Choosing Life or Death—A Meditation on Deuteronomy 30

Choosing between life and death, seems the easiest and most natural thing that we do every day.  I choose to get out of bed, to go to work, to eat meals, to tend to my house and family, to relax in the evening, and go to sleep when I’m tired.  I choose to breathe, to walk, to talk, to love, to fight, to make peace, to make war… all those things that go with being alive.  I choose what to think about, and what to ignore, what to remember and what to forget.  Choosing to live versus choosing to die, should be natural and easy for me—completely rational, and obvious to every human being on the planet.

So if choosing life is so easy and natural, why am I surrounded by death?  Why do neighbors murder neighbors, or even members of their own families?  Why do nations rage against each other, or even within themselves, spilling the blood of countless thousands?  Why do mothers and fathers murder their children, or children murder each other on school yards?  If choosing life is natural and easy for me, why is it so hard for everyone else?

But is it really so easy for me?  When I rise to meet the day, would I rather not be lazy and stay in bed?  When I go to work, do I grumble about it, and then do as little as I can for the money I receive?  When I eat my food, do I eat what is good for me and contributes to health, or do I gluttonously gorge on things I ought not… or perhaps rather starve myself in a vain pursuit of beauty?  Do I tend to my home and family as I ought, or do I only give them the time that I scrape together between my other endeavors?  Do I make peace when I should fight for truth, or make war when I should pursue reconciliation?  Do I butcher love into self serving debauchery, and take it from those to whom I owe it?  Do I use my reason and will to ponder and pursue the good, or rather, do I waste my mind on frivolity and vanity, chasing the illusions of fancy?

Ah, there’s the rub.  In reality, choosing life is not so natural nor easy for me.  For me, choosing death and destruction is my default setting—as it is for the whole human race.  My broken, deformed, and fallen human nature has lost its inclination to life, and rather pursues the wide and easy path to destruction.  Why do the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?  Because they are filled by people just like me.

Into this darkness of our own making, comes light and hope.  As Moses’ eyes begin to dim, and God tells him that his death is near, Moses once again sets the Word of the Lord before the people, calling them to choose life rather than death.  Where the people were lost in their own trespasses and sins, inclined to every kind of evil under the sun, Moses calls them to hear a different voice, and follow a different path.  The words of men emerge from their own broken hearts, but the Word of God shines forth from the Author of Life Himself.  To hear and remain in His Word, is to choose life—to hear and believe His Word, is to live, rather than die.

And yet, even to those whom the Word of God came, there was struggle and strife.  The broken and fallen nature of man, even when it hears the Word of Life, wrestles against itself in the war for the soul.  God calls everyone to life and salvation, because He does not desire the death of even a single person—but every person on this globe is hell bent on destroying themselves, with the poison of the evil one coursing through their veins.  So for us, who have heard the Word of God and yet struggle to keep it, who know the Law and the Gospel and fail to persevere in it, who can see the divergent paths of Life and Death yet battle to set our feet upon them—what hope is there for us?  We who feel the war of good versus evil raging in our own person, tearing at our minds and blistering our flesh; we who by the mercy of God have become at the same moment both sinner and saint, an old and new creation battling for dominance in the vaults of our own soul; what is our hope in such a war as this?  What is our deliverance from the suffering and death we know comes so easy to our thoughts, words, and deeds?  Who shall deliver us from this body of sin and death?

Thanks be to God, it is Jesus Christ, our Lord!  When we cannot keep the Word God has spoken to us, Jesus as the very Word Made Flesh comes to dwell among us, full of grace and truth.  When we can only see the heavenly city by revelation even as well fall by own hands into the pit of hell, Jesus comes to seek and to save we who are lost.  Naked, blind, poor and dying are we, and yet Jesus comes to us with healing, forgiveness, and life eternal.  In the light of His Divine Word we see and acknowledge our just penance of eternal death for the wickedness and twisted evil that we are, but Jesus comes to take our justice upon Himself, so that He might speak His Word of grace and peace to us through His shed Blood and broken Body.

How is it, that we choose Life rather than Death?  Of our own, we could not make such a choice—but thanks be to God, that in Jesus Christ, He has chosen Life for us!  As Jesus said to His disciples, they did not choose Him, but He chose them—and so He has chosen us.  Jesus has chosen Life for us, and paid the penalty of eternal suffering and death owed by every man, woman, and child that has ever lived, and shall ever live.  Through His Cross, He has defeated death, destroyed hell, bound the devil, and opened the gates of the Heavenly City to all who will receive Him.

