Friday, November 29, 2013

Salvation is by His Word: Meditations on Isaiah 2




Isaiah wrote his prophecies many years ago, and more than seven centuries before the coming of Jesus.  His task was to receive from God messages of both salvation and destruction, for the people of God first, and then for the rest of the world.  In Isaiah we read many wonderful and terrifying things that span his long life as a prophet, speaking both to the people of his own time and place, and to peoples of every time and place.  But this is not surprising, since what Isaiah writes is not his own word, but God’s Words.

In the second chapter, Isaiah begins with a vision of God’s people set upon His Holy Mountain, making them a beacon of light and life to the whole world.  Gentiles, or the nations of the world, come to hear the Word of the Lord and walk in it.  As the Gentiles arrive, they are rebuked and judged by God, which results in them beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and giving up the ways of war, rebellion, and conflict.  They hear the Word of the Lord, believe Him, repent of their evil, and are ushered into life and security forever—a life and security they could not gain by their own evil and selfish powers, but are given freely through the gracious gift of God by faith.  In this vision of the restoration of the world, the People of God are identified as those who hear the Word of the Lord and keep it, regardless of their national or cultural roots.  Jew and Gentile, men and women, young and old, slave and free, all worship and live in the light and life of God’s good grace.  This is the focus of verses one through five.

However, the emphasis of the rest of chapter two, all the way through chapter five which completes this particular vision, reveal that just as God’s grace and mercy come to all who receive His Word and keep it, so too does the judgment of God fall on all who reject His Word.  With God, there is no respect of persons, no fudging at the edges.  He sees all things rightly, no matter how we try to mask them.  His omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent presence sees and understands all things rightly, and executes judgment without partiality or prejudice.  While the external appearance of those who gather to God to hear His Word and keep it is irrelevant in the grace and mercy He pours out upon them, so too is the external appearance of all those who refuse His Word irrelevant, as He pours out upon them His wrath.  Whether Jew or Gentile, men or women, young or old, slave or free—none is spared His wrath, who reject His Word.

And though this sounds brutal to our modern ears, it is a word we need to hear.  Regardless of the finery and pleasantries we wrap ourselves in, God is not deceived, and neither is He mocked.  What we sow, we shall reap:  either grace by faith, or judgment by rebellion.  Whether we call ourselves Christians or not, God sees the hearts of all.  Whether we call ourselves Lutherans or Romans, Methodists or Baptists, Quakers or Mennonites, He sees the hearts of all and His judgment is always by His Word.  We can hide no better behind our ceremony and beauracracy today, than the ancient Israelites did in their day.  Our pious manners and fine vestments, our canons, liturgies and creeds, mean nothing, if we do not hold to the Word of God.  To Him, every heart is laid bare, and there is no partiality with Him.  If we think we can hide behind our offices, our pointy hats, our jeweled staves, our stained glass windows, our great cathedrals, or our patriotic pride, we will find them all as chaff in the wind of God’s fiery judgment.  No human pretence will survive the glory of His appearing.

So at root, the question comes to us:  will we hear His Word, keep it, and live?  Or will we reject His Word, and perish?  It is the only question worth asking, for every person who was ever born, and every person who will ever pass upon this earth.  For there is salvation found in none other, hope and life found nowhere else, than in the Word of God.  Only the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.  Only the Word of God spoke all things into being, and to Him alone shall all things return.  Only the Word of God seeks and saves the lost, taking upon Himself the sins and evils of the whole world through His Cross, that His death may be our death, and His eternal life be our eternal life.  Only the Word of God speaks peace to His disciples, in a world torn with war and vice.  Only the Word of God calls to the entire world, calling all to repent, believe and live in Him.  Only the Word of God is life, salvation, and hope forever.  Only the Word of God is Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory.

Where do we hear our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, the Eternal Word of the Father?  Where is the Mountain He has called us to, that we may hear the Word of the Lord and keep it?  He has spoken through His prophets and apostles, and left us His Word in the Holy Scriptures.  He continues to send forth His servants to preach His Word, to be stewards of His Mysteries, and administer the Signs of His Covenant with His People.  He is the one who calls, gathers, enlivens, and creates the Church by the power of His Holy Spirit working through His Word, giving life, forgiveness of sins, salvation, and hope to all who will hear Him, repent, and believe.  And it is He who will come again, to judge the living and the dead.  With Him there is no respect of persons, but only good and righteous judgment.  For all who are found in Him by grace through faith, there is life forevermore.  For all who are found apart from His Word, there is destruction and condemnation forevermore.

