The Lord our Righteousness: A meditation on Jeremiah 33:16

                When the Lord accomplishes His will for His people, He said they shall be named:  “The Lord is Our Righteousness.”  Jeremiah heard these words while sitting in prison, and awaiting the awful judgment that Israel had called down upon itself through sin and rebellion to the Word of God.  The great captivity in Babylon loomed large on the horizon, and to the prophet’s eyes, it must have seemed an unrecoverable situation.  The land would be lost.  The temple would be lost.  The City of David would be lost.  The people would become the slaves of a pagan empire, formed in their culture, and steeped in their false gods.  But to the prophet’s despairing sight, comes another vision—one of redemption and salvation.  A remnant restored to the House of Israel, with joy and celebration and glory forever given to God.

                But how can such a thing be?  Only faith could receive such a message of hope, in the face of such awful circumstances.  Jeremiah knew that he and his people would have no hope of restoring themselves, and any pretense they might have had to save themselves would be dashed by the swords and chariots of foreign armies.  The Children of Abraham had sinned greatly, and more than deserved their judgment—but in their judgment, they could see plainly, that they could not save themselves.  In the depths of their dejection and humiliation, they could finally see, that they could hope in only one Savior, rather than the works of their hands or the schemes of their imaginations.  Under the curse of their torment, would come the knowledge of their condition:  they had fallen short of the glory of God, and were condemned by their own hands.

                It is a lesson we should learn, in our day and time, too.  When we sit in luxury and wealth, we often delude ourselves into thinking we can save ourselves.  We think we can find the right diet plan to make everything better; or the right drug; or the right therapy; or the right technology; or the right companion; or the right politics; or the right… well, fill in the blank.  We think “science” will save us, by crafting cures for our diseases.  We think politicians will save us, by crafting policies for our providence.  We think technology will save us, by creating tools for our weakness.  We think mates will save us, by slaking our lust.  We think we can save ourselves, by marshalling all these petty gods and more, as we craft our own destiny according to our own will.

                But eventually, it all comes crashing down.  Cures fail.  Policies fail.  Nations fall.  Lovers leave.  iPhones die.  And when we come to the end of our proverbial rope, we shall stand naked and exposed before the void of death, to pass that threshold like all the mortals who have come before us.  None shall escape the coming enemy—that foreign power, which approaches to some faster, and others more slowly, will besiege the city of your body and soul, and work its power upon you.  Eventually there will be no medicine, no technology, no person who can save you.  You will meet death, and you will be ravaged by it, left with nothing your hands have built.  For naked you came into this world, and naked you shall leave.  It is a fate we have earned through our evil and pride, and it will inexorably come.

                And for us, as we watch the approach of that ancient foe of the human race, it is only a heart of faith that can hear God speak words of comfort to us, that He will bring back the prisoner, the captive, and the oppressed—He will free those who could not free themselves, and in the streets of His Eternal City, there shall be rejoicing forevermore.  Where the scourges of death left devastation and corruption in their wake, The Lord God Almighty shall bring forth life, forgiveness, and hope.  Where we sit in darkness, the Lord shall break through with unimaginable Light.  In the face of our enemy, who takes away all our presumptions and delusions about saving ourselves, our Saving Lord brings forth that which we cannot do—He works our salvation for us, and gives to us that which we need to live forever.

                And this is exactly what Christ has accomplished for His people, and the reason why He came into the world.  For we who sit in darkness, have seen His Great Light.  We who see the approach of our enemy, see Him who triumphs over our enemy through His life, death, and resurrection.  We, who have nothing to offer for our own salvation, receive Him who is our salvation:  Jesus Christ.

                And so, though we may sit in darkness, we ought never to fear it.  Let the enemy of mankind come, as ferocious as he will—our Champion has conquered him, and promised to redeem even us.  There is no darkness that can withstand His Light, and we have been made children of His Light by faith, though we dwell in a dark, dangerous, and unbelieving world.  His Word has washed us, and made us clean, delivering to us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation we lost so long ago.  His Word enters our ears, and gives us faith to believe, to see beyond the grave into blessed realms immortal.  He dwells with us by His Word, feeding us on His very Life, to sustain us in this earthly struggle against sin, death, and the devil.  And He is our Conquering King, who lays low the enemy of our race, that His people may rise to eternal lives of joy and peace.  We are the people He has made into His image, that we may sing forever:

THE LORD IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!

All glory be to our Lord and Savior, who has done such great things for His people!

Amen.

A Meditation on Psalm 16

“O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You maintain my lot.”

As a citizen of the United States, there’s no other time that I feel more out of synch with the world, than in the heated run up to an election.  Everywhere, from every quarter, there is a voice calling for this and against that, to do something and abstain from something else, to endorse one and vilify another.  This pattern is not new in our day, though our technology (and our constant connection to it) makes it seem ever more present and overwhelming.  And even if you cut the power off to your house, drown your cells phones, and give your laptop a lobotomy, someone would be banging on your door or putting signs up around your neighborhood, to ensure you heard their pleas.  The world is a political place, and it always has been since the fall.

                Now it’s true that there have been better and worse political constructs and characters over the course of centuries, but the basic rules still apply.  Gather the force of will to implement your positions, build political alliances, and overcome your adversaries—often with little or no moral compunction.  Machiavelli made a science of this, but he certainly wasn’t the first.  When the world seeks power, it uses the tools it’s familiar with, and just does what comes naturally… often leaving a great deal of character assassination and destruction in its wake.  The world, functioning as it does under a Theology of Glory, seeks power and might through the means of man—and when fallen man seeks his own glory through his own fallen faculties, he can end up creating an image of hell on earth, in varying levels and degrees.

                The Church of Christ, however, has never been called to function like this… not because we aren’t capable of it (just look at your own church’s beauracracy, and you’ll know what I mean,) but because that’s not who we are.  The Church is filled with sinner-saints, who have been ransomed out of the world, living by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who has given His life that we might live in Him.  As such, we’re not exactly of this world anymore… we are not even our own, since we have been bought with the precious Blood of Christ.  We are children of God, joint heirs with Jesus of all the wonders and blessings of heaven.  We are citizens of the Kingdom of God, adopted into the Father’s family through the sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son.  We are free indeed from this world of sin, death, and corruption, because the Son who abides forever, has made us free.

                Of course, this creates quite the discord for the Christian.  Like all the other earthly citizens around us, we remain in this world, serving out our vocations as God has given them to us.  Like the unbelieving world, we’re citizens of nations, states, and communities, and participants in the political processes that the world brings about in the rule of society.  But unlike the unbelieving world, we know that our time here is temporary, and that our allegiance is first and foremost to the King of the Universe.  We do not use the earthly tools of fallen man to seize power or seek our own glory, but rather, inspired by the love of God in Christ, we use the gifts we have been given to serve and care for our neighbor.  We seek not our own good, but the good of others, even though it may cost us something… or cost us everything.  Because, unlike the world that derives its inspiration from a Theology of Glory, the Church receives all the blessings of life, forgiveness, and salvation from the Theology of the Cross—the Cross through which our Savior triumphed over sin, death and hell, and by which we are saved from the same.  The Christian is an ambassador of a distant Kingdom, made present in the Word and work of Jesus Christ—in the preaching of the Gospel for faith and repentance, and in the receiving of Jesus through His Sacramental means of grace.  What we have freely received, we freely give to a world lost in darkness and despair, bound up in the sins of fallen man, and blinded by the eyes of unbelief.