Jesus has chosen life for us, called us out of the world to be His own, and to live forever, forgiven and free.  In this Life He has given to us, which is His own eternal Life, He sends us forth to breathe this Word of Faith and Repentance to all who will hear and believe.  Jesus is the Word in whom we abide, the path of Life and hope and peace—and it is the Word of Jesus that abides in us, welling up to eternal Life, and a hope that shall not disappoint.  In the midst of all this suffering and pain, of evil rising and death sweeping over both ourselves and our world, we hear our Risen Lord speak His Word of Life to us:  “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  Be at peace, and remain in Him by faith in His Word, that His grace may overflow upon and within you.  By the power of His Gospel come to you, choose Life, and let death and the devil flee.  Amen.

Humility: Meditations on Luke 14

I’m not sure when last you thought about humility, but I find it a difficult thing to ponder.  Not because it is particularly hard to understand, but because it is always harder to apply to myself than I original think it will be.  But I suppose that is true of all God’s Laws—broken down, they are far easier to understand, than they are to live.

For example, I think most people can easily perceive humility when they see it.  Honest humility, when it is exhibited in our presence, is a remarkable thing to behold—it is quiet, yet speaks volumes; it is meek, but remarkably strong; it is cloaked, but unmistakable; it is simple, but it is wise.  Humility does not promote the self over others, yet works and cares for those all around.  It is not hyperventilating or wringing its hands over issues and problems, but calmly uses what gifts are given to relieve the suffering of others.  It is not easily angered or depressed, but lives each moment as one given by God.  It does not seek honor or privilege, but promotes and strengthens others.  It is selfless and unworried about personal calamities and tragedies, and yet keenly aware of the struggles of others.

Why is this?  Because humility is fundamental to understanding who we are, and why we are here.  A humble person understands their place in the universe—their relationship to God, their neighbor, and the whole created world.  Such a person knows why God has brought them to the moment in which they live, and knows that God will carry them not only through this moment, but through every moment of eternity.  No matter the calamity or prosperity of the day, nothing can separate the humble from the love of God their Savior, because the humble know that the promises of God are more sure than anything else in all creation.

Like so many times when we look into the mirror of the Law, we see ourselves deficient.  God commands His people to be humble, to know their place in the created order, and to be content with the grace provided to them both now and in eternity.  But when we look at ourselves, we often are far less than humble.  We nurture our pride with accolades and awards, degrees, titles and certificates, fancy clothes and cars, fine food and pleasant vacations—all with the unstated premise that we deserve these things… that we’ve earned a right to all these things.  We think we are owed our pleasantries, our honorable seats at feasts and festivities.  We think we deserve to have lives devoid of pain and suffering, but full of fatness and gluttony.  Deep down, we think God should give us what we want and what we think we deserve, should honor us and pamper us, because of what we think we’re worth.  We think God owes us life, money, sex, pleasure, vehicles, houses, education, vacations, good health, and victory in all our pursuits.  In fact, what we really think, is that we’re more important than God, and that God should bow to us.

And so, in the light of the Law of Humility, we find that we are anything but humble.  Rather, we find that we are much closer in kinship with the devil, who despised all the created gifts he was given, and wanted rather to be God—to make the only True God bow to him.  We are not humble, but rather, we are prideful, rebellious, and wicked sinners, to whom God owes nothing but wrath and eternal condemnation.

But where do we find the Law of Humility satisfied?  In Jesus Christ, our Lord.  It was Jesus, who though eternally begotten of the Father, in humility was born of a lowly Virgin, took on human nature, lived among the human race, set aside His divine prerogatives and suffered at the hands of sinful men.  In humility, the Creator went to the Cross, allowing Himself to die under the misused authority of His creatures, in order to save our sinful race from the curse that enslaved us to sin, death, and the devil.  The humility of Jesus Christ knew the love of the Father, not only in the present moment, but in all moments of all eternity, and secure in that love, poured out His Life as a ransom for the souls of men.  Risen the third day, and now seated at the Right Hand of the Father, from whence He shall come again to judge the living and the dead, and whose Kingdom will have no end, He calls to all the world to repent of their evil, believe in His saving Gospel, and live forever with Him.

We may never achieve the fullness of humility while we struggle in this world against the sin that so easily ensnares us, but with our eyes cast upon Christ our Savior, we can see what the love of God can accomplish through the humility of His Son.  With our eyes upon Jesus and His Cross, we can reflect His humility to those around us, while the Love of God in Jesus Christ pours out upon us, and through us, to the suffering world around us.  We have no need to fear this moment in which we live, nor any moment yet to come.  God has shown His Love for us in the person of His Son, and His promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation, are more sure than any thing in heaven above or the earth beneath.  Christ our Savior has become our life, our love, our hope, and our humility.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

How good it is to dwell in unity; a meditation on Psalm 133

                The Psalmist notes something that should sound natural to us—that unity is a good and pleasant way to live.  We find this in our families, our communities, our nations; we find it in our groups of friends, our associations, and our pubs.  We know that it is far more pleasing to live together with those we share a common unity, than to strive with those who are divided from us.  Further, we know that division is often painful, resulting in conflict and strife.  Anyone who has ever seen the scourges of war, knows that no one wants to live that way forever—we only fight wars when they are most necessary, and always with the intent to return to peace.  No one wants to invade the beaches of Normandy every day forever, anymore than we would want to fight the battles of Gettysburg again, and again, and again.  War and bloodshed, conflict and strife, are awful things, even when they are most necessary.