Here the People of God stand, though the whole world give way.  Here the Church stands, upon the Eternal Word of God, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.  Here we live by grace through faith in the Word of our Lord Jesus, who has given His life as a ransom for many, that all who believe in Him shall never be put to shame.  Here we gather together, from every nation and tribe, tongue and tradition, to hear what the Lord will speak to us:  of His Law, calling us to repentance, and of His Gospel, calling us to faith in His forgiveness and mercy for Jesus’ sake.

Here on the Word and person of Jesus Christ we stand.  Here we live.  Amen.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Father Forgive them: A meditation on Luke 23



When Jesus is making His way, scourged and bleeding under the weight of His Cross, to the place of His execution at the hands of sinful men, there are many voices that St. Luke records.  Earlier, there are the amused and then bored voices of Herod and his court; the voices of the crowds calling for His crucifixion; the mocking insults and derision of the soldiers and religious leaders.  But in the midst of this evil cacophony clamoring for His Blood, Our Lord speaks words that reverberate through history:   “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

To be sure, the Pharisees knew what they were doing; they were killing off a rival and a trouble maker, one who might be a threat to their own power and religious leverage over the people.  The Romans knew what they were doing; Pilate was executing an innocent man for the sake of the mob and his own peace, while his soldiers were brutally reveling in the administration of their duty.  The crowds knew what they were doing; they called out for Jesus to die, and for the murderer Barabas to be released in His stead.  Even the women and the disciples who mourned and lamented His path to Calvary knew what they were doing; they wept for the loss of their teacher, the one they had hoped would be the Messiah to save them.  In a sense, all these knew what they were doing, from the traitor Judas to the denier Peter, and everyone in between.  They were indulging their own evil, their own pride, their own fear and their own cowardice.

But what they did not know, was who they really were, and who Jesus really is.  They did not know, that even in the midst of their seemingly pious lives, that they were living out their own Original Sin which separated them from God and from eternal life.  They did not know, that each of their sinful actions betrayed a deeper spiritual problem that afflicts all mankind—a disease that courses through the veins of every living soul, bringing about death and hell.  They did not know, that they were living out the mess of their own spiritual darkness, dead in their trespasses and sins, unable to seek or please God.  They did not understand, that they did what they did, because of who they were.  They were not sinners because they crucified the Lord of Life, but rather, they crucified the Lord of Life because they themselves were sinful, wretched, and damned sinners to the core.  In the presence of the Holy God, they rose up in murderous rebellion, as Lucifer their master taught them.

Of course, what they also didn’t know, was that the God who gave them breath to cry out, “Crucify Him!” was also the God they whipped and scourged through the hands of the Roman torturers.  They did not know, that the One who breathed the universe into existence, was the one they mocked and ridiculed with their vicious taunting.  They did not know, that they nailed the Lord of Glory to a tree, the One who spoke to their Fathers and promised them redemption.  They did not know, that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of David, Solomon, and the Prophets, would hang dead on a Roman cross by their hands.  They did not know what horrors the sin of man would perpetrate upon the very Son of God, the Beloved, the Only Begotten.  They did not know how deep their curse ran, or their enslavement to the evil one, that would bring them to rise up and kill the One who descended from on high to save them.

They did not know who they were, or who He is.  But in their evil arrogance, the Love of God pierced the darkness of human sin, and teaches us in every age to know not only ourselves, but our Savior.  Now we know the depth of our evil, our pride, and our sin.  Now we know that we deserve nothing of God but judgment, condemnation, eternal suffering and despair.  Now we know who we are.  We are wicked and wretched sinners, who in our own depravity, deserve nothing but death and hell.

But with the knowledge of our lost and hopeless condition, another knowledge comes to us, too.  In this moment of darkest human despair, the Light of Christ reaches out to us from His Cross, and we learn of the love of God for lost and broken mankind.  Here in the suffering and dying Jesus, we learn just how far God will go to save His people.  The Blood we called for in our sin, He always intended to pour out for the life of the world.  The Body we tortured and nail to the tree, He always intended to offer up for the sins of the world.  The Blood and Water that we took from His side by the thrust of a spear, He always intended to give for the rebirth of the world.  What we now know, is the love of God in Jesus Christ, that seeks and saves the lost.

At this end of all things, in these moments that call us to remembrance of great and wondrous truths, we learn from Jesus what we could not know without Him.  We learn that we are lost, and cannot save ourselves.  And yet we learn, that God seeks and saves us lost sinners, through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, calling us by the power of His Holy Spirit to repent, believe, and live in Him forever.

