Archive for July, 2007

August 5, 2007 marks the 10th Sunday after Pentecost with readings from Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-26 (Vanity of vanities); Colossians 3:1-11 (Put on the new man) and Luke 12:13-21 (Divide the inheritance). Chosen to preach on is Colossians 3:8 which reads, “But now you must also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.”

On the one hand the Bible teaches that we are right with God by grace through faith on account of Jesus Christ. Then a verse like this comes along which gives the impression that unless you put off these sins (anger, wrath, etc.) the wrath of God will come upon you (verse 6). How can each of these be reconciled? Theology is the art of making distinctions and one of the most important L&G distinctions is that between justification and sanctification.

The tendency, of course, is to read this passage as though it was based on a religion of Law in which what you do makes a difference as to whether you go to heaven or hell. Every religion of the world teaches that the way you get qualified to be with God eternally is by your works in some form. However, Colossians 3:8 cannot possibly mean this in light of two chapters earlier in which the apostle Paul reveals in 1:12 to give “thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

Thus, if we have already been qualified for salvation, then what is this all about that we are to “put off anger, wrath, malice, etc.”? The answer is found by keeping in mind another analogy of father to child. Were the child to ask the question if he truly were the child of the father, the father would point to his birth or adoption certificate to prove that the child qualifies as a child of that father.

However, if the child, who is now assured of his relationship within the family, questions how he should behave, the answer would be to act as a member of the family. We Christians cannot possibly behave sinlessly but we can continue with the struggle between the old Adam and new Man (Romans 7) so that the Holy Spirit can bear His fruit in our lives.

The Christian life is not found in perfect obedience but in continual repentance (contrition plus faith in Jesus Christ) which forgives our sins and keeps us clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. While none of these “fruit” become the basis of our salvation–Christ’s death and resurrection alone is such a basis–they do become the evidence for God on the Day of Judgment that we are indeed His child.

Thus, the life of sanctification is not a struggle to become qualified for heaven but a response to a gracious, merciful and loving God that we have already been qualified by God Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We press forward knowing with confidence that our failures (sins) are forgiven by the One Who never leaves us nor forsakes those who trust in Him alone for full and complete salvation.

For Sunday, July 29, 2007, the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, the three assigned readings are Genesis 18:17-33 (Sodom and Gomorrah); Colossians 2:6-19 (philosophy and empty deceit) and Luke 11:1-13 (Lord’s Prayer). Chosen to elaborate upon is Colossians 2:14 which reads, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.”

What were these requirements that needed to be wiped out? From a Law and Gospel point of view, every other religion in the world would conclude that the requirement that needed to be met was obedience to the will of god. And in those religions, their gods would provide help and even grace to finally meet the requirements of being good, obedient and moral. Listen to most talk radio and TV to hear how the morality of this country needs to be turned around as though that is the goal of Christianity!

In contrast to religions of Law that imagine the requirements to be met are the Ten Commandments or some other ethical platform, the Bible points to another requirement that sinful mankind can not possibly meet. And that requirement is also part of the Word of God which reveals, “In the day that you sin, you will surely die.” The curse of the Law is a requirement that no sinner can meet because to fulfill the curse, one would have to spend an eternity in hell.

The Gospel reveals that, what man could not do because of his sin, God did in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus became sin for you that you might become the righteousness of God in Him. He became your substitute in receiving the requirement of separation from the Father (”My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”). The rest of verse 14 points out how Jesus did that by nailing it to the cross.

Verse 13 clarifies that the gift you receive is that your sins are forgiven. This also helps us to understand the concept of “forgiveness” which does not mean that your sin ceases. Rather forgiveness refers to the taking away of the curse of the Law. We remain sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment even with all the help of the Holy Spirit. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the “handwriting of requirements” is wiped out in the blood of Jesus Christ and then transferred to us in the waters of baptism.

For further elaboration that can be heard for one hour, go to kfuo.org and then click on Law and Gospel archives and listen to the broadcast of Monday, July 23, 2007.