                So, the Church can feel out of synch with the world, when the world is doing what comes naturally in its sinful state.  But that’s our cross to bear, as the Lord Jesus Christ has not prayed for us to be taken out of the world, but that we might be preserved in the world—so that we may be reflections of His Light and Life into the darkness.  And even this is not our own work, but it is His continuing work to reconcile the world to Himself.  Just as Jesus has saved us and sustained us by grace through faith, so too He calls the world to faith and repentance, through His Word given through His people.  We should not be surprised when the world does what it does, nor should we be discouraged—Christ still reigns, and will reign for all eternity, in both heaven and earth.

                Be of good cheer, and take heart, beloved child of God—He shall not leave you, nor forsake you.  He will not let His holy ones suffer corruption, even as He did not let His Holy Son linger in Sheol.  Whether we are here in the body or at home with the Lord, He is our life, our sweetness, and our hope.  All who put their trust in Him shall never be put to shame, regardless of the world’s maneuverings for glory and power.  The Lord is the life of His saints, and His life endures forever.  He is our endurance, and our faithfulness, and His power and faithfulness never fails.  He is our love and compassion, and His love and compassion know no bounds.  He is our Word, and His Word always accomplishes the purposes for which it is sent.  He is our King and our Savior, and He reigns and saves forever.

Blessed be the God of our salvation, now and forevermore.  Amen.

The Value of Today: Meditiations on Hebrews 4

Days come and go, some faster it seems than others.  When I was a kid, days seemed to last forever, and weeks, months, or years were insanely long periods of time.  When I look at the calendar today, I’m shocked to see the year nearly spent, and wondering how I will do all I need to do in the remaining couple months before New Year’s Day.  There’s something about age and maturity, that grows our appreciation of the value of a day… and of course, that same age and maturity, can make us leap way beyond the day we’re in, and focus on days either long before us, or long gone behind us.

                This enigma was not unknown in the ancient world, either.  St. Paul writes about the value of a day in his letter to the Hebrews—and not just any day, but TODAY.  Today, the Apostle writes, if you will hear the voice of Jesus Christ and believe His Gospel of salvation for you, you will live in Him by grace through faith.  Today…

                There’s a mystery at work in creation, and St. Paul puts his finger on it in a very inspired way, never having studied advanced physics or cosmology.  Time is a peculiar construct of God, and one of great grace and mercy for us.  In the beginning He created us to be infinite beings in perfect communion with Him, but after the Fall, we suffer with the consequence of our sin and death in ways that are ugly painful.  Most of us have things in our past that we would rather forget, and wish had never happened.  Imagine the pain of having such a past, and knowing that it was always accessible, and always before your eyes—not just in the sense of remembering it, but as if it was always present.  Likewise, many of us worry about the future, and the thousands upon thousands of variables that can either help or harm our endeavors—imagine if all of those future days and moments were present to you, and you had to grapple with them all at once.  It would be a horrible burden to bear, never escaping the past nor the future, as all time pressed upon us in a single moment.

                We should remember, however, that for God, this is exactly how time is.  For Him, all time is eternally present.  Everything we perceive as past, present, and future, God perceives immediately as present.  That means, that when He bears your burdens in this present moment, He is really bearing them right now.  And for all those past moments, where your sin and evil broke forth into the world, demanding the sacrifice of His Son to save you… those moments are all present to Him, too.  And all your future moments, those that are both good and ill, He perceives in His eternal present, preserving you in and through them, though from your perspective, they haven’t happened yet.  Our loving God chooses to bear the burden of our sin, death, and suffering across all time and all space, while He grants a blessed rest to His people:  to us, He gives the gift of Today.

                Today, you can hear His voice of love from the Cross of His Son, speaking forgiveness and life to you forever.  Today, you can repent of the evil you have done, turning from your darkness by the power of His Word, toward the Light of Jesus Christ.  Today, you can be unburdened from your sin, receiving grace from the Son of God, who in His flesh nailed your sins and mine to His Holy Cross.  Today, you can believe and live forever.  Today becomes your first and never-ending day of eternal communion with your Creator, an infinite life of joy and blessedness, found in your Savior, Jesus Christ.  While God bears your burden, you are eternally free, Today… for Today, the love of God in Christ Jesus comes to you, that you might live in Him by grace through faith forever.  Give thanks to God for the blessing of Today!  For Today, the Kingdom of God comes near to you, and this eternal Today shall never end.  Glory be to God on High—The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who have worked for us so great a salvation, which comes to us Today.  Amen.

The Perseverance of the Saints: A Meditation on Hebrews 3

I’m sure we all know someone who has mused about this subject, whether they knew much about the formal doctrine, or not.  I’ve heard the question posed as, “How do I know I’m one of the elect?” or, “Am I still a Christian if I’ve blown it regarding (fill-in-the-blank)?” or, “Do I really have enough faith, and is my commitment to Christ enough to really be saved?”  At some point in our Christian lives, I think most of us have grappled with this kind of question.  Somewhere near the root of that concern, is whether or not Jesus has really saved me… or, if I’m just deluding myself, and God has already given up on me… or, I think my salvation is hanging by a thread, and I’m afraid that if I goof up just one more time, God will cut His losses on me.

                If it gives any comfort, Christians have worried about these same things, from the time of the Apostles forward.  In the reading from Hebrews 3, St. Paul might even be seen to bait this question, when he points to the ancient Israelites as an example of those to whom the promise of God had come, but who abandoned their faith in God’s promise, and therefore were cut off from that same promise.  It makes one wonder, just what is necessary on my part, to keep God from cutting ME off?  What is the awful thing that I must avoid, so that God doesn’t leave me to die in the desert, like He did an entire generation of Hebrews?

                Like everything with St. Paul, the whole matter comes down to faith and grace… because, at root, salvation isn’t about what we do or don’t do, but rather what Christ does for us.  This was the same rule that God put in place from the very beginning, and it was the rule of salvation to the ancient Hebrews:  the just shall live by faith.  When the Hebrews were called out of their slavery in Egypt, it was God who did the calling and the delivering—the people simply had to believe and trust in God their Savior.  When Christ comes to fulfill the Law, and to save us from sin, death, and the devil, it is He who does the calling and the saving—ours is simply to believe and trust the promise of God in Jesus Christ.  With such faith comes grace, which is the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  With such faith, comes our triumph over fear, over the devil, and over every evil thing.  With such faith, everything that Jesus won for the world as He hung dead on that Cross, is delivered to us, so that not only have we died with Him, but also our new lives are hidden with Him forever.  The author of Life and Salvation becomes our Live and our Salvation through faith in His loving work of redemption for us.  What we cannot earn, He earns, and gives to us freely.

