the officials in the papacy of Rome and eventually in the throne room of the Emperor.

The result?

Eventually what started as an honest debate about the authority of the Scripture and how righteousness comes to an individual, did not reform the Catholic Church back to the Bible, but led to the formation of the Lutheran Church which founds its teaching on Scripture alone, secures it’s righteousness before God by grace alone, becomes mine by faith alone, and is centered fully in Christ alone.

A by-product of the return to Scripture was the role of the Church and the role of government.  On this Reformation Day, I copy a post of an excerpt from Martin Luther’s writing on the topic (https://reporter.lcms.org/2016/luther-on-church-and-state).

 

The words below from Luther’s 1523 treatise, “Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed,” stand as the first ethical defense of the role of temporal government against then-prevailing Roman Catholic notions that the church was the source of all earthly authority.

Readers might find this selection particularly relevant and helpful today, as it describes the respective roles of church and government.

You must know that since the beginning of the world a wise prince is a mighty rare bird, and an upright prince even rarer. They are generally the biggest fools or the worst scoundrels on earth; therefore, one must constantly expect the worst from them and look for little good, especially in divine matters which concern the salvation of souls. They are God’s executioners and hangmen; his divine wrath uses them to punish the wicked and to maintain outward peace. Our God is a great lord and ruler; this is why he must also have such noble, highborn, and rich hangmen and constables. He desires that everyone shall copiously accord them riches, honor, and fear in abundance. It pleases his divine will that we call his hangmen gracious lords, fall at their feet, and be subject to them in all humility, so long as they do not ply their trade too far and try to become shepherds instead of hangmen. If a prince should happen to be wise, upright, or a Christian, that is one of the great miracles, the most precious token of divine grace upon that land. Ordinarily the course of events is in accordance with the passage from Isaiah 3[:4], “I will make boys their princes, and gaping fools shall rule over them”; and in Hosea 13[:11], “I will give you a king in my anger, and take him away in my wrath.” The world is too wicked, and does not deserve to have many wise and upright princes. Frogs must have their storks.

Again you say, “The temporal power is not forcing men to believe; it is simply seeing to it externally that no one deceives the people by false doctrine; how could heretics otherwise be restrained?” Answer: This the bishops should do; it is a function entrusted to them and not to the princes. Heresy can never be restrained by force. One will have to tackle the problem in some other way, for heresy must be opposed and dealt with otherwise than with the sword. Here God’s word must do the fighting. If it does not succeed, certainly the temporal power will not succeed either, even if it were to drench the world in blood. Heresy is a spiritual matter which you cannot hack to pieces with iron, consume with fire, or drown in water. God’s word alone avails here, as Paul says in II Corinthians 10[:4-5], “Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty in God to destroy every argument and proud obstacle that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to take every thought captive in the service of Christ.”

Moreover, faith and heresy are never so strong as when men oppose them by sheer force, without God’s word. For men count it certain that such force is for a wrong cause and is directed against the right, since it proceeds without God’s word and knows not how to further its cause except by naked force, as brute beasts do. Even in temporal affairs force can be used only after the wrong has been legally condemned. How much less possible it is to act with force, without justice and God’s word, in these lofty spiritual matters! See, therefore, what fine, clever nobles they are! They would drive out heresy, but set about it in such a way that they only strengthen the opposition, rousing suspicion against themselves and justifying the heretics. My friend, if you wish to drive out heresy, you must find some way to tear it first of all from the heart and completely turn men’s wills away from it. With force you will not stop it, but only strengthen it. What do you gain by strengthening heresy in the heart, while weakening only its outward expression and forcing the tongue to lie? God’s word, however, enlightens the heart, and so all heresies and errors vanish from the heart of their own accord.

Excerpted from Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 45: The Christian in Society II, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 45 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 113-115. Reproduced by permission of Augsburg Fortress.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your kingdom in which we live by your grace and the earthly state which we live in by birth and gift from you.  As we live in both kingdoms, lead us to let our light shine so your Gospel prevails and the governing officials honored.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Stormproof – Election Earthquakes (CLICK HERE)

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Psalm 33:10-12 The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.

The conviction every Christian can have is this.  The greatest blessings come when we follow the Word and ways of the Lord. Period.

To be sure, God has an amazing way of “working all things for our good,” yet he has given us his Word not only to bless us with eternal life, but to bless us as we go through life.

This truth is not to carry any intention of a “prosperity gospel,” i.e. that if you follow Jesus you will have all the wealth you want, all the health you want, and have all the pleasures of this world.  No, that is not the point.