                If this sounds intuitive in other spheres of life, we should not be surprised by the preference of peace and unity over discord and strife in the Church.  Anyone who has spent time in a Christian congregation that is rent asunder by conflicts and contention, can tell you what a draining and unpleasant experience it is.  While there is a time and place for conflict, when truth must triumph over error, or good over evil, living in a constant state of contention is withering to both body and soul.  This is not the way Christ intends His congregations to live, as noted in His High Priestly Prayer (John 17.)  Jesus prays for His people to remain one, in the way that He and the Father are One, bound together in a unity of those hear and believe His Word, with a common love, and a common hope, born of a common baptismal grace.  It is this unity St. Paul would mention later, as he reflects on the reality of there being only one faith, one baptism, and one Father of us all.  For there is only One Church, with One Head, who is Jesus Christ—a Church which is composed of those who are truly the disciples of Jesus, hearing His Word and keeping it.

                So if the peaceful unity of the Church is such a good and precious thing, why is it so hard to find?  Why do we find Christians verbally eviscerating each other all over the internet, and in print publications ad nauseum, all to the delight of a growing secular atheistic public who would like nothing more than the Church of Jesus Christ to consume itself and leave them be?  What is it that really divides Christian brothers and sisters, one from another?  The answer, is evil.

                Evil plays itself out in the Church, because the Church is entirely populated in this world by sinners.  We, who have been baptized into Christ and are born from above by Water and Spirit, have most certainly been raised up into a new life in Christ—but so long as we are in this world, that new life struggles against the old life, both locked in mortal combat, knowing that in the end, only one of them will endure.  The old life, or what St. Paul called the Old Adam, seeks to glorify the self, and is hopelessly twisted toward evil desires, away from the Word of God.  The new life, or the New Adam created by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, is one that lives by the Spirit and seeks to produce the fruits of the Spirit—a love which fulfils the whole of the Divine Law, oriented toward the Word of God.  St. Paul tells us that if we live according to the old, fleshly Adam, we will die, condemned to eternity in hell, with the devil and the evil angels, where all evil will eventually be contained forever.  If we live according to the Spirit, the new Adam who is conformed to the image of Christ, we will live forever in Him.  While we struggle in this world between our two natures, the one fallen and the other enlivened, we often yield to our darker nature and fail to keep the Word of the Lord.  Whenever we fail to keep the Word of the Lord, we fail to maintain that godly unity between ourselves, which forever exists between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

                And so, what is the Church to do?  We return to the source of our life and our hope, which is the very Word of Christ.  When there is conflict between Christian brothers and sisters, we seat ourselves under the Word of God, and let our old Adamic nature be submitted to it.  Do I feel a need to glorify myself, to worship my own “felt needs,” or prefer myself over my neighbor?  Then I need to hear the Law of God which calls me to repent, and believe the Gospel, that my sins may be forgiven, and I may live again unto Christ.  Have I been wounded by my neighbor’s sin?  Rather than seeking vengeance or justice, I must hear the Word of God, which has forgiven me my every trespass, and commands that I also forgive my neighbor.  If there are those who are ignorant of the Word of Christ, in whole or in part, then those with knowledge must teach them, patiently and kindly, in all humility and compassion, loving every sinner as Christ loves them, with all longsuffering and endurance.    If there is one in the Body of Christ who refuses to hear the Word of the Lord, refuses to believe and repent, then he is put out of the Body until his time of repentance comes—and if he does return in faith and repentance, he is received with joy and gladness.  It is a simple unity of the faithful around the Word of Christ, and it is the way the Church remains One, as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are One.

                The call of Christ to every Christian, is to repent and believe the Gospel.  Thus every Christian throughout the world, regardless of the organizational divisions we have created for ourselves, is called to hear the Word of Christ, turn from our own selfish evil, and believe together what Christ has taught us.  There is nothing of Holy Scripture that we leave behind, explain away, or disregard.  There is nothing we add to the Word of Christ, so that doctrines of men might be taught as if they were doctrines of God.  We sit at the Master’s feet, receiving His free gifts of grace, life, forgiveness, and salvation through His Eternal Word—and alive in His Word, we love each other, extending to each other the love of God in Christ Jesus.  We are patient with each other, bearing one another’s burdens, preferring rather to be abused and afflicted than to wound or retaliate against our neighbor.  We are conformed into the image of our Savior, who suffered all things at the hands of sinful men, that He might win salvation for sinners like us.  May the Lord grant that we begin again to hear His Word and keep it, together in the unity He has called us to maintain, living into our baptismal grace—together in Faith, Hope, and Love.  Amen.