                So, if Christ has done all to call us and save us, where should we look for the promise of our perseverance to the end?  Where should we look for the assurance that we, too, shall join the ranks of the saints and angels in heaven, eventually to be resurrected unto life everlasting in the New Heaven and the New Earth?  Again, and forever, it is Jesus.  He is the author and the perfector of our faith, and it is He who both began this good work of salvation in us, and shall complete His good work in the time He has appointed.  If we have been saved by grace through faith in the Son of God, why should we look to anyone other than Jesus for our perseverance?  And if we continue to look to Jesus, why should we look to Him with anything but faith and trust?  And if we believe and trust the promise of God in Jesus Christ, why should we expect anything other than grace, which forgives and preserves us unto life everlasting?

                In the formal doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints, we remember the simple truth, that Jesus not only saves us now, but He saves us forever, using the same divine means He established from the foundation of the world:  the just shall live by faith.  Will some stop believing, and find themselves cut off from grace?  Perhaps.  But the same Gospel is preached to those who have fallen, as it is to those who stand:  believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.  Salvation, from Justification through Sanctification and eventually Glorification, is all the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Believe Him when He says to you, that He has come into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He has come for you—not to torment or trick or toy with you—but to save you.  Believe Him, and live.  Amen.

Reformation Day Reflection: Rebels without a clue

I remember this phrase thrown about a lot in my youth, as a twist on the famous James Dean movie about a Rebel Without a Cause.  While a rebel without a cause knows what he’s rebelling against in general but just doesn’t have anything to direct his rebellious spirit against at the moment, a rebel without a clue was generally a quip made against someone who was in rebellion for no particular reason or with no particular ends.   A clueless rebel could be anything from pitiful to laughable, or even dangerously wild.  A rebel without a clue just likes to fight.

                As we approach Reformation Day on the 31^st of October, it’s pretty tempting for Lutherans to act like rebels—tearing down what is traditional, or what may smell of being “catholic,” and imagining that such rebellion is both our birthright and our purpose.  We’re protestants, right?  Let’s get to protesting!  But what if I told you, that Lutherans are not really protestants nor rebels, particularly in the way that those terms are bandied about in the church today… what if I told you, there’s much more to being a Lutheran Christian, than simply being a rebel or a protestor.

                If we read the Lutheran Confessions, which our forefathers penned during the controversies of the 16^th century in Germany, you’ll notice something peculiar.  Not only do the Reformers note their opposition to false doctrines and dangerous practices of the time, but they also affirm what is true, and right, and good.  There is both affirmation of the good, and rejection of the ill.  Lutherans were not anarchists looking for something burn down or destroy—on the contrary, Lutherans were seeking to shore up what was good in the church, while weeding out what was not.  Neither Luther nor his comrades were out to rebel against Christ’s Church, but rather, to be faithful to Christ and serve the Church, by reforming it more to the image of Christ and His Word.

                Of course, at their time, the Pope asserted his divine right to control every living thing on earth, from political kingdoms to every individual Christian.  The Lutheran Reformers rejected that idea as unbiblical, and contrary to the spirit of Christ.  For having said so, a tyrannical pope and his minions, declared the Lutherans rebels, and put them under the ban excommunication.  Since that time, some Lutherans have embraced that label of rebel, and used it to justify all sorts of bad ideas… from prejudice and bigotry against non-Lutherans, to rebelling even against the Apostles and Prophets of Holy Scripture, and ultimately against Christ Himself.  Living as a rebel might seem cool to our worldly and fleshly minds, but in God’s Kingdom, Christ doesn’t have much good to say about rebels… in fact, the chief of rebels, Lucifer, is destined for the Lake of Fire, together with all his co-conspirators.

                As we approach this Reformation Day, I encourage you to meditate with me, on the not-so-rebellious nature of our Christian calling as Lutherans.  Ponder for a while, what it means to affirm everything that Holy Scripture teaches, no matter how hard it may be to hold onto—and likewise, to reject everything that Holy Scripture rejects, no matter how easy it would be to hang onto it.  Think of what it means to build up the Body of Christ, which is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, rather than tearing down its venerable walls and burning down its ancient forms.  Consider what it means to weed out the vineyard of Christ’s Church, rather than hacking the ancient vines to the ground.

                I wager that what you’ll find, is that you have more friends—more brothers and sisters—than you thought you did, scattered in places you didn’t expect.  Some of those brothers and sisters might seem a little wonky, some downright strange, but we remember with the authors of the Lutheran Confessions, that where the faithful gather around Christ in Word and Sacrament, there is the One Church of Christ—spread across time and space, yet united in the One Lord and Savior of us all.

                So, there’s my challenge.  Rather than considering ourselves rebels (with or without causes or clues,) may we think of ourselves as stewards, servants, and keepers of the Word of Christ—born from above by Water and Spirit, living by grace through faith in the Son of God.  With eyes focused thus on Christ our Savior, you might be surprised to see how many others are gathered together with you, in Him.  May the Lord God Almighty, bless and keep His whole household of faith.  Amen.

Meditation on Psalm 14

A Meditation on Psalm 14:

“The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.”

I would imagine that much of what the world thinks these days is shocking to those who hear it—heck, it shocks me regularly.  Things that wouldn’t be whispered in public 50 years ago, are now screamed out from every media venue, and things once only done under the cover of darkness, are now common in the midday sun.  The world is changing, and our cultural perspectives or values are changing right along with it.

            But then again, the world is always changing… in the same old ways it always has.  One generation will tolerate one kind of evil, and another generation will tolerate something else.  50 years ago, living together before marriage was a horrible taboo, but pumping poisonous chemicals into the local river was barely blinked at.  Today, sex any time and any place between almost any persons is generally accepted, while endangering a peculiar toad will stop a major highway building program.  The world is always bouncing around in its opinions regarding what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil.  That’s because the world is running on human wisdom, which in the long run, is pretty dumb.  The new atheistic movements of our day are quick to condemn anyone who believes in God, or in the Word He has given to us in the Bible, particularly if we desire to have a public voice or opinion—but they are also very concerned that their own rights to free speech and protection are guarded as holy virtues.

            My dear friends, do not be surprised, when the fools around us say in their hearts, that there is no God… or when they discard His Word, and look for something else to entertain themselves with.  God said it would be so, because He knows what is in mankind—He knows the depth of our sin, the blindness of our eyes, and the hardness of our hearts.  He’s been dealing with us ever since the beginning when He created us, watched us fall into sin and death, and then worked out our salvation through Christ Jesus His only Son.  God knows what is in man, and since He loves us so greatly, He did not abandon us to the foolishness we create around us, every day.

            For you and I were once dead in our trespasses and sins, but now we live by grace through faith in the Son of God.  Rather than marveling at the blindness and foolishness of the world, we should have compassion on them, and pray for them.  Remember, that if it were not for the Word of God working on our hearts to create faith, we would be just as blind and just as foolish, casting away God and His Word, and trading it for the foul bowl of soup our human hearts concoct on their own.  Living by grace through faith, that same Word which enlivened us, can enliven the whole world.  And what a beautiful blessing it is, that God has ordained to have His Word brought out into the darkness of the world, through the saints He has called into His marvelous light!