The point is that God blesses those that walk in his ways.  Consider the opening verse of Psalm 1: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

The simple truth is this.  God blesses those who follow him.

Is this true of government as well?

According to Psalm 33, it is.  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

One can look to Old Testament Israel and realize that the kings who understood they operated under the authority of the Lord and were to lead the people in a way that reflected they were a servant of the Lord versus a king for themselves saw blessing and prosperity in the land and nation of Israel.  The kings that reigned contrary to the Lord and gave laws that led people away from the Lord, the nation struggled and experienced hardship.

To be sure, Israel was a unique nation in the world at the time.  They were a theocracy that moved to a monarchy.  That monarchy was to rule the people in a way that reflected the theocracy the Lord had established.

So what about the United States?

We are not a theocracy.  We are a democratic republic.  We have a government that rules by the people and for the people.  

But the principle applies.  Wherever people appear and seek to walk in the counsel of the Lord versus the counsel of the wicked, that person can expect to see the Lord bless that.  When a person who has been given a charge of leadership leads in a way that walks in the ways of the Lord, the people they lead may experience blessings they wouldn’t have otherwise.

The same is true for a leader of a family, a village, a city, a county, a state or a country.  A civic leader who seeks to serve and not be served carries the heart of Christ in leadership.  A civic leader who understands they steward power as a gift from God will do better at avoiding egocentric power grabs.  A leader who understands the value of life and a morality or the difference between good and evil will govern in a way that honors the basic moral code the Lord has given. A leader who is a Chrisitan will seek to surround him/herself with wise counsel that leads in ways of righteousness, not paths of evil.

To lead in our government as a Christian is a privilege and truly a challenge.  Pray for all Christians who have been elected to offices of high trust.  They must navigate their revere for the Lord and following in his ways and the laws of the land that may allow certain things that aren’t godly.  They are not there to legislate Christianity on people, but are there, like Esther of the Old Testament, for “such a time as this.”

Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul encouraged:

1 Timothy 2:1-4  I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Apply: Take time today to pray for all governing officials you know by name or by position.  Ask the Lord to surround them with wise counsel and a reverence for the position they hold that they may steward it in a way that is honoring to the Lord and blessing to those they lead.

Prayer: Lord we pray for all our governing officials, but especially for those that honor you and seek to lead in a way that stewards the gift of governance you have given them.  Surround their hearts with a protection from evil and surround their counsel with wisdom that comes from you.  Let their light shine in the office they have so that your name is glorified and your people are blessed.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Stormproof – Election Earthquakes (CLICK HERE)

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Religion and politics are an interesting mix.

We hear people talking about the “separation of church and state.”

We are encouraged to avoid discussions about religion and politics at Thanksgiving dinner.

So, is government completely secular?  Can it have the influence of faith in it?

The quick answer is…maybe not so quick and not always easy.

However, here’s a few key truths to remember:

Every government exists by God’s authority, even if it doesn’t acknowledge God’s authority.

Romans 13:1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

So while a government may claim to be completely secular and completely separated from faith, it is impossible.  A government may not acknowledge God, it may even enact laws that persecute Christians, but it doesn’t change the fact that they have no authority unless God allows it.  It is a lie of Satan that leads governing officials to believe they have the power and position because of their own prowess or authority.  Like Jesus said as he interacted with Pontius Pilate as he was on trial. 

John 19:10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

Pilate didn’t acknowledge the true God, but his authority was only because God allowed it AND God was going to use it to carry out his plan for the salvation of the world.  Pontius Pilate is known to every credal Christian who confesses in the Apostles’ Creed, “…suffered under Pontius Pilate.”  Ironically, this governing official is part of our longstanding confession of the Christian faith!

God uses government to carry out his plan, even if government rejects God’s principles.

Like Pilate, Caesar Augustus was used by God to carry out his salvation plan: Luke 2:1-3 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

God took the greed and control of Caesar and turned it into the way he moved Mary to Bethlehem to have his Son born in the city of David.

God is not the president nor is the president god.  Yet to say that government is secular would not be accurate.  Government exists under the authority of the Creator and is intended to be a blessing to people.

So we can be sure that while government and its officials try at times to separate themselves from God and any acknowledgment of Him, God has not separated himself from government and continues to use governing officials to carry out his purposes for benefit of his people.  To be sure it is not always evident, but it is always happening.

 

Apply: What other examples do you have of God using governments or governing officials to carry out his purposes.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for guiding and directing the affairs of nations to carry out your purposes.  AMEN.