Meditations on Psalm 148: Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

Have you ever stopped to think about what this phrase means?  It falls so easily off the tongue, that one could speak it without ever thinking about what it actually means—like so many other things we say without thinking about them.  Like, “Good morning,” or “How are you?” or “Bless you,” or any of dozens of others.  If you ever want to test this phenomenon (and be forever branded a social weirdo,) try answering any of these phrases with something other than a standard response.  You’ll find out that people don’t really think about what kind of “good” they are wishing you for the morning, that they really don’t care to hear “how” you are doing anything, and they have no idea what kind of “blessing” you require after a hearty sneeze.

Praise the Lord!  So, what does this phrase mean?  It’s sprinkled all over the Scriptures, and begins nearly every line of the 148^th Psalm.  Beyond Holy Scripture, Christians bandy this phrase around all the time, sometimes using it in ways that if you really thought about how it was used, you’d be really confused.  So… just how do you “praise” the Lord?  What is “praise?”  Who should “praise” the Lord?  When should we “praise” the Lord?  Does saying the words, “Praise the Lord!” actually “praise” the Lord?  Yep, I know… I just branded myself as that social weirdo for even asking the questions.  I can hear someone saying even now, “Geeze—it’s just a Christian phrase!  Stop analyzing it.”  But of course, you know I can’t.

Praise the Lord!  As this phrase is found in Psalm 148, it is a command… which means that from a Lutheran perspective, this is Divine Law.  We are commanded to praise the Lord, because it is good, right, and salutary for all created beings to praise their Maker.  Furthermore, it is right for all creatures to praise the Creator for all His good and glorious works that ring throughout the universe.  For everything that God does, and for everything that He permits to occur in His universe, we are commanded to praise Him.  Getting nervous yet?  It means that for everything that has ever happened in your life, for every painful and depressing and self-deflating thing you have ever encountered, you are commanded to praise the Lord.  If your track record is as good as mine, I bet you fail pretty miserably to praise God, when disasters both small and great befall you.  Failing to praise the Lord when we don’t feel like it, is a symptom of our cursed, twisted, and fallen nature—it is sin, and it is damnable.  This is just one aspect of the Divine Law we fail to keep, failing to at all times in all places, give thanks and praise, worship and laud and honor to the Almighty and Ever-living God.  Poor, miserable sinners we are, that our pain and selfishness stops our minds, and hearts, and mouths from giving God the praise He is due at all times, in all places, and in every situation.

Praise the Lord!  The Law is painful, isn’t it?  Harsher than we often think, when we throw it around so casually—and when we throw it at our neighbor, often without thinking.  What hope is there in this phrase, this command?  None at all.  It does its work well, and points us to our twisted depravity.  But from our bended knees, as we confess our sinfulness and failure to give God the praise He is due, another voice rings out to us, this time, from the Cross.  Jesus Christ, who always praises His Father, even as He hung dying on the tree for the sins of the world, speaks a word to His people:  I have fulfilled the Law—I have gloried the Name of God in Myself, and it shall be glorified and praised forevermore!  I have paid the price for your twisted and selfish pride, for your lack of just praise.  And with My Blood, I absolve you of your sins, that you may live forever with Me—forgiven and free.

Praise the Lord!  Ah, now the Gospel rings out in all its glory!  Now the people of God hear these words as Gospel, for Christ is our praise where our own has failed—Christ is our Victor and our Savior, where we have fallen.  What the Law could not accomplish by command because of our own sinful and fallen nature, the Gospel brings forth by faith working in love.  The Christian knows that he has not and cannot praise God rightly of his own resources, but enlivened and empowered by the Holy Spirit, that same Christian sings out glory, laud, and honor to our Redeemer King—a fulfilling of the Law by the love of God in Christ Jesus, poured out into and through His people who live by grace through faith in Him.  The Christian sings out praises of God in Christ Jesus our Savior, as faith in Him and His saving Gospel, causes the divine love of God to erupt from His justified and sanctified people.  Here now, in the light of the Gospel, the whole Christian life is turned into one eternal song of praise and thanksgiving to God, who has done all things well.  We are grafted into Christ, so that His death is our death, and His life is our life—and together with our Savior we sing forth the praise He is due.  Alive in Christ, by His power and His victory over sin, death, and the devil, our sins forgiven and our whole person reconciled to God now and for eternity, Christ Jesus accomplishes in us what we could never do of ourselves:

Praise the Lord!  Amen.