            You are a city on a hill, a light on a lampstand—you are those through whom the Living Lord of Glory shines, that all might be drawn to salvation in Jesus Christ.  His Word has washed you, enlivened you, called you to daily faith and daily repentance, Justified you, Sanctified you, and will guard you for eternity.  This is the Light which shines in the darkness, which no darkness can overcome.  May the Light of Christ so shine through you, that the world may see Jesus in you—that they may hear His Word of redemption, so that they may repent, believe, and live.  To God be the glory, in this age, and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

Nicodemus in the Dark: Meditations on John 3

The engagement of Nicodemus with Jesus in John 3, seems full of mystery and enigma.  He is a teacher of Israel, in so far as he is entrusted with the responsibility to teach the people God’s Word.  And yet, together with the other teachers of Israel in the Sanhedrin, both Pharisees and Sadducees, he cannot come to terms with who Jesus is and what He is saying to the people.  The teacher of Israel is caught in a dilemma, which drives him toward a choice.

Nicodemus, struggling within himself and between his fellow rabbis, chooses to come under the cover of darkness, so that he might talk with Jesus.  This must have been very hard for him to do, since the divisions and distrust burbling up amidst the teachers of Israel could culminate in expulsion from the life of the people… or even from living at all.  Nicodemus avoids the eyes of his brother Pharisees, and comes to Jesus with his questions and troubles.  This is by no means a brave act, fearing for his own social standing more than his desiring of the truth.  But interestingly enough, even this pragmatic, perhaps even cowardly approach, Jesus does not turn back.

Nicodemus reveals the core of his confusion, by declaring that he, together with others, knows Jesus has come from God, for no one could do what Jesus was doing, had God not been with Him.  This simple knowledge appears to torture Nicodemus, since such knowledge can only result in one of two conclusions:  either to believe and follow Jesus, or to reject God in unbelief.  He knew there was no third path.  Once he understood that Jesus came from God, to reject Jesus meant to reject God Himself.  And yet, what Jesus brought from God so stymied the teachers of Israel, that they would eventually seek His death.  It is a painful and miserable place to be, caught between the horns of the divine dilemma:  to believe, or to reject, what is already known in the heart and mind.

In Nicodemus’ tortured state, Jesus speaks to him both Law and Gospel.  There is no view of heaven granted to any man, who is not born from above by water and Spirit.  No one, the teachers of Israel included, would taste of Heaven, unless they were born again by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  Nicodemus was utterly incapable of giving himself new birth, and he knew it… which sends him back into the bleak contemplation of returning once again to his mother’s womb.  Jesus lifts Nicodemus despairing eyes once again to higher things, and teaches him that what the Spirit does is unfathomable to the human heart, but it is His work, none the less… and those born from above by Him, would reflect His image, ways, and means.

The Gospel that Jesus gives to Nicodemus, is the same He offers to all mankind, regardless of wealth or social status:  whoever believes on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be saved.  Even this belief is brought to the believer, so that they might approach Jesus to receive His grace.  Nicodemus has believed that Jesus came from God, almost as if against his will—but Jesus tells Nicodemus that such knowledge and belief is a gift of God’s Holy Spirit, and all who live by such faith, shall live forever.

To the converse, Jesus tells Nicodemus, that those who reject Him, are condemned already.  Having never been born from above by water and Spirit, rejecting even what they have been made to know is true about the Son of God, they remain dead in their trespasses and sins.  They will remain in their unbelief and rejection of God, which will be manifested in their running away from the light, seeking out rather the cover of darkness, for they know their deeds and hearts are evil.  For those who reject God in the person and work of Jesus Christ, crucified for the sins of the world, there is no hope at all, for they have rejected the only means given under heaven by which any man may be saved.

And so, this short portrait of Nicodemus is left to our contemplation.  Like him, we often seek the darkness of night to hide our evil hearts, full of unbelief and wickedness.  Like him, we often despair, knowing what we should believe and trust, yet torn with the desire to reject the truth in search of our own lusts and idols.  Like him, we are drawn to the light of Christ, but we fear what that holy and divine Light may reveal of us to the world.

But like Nicodemus, the promise of Christ still rings out to us.  For He knows already the darkness that lies within us, and the evil curse of sin that ravages our bodies and souls.  He knows all too well the wages of sin, and the death we have brought upon ourselves.  He knows, and in His divine knowledge, He has done all that is necessary to save us from the fate we have earned.  With His body broken and His blood poured out for the sins of the world, He has done all things you need for the salvation of your crippled body and soul.  He has sent to you His Holy Spirit, that you might believe and live in Him, so that death and sin may no longer reign in your bodies or your hearts.  The Gospel of Salvation comes to us, so that we who sit in darkness, may see His great Light:  for God so loved the world, that He have His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

As blessed David concludes his 29^th Psalm, so also we may sing:

¹⁰ The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood,
And the Lord sits as King forever.
^{11 Lord will give strength to His people;}The
The Lord will bless His people with peace.

Amen.

Commiting our work to God-- Meditations at the beginning of Pentecost

Among the various transitions we find ourselves in during this time of the year, is the one between Easter and Pentecost.  As we read through the Acts of the Apostles, we find that after Jesus’ Ascension, the Disciples are waiting on the Lord’s promise of the Holy Spirit… a power they wouldn’t come to understand until it fell upon them.  As they waited, they lived together in the unity born of Christ’s Word and Sacraments, in love for each other and with a common hope in the Risen Christ.

Not long after, Jesus’ promise fulfilled, a great power descends upon them.  This power from the Holy Spirit gives them gifts of healing, speaking in foreign tongues, and even raising the dead—but most importantly, it gives them power to be witnesses to Christ’s saving work in a dark and dangerous world.  The power given to them is manifested in many ways, but the goal of that power was to speak truth in the darkness of their time, so that many might hear the Gospel, believe, and live in Jesus forever.  The greatest miracle that the Holy Spirit did through the Apostles was nothing other than raising dead sinners unto eternal life, by grace through faith in the Son of God.

This power of the Almighty Holy Spirit, continues to move through the Church today, wherever we find the Word of God preached in its purity, and the Holy Sacraments administered according to Christ’s command.  Where the Holy Spirit moves through the means of grace, people are raised from the deadness of their sin and unbelief, and given new life by faith in Jesus’ vicarious atonement for them.  It is a power awesome to behold, and a mystery before which we tremble—that God should give such gifts and power to be administered by poor, wretched sinners, such as ourselves.  But such is the wisdom of God, that He makes His strength perfect in weakness.

But there is another side to this awesome power, given to the Church, and we must grapple with it as we enter into this season of Pentecost.  Not all who hear, will believe—not all who come face to face with Jesus through His means of grace, will repent and believe the Gospel.  God allows His greatness to be mocked and scorned by the sinful world, and His grace to be trampled under the feet of wicked men.  In God’s great love for the whole world, there is not a single soul for which He has not suffered and died, and yet we know that some people will respond to His love with spite and hatred.  God’s love at work in the world is a sacrificial love which suffers itself to be scorned and wounded, so that by all means, some might be saved.  Such is the immensity of our God’s mercy and love for us.