So, too, the persecuted Church prays for the world, as Christ prayed for us upon His Holy Cross:  “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  But how shall they know, if no one tells them?  How shall they hear, without a preacher of the Divine Law and Gospel?  And how shall they preach, if they are not sent?  For the grace which saves us by faith comes by the Word of Christ, and as it calls to us, so it calls out from the Cross to the entire world:  “Hear Him.  Repent.  Believe.  Live.”  Amen.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Danger of Idleness: A Meditation on 2nd Thessalonians 3



After having help set the church of Thessalonica straight on the second coming of Jesus, St. Paul begins in chapter three of his second letter, to warn them against idleness.  While Jesus hasn’t come back yet, and it’s possible He won’t be coming back for a while, St. Paul warns that this is no excuse to be “busybodies” and unproductive people.  To the contrary, he urges the people to faithful action, knowing that we will all be accountable to Christ when we meet Him—either at our death, or on the Day of His return.

To make the matter more severe, St. Paul tells the Christians at Thessalonica, not to associate with those who are disorderly among them—and specifically, with those who busy themselves with meaningless activities, and do not work to support themselves.  Rather than telling the Thessalonian Christians to give charitably to those who will not support themselves, he gives them the reminder of his earlier admonition:  “If a man will not work, neither shall he eat.”  In this, St. Paul makes a distinction between the poor who cannot feed themselves, and the poor who could work, but would rather live off the work of others.  To this second category of people, who are capable of working but choose not to, St. Paul preaches a word of Law that sounds brutal in our contemporary ears—if they choose not work and support their needs, then they are to be avoided in the Christian fellowship, and left to starve.

In our more “enlightened” age, I can see St. Paul’s admonishment roundly derided.  We have, in our nation and in many western nations, a system of public support for people who do not work, so that starvation does not generally occur in our land.  We build social safety nets with the primary intention of helping those in need, without much concern for the merit of those receiving the aid.  This system of social care is a political construct, and one that nations create or maintain according to social or political will.  And as with so many things, matters of state should not be confused with matters of the Church.  St. Paul is not communicating to the local Roman governor of Thessalonica, and is not attempting to here to move or motivate social and political policy.  St. Paul is speaking to the Church.

And if we remember this, we will be able more easily to see the recurring eternal truth that St. Paul writes about in all his letters:  while no one is saved by works of the Law, but rather by grace through faith in Christ alone, such saving faith in Christ is never apart from the good and holy works of the Law.  Our Lutheran Confessions make the same point in both the Augustana and the Apology, echoing what Jesus Himself taught us—good trees produce good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit, which causes us to know each other by our fruits.  Thus, within the community of the Church, if we observe a brother or sister who refuses to work, but rather desires to unjustly and presumptuously live off the work of another, what we observe through such selfish and lazy fruit, is a heart of unbelief.  Saving faith cannot coexist with mortal sin, and any sin—including laziness and sloth—which we refuse to repent and be forgiven of, is damnable.  St. Paul helps us to understand this, in light of the Lord’s Second Coming.

If we are honest with ourselves, we are pretty lazy people.  One doesn’t have to look far back into history, to find a generation that tended to work six days a week, rising before dawn till far after dusk, receiving far fewer benefits than we do today.  From the saints and the martyrs, to the craftsmen and the farmers, the people of just 70 or 80 years ago would put us to shame with their work ethic, sacrifice, and sense of duty.  But even they, if they were honest, knew they were not giving every thought, word, and deed the proper effort and effect that God calls for in His divine perfection.  We are a broken and sinful people, even at our best.  And if we for even a moment manage to do all that the Lord commands of us, both in avoiding evil and in doing His works of love and faith (a prospect I am not convinced we pull off, even for a moment,) the best we could say to our Lord, is that in that moment we have done only what was our duty to do.

Poor sinners that we are, what shall we do?  As in the light of every sin that the Law of God causes us to see in ourselves, we are called by God to repent and believe the Gospel.  For it is still faith that hears the Word of the Lord—the severity of the Law, and the sweetness of the Gospel—and keeps it by the power of the Holy Spirit given to us when we are born from above by Water and Spirit.  In ourselves, we have no hope to fight against our native laziness and sloth, and for it we would be condemned.  But the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ shines down upon us, for Our Lord has taken this sin of ours, and nailed it to His Cross, suffering in His very Body for the sins that should damn us to hell.  Now free from the condemnation of the Law, we approach it anew with eyes of faith, seeking to work out our faith in love of God and neighbor.  And we do this work of faith, not by compulsion nor out of fear of condemnation, but in response to the great love of God poured out upon us through His Only Begotten Son.