And for we who are grafted into our Risen Christ, our suffering and rejection will reflect that which is given to our Lord.  Sometimes, even the best of our efforts to love our neighbor, will be rebuffed and spat upon, leaving us wounded and bruised, perhaps even martyred.  Part of carrying our cross in the world, is to bear witness to Christ and His love for mankind, even when mankind refuses to listen—even when they harden their own hearts, plug their own ears, and refuse to be healed by our God who seeks them out.  How are we to respond, when we are spitefully used, abused, and mistreated?

Our answer is found in the Cross of Christ.  When He was ridiculed and scorned, He prayed for those who were in the very act of murdering Him.  Upon His resurrection, He brings peace and blessing to those who abandoned Him in His darkest hour.  To a world which condemned Him, He brought the everlasting Gospel of Salvation.  And to we who are grafted into Him by grace through faith, He gives the power of His Holy Spirit, to endure all things for the love of each soul that the Blood of Christ has been poured out to redeem.

In Christ, we commend to our Lord, all the works of our hands, hearts, and minds.  It is He who has done all, suffered all, and won all for us—and not only for us, but for the whole world.  In Him we work, not by compulsion of the Law, but by the impelling of the Holy Spirit and the divine Love which has been poured into us.  Our works are not our own, and neither is our suffering, nor our joy.  All that we have and are and shall be, is hidden in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things.  To Him we commend our labors of love, and to Him we send up our groaning and tears, just as we also send up to Him our thanksgiving and rejoicing.

As we enter into the heat of Summer, and the work of the Kingdom of God weighs heavily upon us in the noontime heat, may we always remember the Living Lord who has suffered all for us, and keeps us together with Him for eternity.  When viewed from heaven’s eternal perspective, this short time of our labors comes and goes like the streak of a meteor across the sky—suddenly here, and then in only a few short decades, it is over.  Nevertheless, we are His, and He is ours; our salvation and our hope and our blessedness are guarded in Jesus forever.  Let the world do its worst, and the devil make his schemes.  We belong to Christ, and our work is committed unto Him.  Blessed be the Triune God, now and forevermore.  Amen.

Authority: Meditations on John 10

Authority is often heard as a dirty word in our day.  Those in authority are the ones who take from the poor and give to themselves; or the ones who manipulate systems for their own advantage; or the ones who write laws for those who funded their seats in government; and the list goes on.  When we see authority abused, we are often inspired to rebel against such evil-- even our nation has its origin in such struggle.

But corruption of what is good, does not abolish the goodness of the original, any more than a bad marriage condemns all marriages.  Authority is originally conceived as good, by God who gives it for the good of those under it, and we see reflections of that good, even in our broken world.

Here we see the police officer, who surrenders his own body to save a child.  Here we see a fire fighter give his body to the flames in order to save a trapped family.  Here we see soldiers place themselves between our nation and the evil intentions of others, trading their lives that we may retain our own.

And there are many others.  Fathers and mothers who sacrifice for their children through daily labor and patient teaching; siblings who suffer and sacrifice for each other; public servants who despite scorn do their duties well; even pastors and servants in the church, who lay aside earthly acclaim for the good of their people, while their peers pursue money and numbers and novelty.

Knowing that our sinful eyes in a sinful world, would be conflicted by the corruption we would see, Christ our Savior comes, and shows us what Authority really is.  While we, when we have been given authority, rarely use it well, Christ shows us how God envisions the use of divine authority.

In Jesus, we see God, imbued with all authority in heaven and on earth, choosing to take the form and role of a servant.  In Jesus, the eternal Son of God made flesh, we see authority exercised in love and compassion, driving out tormenting demons and withering disease.  In Jesus, we see the Author of Life submitting Himself to the pains of death, that He might both lay down His life, and take it up again.  In Jesus, we see the Victor over sin, death, and the devil, giving freely of what He has won, to we who so desperately need His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Here, my brothers and sisters, is real Authority, exercised in true faith, hope, and love.  Jesus never gives up on us, nor the plan of salvation He and the Father and the Spirit set in motion from the early days of creation.  Jesus does not use His authority for His own benefit, but rather that He might give His name among men, so that all who believe in Him might live with Him forever.  Jesus indeed reigns over all, and through His exercise of authority, life and love and grace are multiplied to the children of men.

May our eyes ever see beyond the pale reflections and corruptions of authority that plague our world, to the wondrous authority of Jesus our Savior, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.  Amen.

A Good Confession: Meditations on Acts 4

When I survey the world in which we live, I often appreciate why there is so much fear out there. People are afraid of the food they eat, the cars they drive, the neighborhoods they live in, the governments they elect, the companies they work for, the people they work with, the dog down the street, the cell phone attached to their head, or the germs crawling on their desks. Folks are afraid of almost everything and anything, attempting to structure their lives in such a way as to minimize their risks and exposure to those things they fear. Our society and economics seem almost to be based on fear. Advertisements promise drugs and therapies to save you from the illness you fear; politicians promise to save you from policies you fear; stores and merchants promise to save you from the technology you fear; the endless 24 hour news cycle promises to scare you into insanity, then provide a commentator who will soothe you for a few minutes, before the titillation of fear comes on again. Fear drives commerce and investments, Wall Street and the world bond markets. Fear is a powerful force, and one that the world is well acquainted with.

And it’s worth noting, that not only the world, but the Church, is often driven by fear. There are those pastors, theologians, and arm-chair prophets, who are motivated by fear to “grow” or “change” the Church. They would tell us that the Church must “change or die,” and that the Church needs to be constantly conforming itself to the images and patterns of culture, so that is does not disappear. They chase the right worship teams, the right bands, the right music, the right atmosphere, the right message, the right 12-step plan, to attract more people into Church membership. When the Church is driven by fear, it does all kinds of crazy things… almost everything other than what Christ told them to do.

Examined, though, fear is a paper tiger, and points to something else. All the fears one can list eventually boil down to a single fear—a fear of death. We want to be popular, prosperous, intelligent, educated, medicated, and so forth, really in an effort to stave off death. Losing their grip on life is really what most people are afraid of, because down deep, they know their life is fleeting. As many have observed, life is a terminal condition—no one gets out of this world alive. The wages of sin in our fallen world is death, and the sinful flesh we live in, will eventually bear the weight of that curse, as our body is laid in the earth. But fear of anything, especially of death, is fear of something already conquered.

While the world might be ignorant of the victory Christ has made over the grave, the Church should never forget what her Chief Shepherd has won for His people. We are liberated from sin, death, and the devil. We are liberated from the grave, such that we know what lies beyond it for those who live in the love of God. Death for the Christian is merely a laying down of this sinful flesh, an escort into the presence of Jesus, and a waiting for the resurrection of all flesh unto a new life in a new creation, undefiled by the sin and death of this world. We who live in Christ, have our lives hidden in Christ, such that they can never be taken away by the wicked powers of this world. Our lives are as surely protected and kept in Jesus, as Jesus’ life is kept by His immortal and omnipotent power. No one takes His life from Him—He lays it down, and He takes it up again, according to His good and gracious will. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end—and if He is for us, who cares what stands against us?

In this faith which overcomes fear, we see St. Peter and St. John, make their bold confession before the Sanhedrin. Sure, the council had power, and the ability to inflict torment on those they desired to harm. But the Apostles knew that their very lives were kept with the Risen Christ, and no power of man or demon could change that. They stood and made a good confession of Christ, not only before the religious and political powers of their day, but before the people who sat in their own fear and lack of understanding. In the face of that which the people feared, the Apostles stood fearless. It was a marvelous thing to behold—men whose faith cast out fear, raised a lame man to walk, and turned Jerusalem upside down, in the Name of Jesus Christ. The Apostles had no fear for their own lives, because they knew Jesus kept their lives forever with Him.

And the result of their good witness to the Chief Shepherd, was that upon that one moment of conflict, 5000 souls were added to Christ. 5000 men were born from above by Water and Spirit, plus their wives and children, harkening back to the momentous conversions at Pentecost. Two men stood before the power of their age, bore witness by faith without fear for their own lives, and through their witness, the Holy Spirit worked faith in the hearts of the people. More than 5000 people, previously sitting in darkness and fear, found faith which cast out fear, liberated by the blood of Christ.

Here lies the Church’s power in every age. We have a Good Shepherd who has laid down His life for the sheep, and taken it back up again, because death could not hold the Author of Life. Our Good Shepherd has sent us out, as He sent the blessed Apostles, to bear witness to the world without fear, knowing that He has our lives firmly in His nail-pierced hands. All the fury of the devil and the world and sinful man could not keep Jesus in the grave, and we who live in Him, have that same promise. Let the nations rage, and the rulers of this world imagine vain things; let the evil ones murmur their threats and loathing; let the devil howl as he will, and his faithless minions cower and flail. We belong to Christ. We are born from above, living by His grace, through faith in His Name, in the power of His Spirit. We have nothing to fear, in this world or the next, because Christ is Risen, and has defeated every power, placing all things under His feet. We are the Church of Christ, sent to bear witness to the Lord of Life, who grants these gifts of forgiveness and life to all who will repent and believe.

We are His, and there is nothing to fear. He is risen, and we too, shall rise. Let the kingdom of darkness tremble at the witness of the Saints—Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

Why do we marvel? Meditations on Acts 3

That sense of marveling is common when we encounter things we don’t expect, and sometimes when we see things we can’t believe. Like the last painting you saw with ridiculously beautiful colors, or the gymnast you saw do things with her body that you didn’t think possible. I recall sitting with family recently, as we watched some of the best ice skaters in the world do their routines—and I marveled that someone could launch themselves in the air with such grace, and land with the fluidity of an artist’s brush stroke. Remarkable things often make us marvel, because we can hardly believe what we have seen or heard. While we may not want to believe it at the moment, whether it’s the portrait of a great artist, or the grace of a dancer, or the speed and strength of an athlete, our marveling is often a reflection of ourselves.

When I see a power lifter throw ridiculous amounts of weight over his head, I am incredulous, because I know I can’t do that… and because I can’t do that, I assume others can’t do it, either. When an artist paints a lovely landscape, I marvel, because I know I can’t do that, either… and it seems incredible that someone else can. I marvel, because my eyes are normally on myself, worshipping myself, and esteeming myself as an idol. And when my eyes get torn away from myself, the ridiculousness of my idolatry is obvious—why in the world would I ever think that I, in my sinful weakness, should be a measure of anything? Why would I be surprised to find things in God’s creation far more sublime than I? Only because I have forgotten the magnificence and glory of God, who truly is the measure of all things.

In the reading from Acts, Peter and John encounter a beggar, lame from birth. His lot in life was to be placed at the entrance of the Temple, and beg for money so that he might eat that day. Lots of people knew him—they passed him often on their way to the Temple. Peter paused as he went through that gate, and looked at him. Noticing that the beggar was not paying much attention, he called to him, and insisted that the beggar pause and look at him. In that moment, Peter used the power given Him by Christ through the Holy Spirit, to heal him. It was an astonishing moment, and the people who had passed by this beggar all the years of his miserable life, now saw him leaping and dancing and praising God for his restoration. I bet you and I would marvel, too, and for the same reason—with our eyes firmly on ourselves, we know we don’t have power to do such things, and our delusions of self idolatry are stripped bare. Something greater than ourselves is at work before our eyes.

And that’s what Peter and John have to explain to the marveling people. First they ask why they are marveling in the first place—a rhetorical question, designed to shake them out of themselves, and to get them to pay attention to the real actor at work in their midst. Next, they correct the crowd’s mistaken assumption, that somehow either of them has this power within themselves—Peter and John do not present themselves as new idols to the people, as if to take the place of their self idolatry. Rather, Peter guides them to Jesus, who is the One at work in the Apostles—Peter never points to himself, or glorifies himself, but only and always sets forth Christ. Instead of giving the people another worthless idol, he directs their eyes to the Crucified and Risen Christ, who is God Almighty—the One for Whom nothing is difficult, nothing out of reach.

While the healing of the lame man was certainly a great work of God in the presence of the people, such healing of the flesh is small potatoes in the sight of God. The sinful flesh we all dwell in is destined for the grave, and whether He heals us of today’s infirmity or not, we’re still doing to die. The real work He wants to show us, is how He conquered death and the grave, and cures that evil poison which courses through our veins. He wants to show us His own Beloved Son, who took on our flesh, and in our place suffered the curse of sin for all people, of all time, and all places. Through His death and resurrection, He has turned the tables on the evil one, cast down Satan our accurser out of heaven, and reconciled us to our Holy God. Jesus has done the real work that God wants us to see and believe, because He knows that as we look at ourselves, we can only despair in the face of death. On our own, of our own power, we cannot escape the grave, nor the hell which lies beyond it. But through Jesus and His magnificent sacrifice, we have peace with God, and the Kingdom of Heaven awaits us beyond that same grave. By faith in the Son of God, the grave is no longer a portal to hell, but simply a passage from death to life, together with Jesus forever. Death and the grave have lost their sting—they are no longer to be feared. Jesus has defeated them, just as He defeated the evil one.

Does Jesus work wonders among the people, even today? Indeed! In every age of the Church, we have seen miraculous works of God. Through the power of prayer, the sick have been healed, and those on death’s door restored to life. Through the annals of Church History, the stories of the saints (which are only the tip of the iceberg,) and the experiences of Christians everywhere, we know that our God is alive, and works wonders of all sorts and kinds. But the great wonder that He is always guiding us toward, is His work of forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation, accomplished through Jesus Christ. That resurrection of dead sinners by grace through faith in the Son of God, is the greatest work we could be witness to—our God, triumphant over death and hell, saving us forever.

And why should we marvel? We know our Lord Jesus Christ to be alive, and at work amongst His people. He is alive, and thus we live, forevermore in Him. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed—Alleluia!

Meditations on Holy Week, 2012

There’s a lot going on in the churches these days. Besides the ruckus going on with various church bodies over matters of doctrine and practice, or over litigation and schism, or over power and plunder, or even over the issues that cause friction between the churches and the states in which they operate, there’s a lot going on inside the various congregations that has little to do with these more public spectacles. The churches are busy this time of year, with the labors of Holy Week.