And so may the Lord find us believing and working, when He comes.  Amen.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Great Falling Away: A Meditation on 2nd Thessalonians 2



To the Church in Thessalonica, St. Paul writes two epistles, both with much the same content.  He praises God for their faithfulness and love, and their witness which has emanated out into the country all around them.  While Paul and his colleagues suffer great persecution in their missionary journeys, they take joy in the faithfulness of the church planted in the city of Thessalonica.  He also calls them to ever greater faith and love, working out their salvation in Jesus Christ through good works, empowered by the Holy Spirit given to them by faith.  Doing well, St. Paul encourages them to ever greater holiness, and ever greater conformance to the image of their Savior, Jesus Christ.

But something has troubled the minds of the Christians at Thessalonica, addressed by St. Paul lightly in his first epistle to them, and more strongly in his second.  It would appear that someone has unsettled the believers in Thessalonica regarding the resurrection of the dead, and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that doubt has crept into the Church.  There seems to be worry about those who have fallen asleep in the Lord, and also for the saints gathered, regarding whether or not Jesus had already come, or if they might somehow miss it.

In Chapter 2 of his second epistle, St. Paul makes several things clear:  the saints had not missed Jesus’ Second Coming; those who have died in Christ, shall be raised with Christ; and that a mystery of iniquity already at work in the world will be fulfilled before that Great Day arrives, which includes a great falling away from the faith and a Man of Sin whom Jesus will destroy upon His Return.

What is this great “falling away,” and who is this “Man of Sin”?  While many have struggled to answer these questions over the centuries, Scripture seems to point to the great falling away as a general and broad apostasy of the Church of Christ, and that the Man of Sin is the Antichrist working under the power and authority of the Devil (cf. St. John’s Apocalypse).  While St. Paul and St. John make it clear that the forces of evil are already at work in the world, producing apostasy and antichrists all over the world (and in many local congregations of believers,) something great and terrible will be the ultimate fulfilling of these forces.  While there will always be apostates, heretics, and false prophets, some even working wicked wonders under the power of the evil one who gives them of his infernal power, near the end of time and before the Lord’s Return, these will reach epic and cataclysmic proportions.

And what should the Church do, who hears the Word of the Lord through St. Paul in this epistle?  If we know that an evil spirit of apostasy and lawlessness is at work in the world (and has been since the first Fall of mankind, until this very day,) and we know that eventually it will rise up in a horrible fulfillment of its wicked desires, so that this great Man of Sin shall present himself as God even in the very temple of God, when the One True God finally removes the restraint He has had against Him all these millennia, what are we to do?  St. Paul answers this very question, in 2:15-17:

Therefore, brethren, stand fast,
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word, or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ
himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and
hath given [us] everlasting consolation and good hope
through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you
in every good word and work.

What do we do, when we see the churches of the world prostituting themselves with other gods, in violation of the First Commandment?  What do we do, when we see ostensibly Christian theologians teaching against the Virgin Birth and deity of Christ, against Justification by Grace through Faith in Christ alone?  What do we do, when whole church bodies call evil good, and good evil?  What do we do, when we see an antichrist, elevating their own human word over the very Word of God, sitting down as if they were gods themselves in the very Church of Christ?  We do what St. Paul tells us to—we stand firm in the Word of Christ.

It is Christ’s Word that brought the world into being, and still sustains it to its very last day.  It is Christ’s Word that breathed life into us, and every person on the face of the earth.  It is Christ’s Word that spoke Law on Mt. Sinai, and Gospel on Mt. Calvary.  It is Christ’s Word that forgives our sins, grants us His life and His salvation, and calls us to live in Him through faith and repentance.  It is Christ’s Word that brings the world to its end, gathering the saints unto Himself and casting the wicked into hell forever.  It is Christ’s Word that shall consume all apostasy and antichrists, even the great apostasy and Antichrist of the final conflict.  It is Christ’s Word that shall keep His people, so that all who believe in Him, even though they die, they shall live forever in Him.

In the face of the apostasy and antichrists of our time, be they greater or lesser, we respond with the Apostles saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the Word of Eternal Life.”  Here we stand fast, upon all that has been handed down to us by Christ’s Holy Prophets and Apostles.  Here we stand firm, though the whole world give way.  Here we stand, though the heathen rage, the Devil ravage, and the wicked seat themselves in chairs of authority in the Church of Christ.  Here we stand—we can do no other.  And God shall help us, and be our salvation.  His Word is our life—stand fast.  Amen.