For those of us who remember the ancient forms of the church’s pattern of worship, handed down for nearly 2000 years, Holy Week begins on the Sunday before Easter, marking Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem amidst the accolades and waving palms of the crowds. From the moment of Jesus’ incarnation at Christmas, He has been moving toward this monumental week, and He is neither distracted nor deflected from His path by these cries of “Hosanna!” He knows what is in the heart of man—a sinful disease that has no human cure, which only His spilled blood can wash away. He knows that these fickle hearts who clamor to make Him king this day, will call out for Him to be crucified only a few days later.

Then the season turns to the days of teaching and prophecy that Jesus gave His disciples in those last days before His Passion. Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday bear witness to Jesus’ not having lost sight of His mission to the cross… of His mission to save the world from sin, death, and the devil. He continues to call people to walk with Him, because He is the light of the world, and without His light, people only stumble and fall in the blackness of despair. As He has kept His disciples through His three years of ministry, He keeps them to the end.

On Maundy Thursday, our Lord celebrates the Passover feast with His disciples—something He says He has very much wanted to do. He knows, as He is celebrating this ancient feast which pointed to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, that its true purpose would be revealed in Him. There is a deliverance greater than the release from oppression of an earthly tyrant, and Jesus is about to work that miracle of our redemption from an unholy adversary. His very Body and Blood which will be given up and shed for the sins of the world, He now gives to His disciples as the perpetual Remembrance of Him. Christians in every century have heard our Lord’s words here, and taken them to heart. Jesus has given us the means to remember Him and what He has done for us, and we keep His word together with the bread and the wine.

On that very night, which passes into Good Friday, our Lord enters His Passion. Betrayed by a disciple, and abandoned by the others. Handed over by his own countrymen, to be tortured and crucified by foreign oppressors. Stripped bare of his clothing, and His flesh laid open by the scourge. Taunted and spat upon, even as He carried His own cross to the place of His execution. Nailed through hands and feet to the coarse wood of the cross, crowned with thorns, and the accusation of his mocked kingship placed over His wounded head. Lifted up for all to see, having the sins of the whole world laid upon Him, suffering the worst that the devil could muster against Him. Even in His agony, He ministers to the penitent thief dying next to Him, assuring Him that he would be with Him in paradise. And when all was complete, when every prophecy was fulfilled and every ounce of the Father’s wrath against sin and evil was poured out, He cried out with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. The Son of God, the Messiah promised to Eve in the Garden, heralded by the prophets of Israel for centuries as the hope of the nation and the hope of the whole world, hung dead on a Roman cross.

With Jesus in the tomb, the church waits silently through Holy Saturday, in communion with the disciples who huddled together, pondering what it meant for the Light of the World to have died at the hands of sinful men. Waiting, the church meditates on the price paid for the sins of every man, woman, and child who ever walked the earth since the beginning, and who will ever walk the earth until its end. Waiting, the church remembers that our Savior has suffered all, endured all, for the salvation of His people. The church waits with Jesus in the tomb, but not without hope.

For death cannot hold the Lord of Life, and Easter Sunday explodes forth in shouts of triumph from the people of God. Christ is risen, with healing in His wings. Christ is alive, and death is overthrown. Christ is living, and we who live in Him, shall live forever more. Christ reigns, and the devil shall never show His face in heaven again. Christ is our High Priest and Intercessor with the Father, and the accuser of the brethren is cast down. Sin, death, and the devil are defeated foes, because Christ lives!

Here is the heart of Holy Week—it is the eternally beating heart of our Crucified and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Here is the treasure the church has been given, that Christ has paid all, and that through His blood, we have reconciliation with God, forgiveness, and life forever more. Here is the miracle of this blessed season, that we who sat in darkness, have seen a Great Light—a Light no darkness can overcome. Christ is risen, and we who have been baptized into His death, are alive with Him forever. Christ is risen—let the kingdom of darkness quake and cower. Christ is risen—let the earth hear His voice, preached loud and clear in His eternal Gospel of salvation for all who will believe. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed—Alleluia!

Humility: Reflections on Philippians 2

What do you think of, when you contemplate humility? If you’re like me, you probably don’t ponder it enough to even ask that question… but we certainly should be thinking about it as Christians. Humility is something spoken of throughout Holy Scripture, and a theme taken up by the prophets (cf. Micah 6, among others.) St. Paul would draw us into such a consideration, by pointing us to Christ—His incarnation, passion, and resurrection. What do we learn from meditating on the image of Christ’s humility?

For starters, we learn the absurdity of our own pride. I don’t care how many degrees you’ve earned, or positions you’ve held, or money you’ve made, or trophies you’ve mounted on your wall—your pride isn’t worth squat. You can rack up all the awards and honors and trinkets that your “I-love-me” wall will hold, but at the end of the day, you’re just another damned sinner waiting for your day to die. You didn’t decide when to enter the world, and chances are you won’t decide when to leave it. Truth be told, you’re not even in control of much of what happens between those two pivotal events, as the wisp of your life’s few short years dissipate in the breeze of eternity, to be forgotten entirely by your own progeny within a couple generations. When we step back and look at ourselves for who and what we really are, pride should be the farthest thing from our minds.

But Jesus, on the other hand, has everything to be proud of. He is the eternally begotten Son of the Father, uncreated and never-ending. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Light of the World, which no darkness can overcome. He is the Wisdom and Word of God, through whom all things were made. He is perfect, and in perfect harmony and unity with the Father and the Spirit—the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. If there was ever anyone who had reason to be prideful, it is Jesus.

And beyond His eternal attributes of deity, out of love and compassion for us, He took upon Himself our created flesh, deigning to be born of the lowly Virgin, receiving from her his humanity. He condescended to live amongst us in our fallen world, made subject to the authority of human parents whom He created and sustained. And for the sake of the whole of humanity, from the dawn of time to the end of time, He submitted Himself to torture and death, that through His wounds we might be healed. He descended to the dead, and after three days in the tomb, rose, never to die again.

For all His unfathomable greatness, Jesus demonstrated humility and submission, for the good of His creation. And we, who by grace through faith in Him alone, inherit the wonders of His magnificent merit, live grafted into Him—His life becoming our life, conquering our sin, death, and the devil. We live because He lives, and gives His life for us. We no longer stand on our own blighted and deformed merits, but upon the solid rock of His eternal grace. We, who could not stand on our own, are made to stand, in and through Him.

So, when St. Paul calls us to have the mind of Christ, he not asking of us anything unreasonable. He is calling us to look to Christ our Savior, and see how He has come to serve rather than be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many. He calls us to surrender our false pride, and trade it for the humility of the Son of God, who has promised that none who believe in Him shall ever be put to shame. We, who have been given life in our Savior, are to be reflections of our Savior, even as He works out His will in and through us. This is humility—not that we work out our humbleness so that we might brag of it later—but that Christ’s humility be worked out in His people, through His own power moved through us, such that He is lifted up for all the world to see.

And He has said, as He is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself. Amen—so may it be.

The Word is Everything: Psalm 119:9-16

How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD!
Teach me Your statutes.
With my lips I have declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.
I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.

Of all the things we have a hard time believing in our modern era, the Word of God seems to be at the center of our angst. As a society, having inherited the principles of the Enlightenment, summed up well in the famous state motto of “Show me,” we’re not well inclined to believe much of anything. In order to win my trust, you have the obligation to “show” what it is you are saying to “me” in such a way, that you win my approval and acceptance. I am the measure of all things, including whatever words fall out of your mouth, or off the printed page. I am the judge, and I am the measure. Whatever word may exist out there, it has the obligation of convincing me of its validity, and why my sovereign brain should give it any thought at all. I am king, after all—at least inside my own head.

As much as that individual practice of judging all things and ideas may be helpful between purely human conversations, where each of the human actors is equally flawed and prone to error, it is a horrible way to approach the Word of God. God is not obliged to convince us of anything—frankly, He’s not even obliged to speak to us in the first place. While we’re busy convincing ourselves of our own magisterial merit, God sits enthroned over the whole of creation, with none to challenge Him. He is the beginning of all things, and He will be the end of all things. Eternally before all things came to be, and eternally after all things cease to be, He is. We might like think of ourselves as the measure of all things, but in reality, we’re the measure of just about nothing… we can’t even measure ourselves without a reference point. (As a sidebar, try measuring yourself sometime, without any external reference point; no other people, no watch, no scale, no measuring tape, no GPA, no GPS, no history; when you’ve finished the exercise of your own inherent incompetence, keep reading…)

At the end of the day, without the objective Word of God, given by the One who stands eternally as the objective standard by which all things are measured, judged, and even rationally comprehended, we’re lost. We need His Word to tell us up from down, left from right, good from evil. His Word is written in the very fabric of the universe He created, so that we can understand cause and effect, time and energy and mass, and even life and death. His Word pierces our darkness and confusion with the blinding light of His eternal Law, so that we might know the difference between His majesty and holiness, versus our own wretchedness and evil. His Word that brought all things to be, sustains them through His good and gracious will, and provides us the light we need to enlighten our reason, orienting ourselves in all things. The further we get from His Word, the more confused, irrational, and incoherent we become.

Most importantly, though, we need His Word which was made flesh and dwelt among us—a Word beheld by the Apostles full of grace and truth, as the Only Son of the Father. This Word we need most of all, because after the Word of His Law reveals the hopelessness of our fallen human condition, this Word Made Flesh reveals to us to resolution of our troubles. The very Word of God, Jesus Christ, who took on our flesh, our sin, our death, reveals to us not only the extent of sin’s curse, but the unfathomable richness of God’s love for each and every human being. The love of God is made known to us, in His Word Made Flesh, the very image of the invisible God. It is the Word of God which was nailed to the tree, suffered death at the hands of the sinful creatures He came to save, and rose victoriously from the grave. It is the Word of God which speaks to us, that life and forgiveness is found in Him alone—for no one comes to the Father but through the Son, by the working of the Holy Spirit.

When we come to the end of ourselves, we find that it really is all about the Word. The Word does not come to us to justify itself, but to give us Justification, where we have only death and hopelessness on our own. The Word need not present itself before us, yet it comes to every person, that we might know the love of God for us all. The King of the Universe has spoken in words of Law and Gospel, that we might hear, repent, believe, and live. The Word—His Word—is everything to us. May Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, ever be at the center of our meditations and contemplations, burning and hidden in our hearts, that we may never wonder from Him. Amen.

Meditations on Grace: Psalm 107

“Let them thank the LORD for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of men.”Psalm 107

The readings for this coming 4th Sunday in Lent, strike me as a great opportunity to meditate on what grace really is. In our confirmation classes we usually start out with basic definitions such as “an undeserved gift,” and work our way out from there. But as many Christians have put quite a few years under the bridge since middle school or high school confirmation studies, it might be time to revisit this concept again for a broader audience. Just what is grace, anyway?

In our psalm for this week, numerous human events are juxtaposed with God’s deliverance. People wander from God’s Word, and thus from God Himself, finding themselves in calamity and danger. Each time they return to God, calling out to Him in faith, He delivers them. The peoples’ weakness in faith, hope, and love, is met by their Creator with a steadfast love and wondrous works of salvation. What is unsure with people, becomes sure with God.

We can be deceived by the notion, that because God promises to deliver us when we call on him in faith, that somehow He owes this to us. After all, if God promised to deliver us, and we fulfill our end of the bargain, God is bound to keep up His end, right? We just do our wandering and self serving, keeping an eye on the horizon to ensure we don’t get too far away from God, and when it looks like the consequences of our evil are about to whack us, we run back to God and say, “save me!” That’s the old error we often refer to as “cheap grace,” which in the end, really isn’t grace at all. It’s a way of trying to exact wages from God—and believe me, you don’t want God giving you what you earned.

Grace being something undeserved, we can’t turn it into a work we initiate. We can’t manage God’s economy, play the derivatives market, and hope to profit at the end. The first of God’s gracious gifts is to bless us with His Law, which reveals our true situation—in the face of a holy God, we can only despair of our unfaithfulness and evil. But, in despairing of our own works, we are left with our eyes on Him as our only hope of salvation, as there is none left in all creation who can deliver us from our wages earned under sin. Those eyes which despair of the self and plead for mercy from above, are given the greater gift: forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ.

This is why grace can only be received by faith—a faith that trusts in Christ alone. There is nothing in ourselves we can hope to cling to, no plan we can hope to devise, no deal we can hope to cut. Our saving faith of trust and love is either in our Savior, or it is not. God is not bound to offer us anything other than judgment for the sake of our sins, but in Jesus Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness and healed by His wounds. Here, the repentant heart calls out in faith, “Lord, save me!” And here, our gracious and loving God reaches out to us just like He did to St. Peter on the raging waters, and taking our hand, asks us, “Why did you doubt?”

A good question for us to ponder during Lent—why do we doubt? Why do we leave the steadfast love of God, and go chasing idols made in our own image? Why do we tempt God by sleeping with the devil, and planning to hold God to account for saving us when our debauchery finds us out? Any willful sin is mortal and deadly, revealing our lack of faith, and hope, and trust in our saving God—and to those in mortal sin, they remain in mortal danger of the judgment of God, for apart from faith, there is no grace. But for those who believe, who have been given the Spirit’s gift of faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, there is no calamity or danger He will not rescue us from—no peril or enemy He will abandon us to. Living by grace, forgiven and free through faith in the Son of God, even the pains of death do not destroy us. Sin, death, and the devil are conquered, and we are left as inheritors of eternal life, through cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Let the devil rage, and the world chase their folly. We have Christ crucified for us, poor and miserable sinners though we be, and His gift of grace which He brings to our hearts of faith. There is no terror of the night or day which can harm us, no wickedness nor evil which can undo us. We live by grace through faith in Christ, who alone is the victor over every evil foe—who alone is the author and finisher of our faith. He calls to us, bidding us to repent, believe, and live. Hear Him. Amen.