Because I will be attending the LCMS convention in Houston this next week, we are looking ahead at the readings for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost for July 22, 2007 which are Proverbs 31:10-31 (a virtuous wife); Acts 13:26-31 (God raised Him from the dead) and John 20:1-2, 10-18 (Mary Magdalene and the Risen Christ). The text to examine is Acts 13:26 which reads, “Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent.”

In a day and age when all the pundits are calling for a loving and gracious God, what’s this about the need to “fear” God? Not a very user friendly religion, this Christianity, is it? Or are we once more getting mixed up what the world understands by “fearing God” with what the Bible explains by such fear.

Now it is true that one ought to fear what God could do to you if He wanted to obliterate you off the face of the earth. But that is hardly what Jesus said he came to do, as is found, for example, in John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Then what is the fear of which Paul is speaking?

First of all let’s understand that the world’s view of fearing God is one in which you better be good or else! The only thing worse than out and out disobedience against the will of God is attempting to give God your good works to offset His anger. It is impossible for good works to offset God’s wrath. Why? Try it with a judge after you have been found guilty and sentenced to ten years in jail. Do you really think the judge will listen to you if you offer instead of the ten years to do twenty years of cleaning up the park or feeding the hungry or building homes for the homeless?

Good works never can offset sins because what is always required is punishment. “Do the crime, pay the time.” Moreover, in light of the fact that God already requires absolutely perfect good works, it is impossible to ever do more than a good work to offset some sin you have also committed. The curse of the Law hangs over everyone of us that in the day we sin, we die!

From the context Paul is clearly making a distinction between “sons of the family of Abraham” and those “who fear God.” The latter refers to Gentiles who are not in the lineage of Abraham through flesh. It is not that sons of Abraham do not fear God. Both groups properly do but what is meant by “fear.”

Isaiah had one kind of fear of God in chapter 6 of his book in which he said, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” There his fear was that of expecting a just God to give him what he deserved. But a few verses later, after the angel cleansed the lips of Isaiah with a coal from the altar, Isaiah was volunteering to go and work for the Lord. We make a mistake to think that he no longer feared the Lord.

His fear had moved from that of confronting a just God in getting what he deserved to that of meeting the merciful and gracious God Who was giving Isaiah what he did not deserve. The fear was still there in the same way that we are nervous and become fearful when we are about to be introduced to the president of the United States. There is an overwhelming awe and respect to be in the presence of such authority.

But God is far greater than any president, king or ruler. He uses His power not to turn us away from Him in deadly fear but as a Savior to bring us to Him in a fear that understands the distance between God and creature and our own inability to meet His demands apart from faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone. For Jesus paid the punishment you and I deserve by taking upon Himself the curse of the Law and being separated from the Father so that He will never forsake you.

On July 15, 2007, the three readings assigned for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost are Leviticus 18:1-5; 19:9-18 (Observe My Judgments); Colossians 1:1-14 (Praying for you) and Luke 10:25-37 (Good Samaritan). The verse to look at is Luke 10:37 in which Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”

Have you not heard how many refer to this passage as the “Parable of the Good Samaritan”? Thinking of it as a parable rather than an illustrative story makes a huge difference in interpretation. For if it is a parable, then it MUST be about how God works in His kingdom here on earth referred to as the holy, Christian Church. Then one has to decide who in the parable is Jesus? Is he the Good Samaritan, or is He the man beaten or is He the beast of burden or…and the list goes on.

To cut to the chase, we do not regard this as a parable answering the question “Who is my neighbor?” In fact, that is NOT the primary question. For the lawyer asks Jesus what he is to “do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus carefully keeps the distinctions between Law and Gospel by answering a question about what to DO to get into heaven with the Law.

Of course, the lawyer imagines that he keeps the Law attempting to justify himself by asking the question who his neighbor is. Jesus then turns the tables on the lawyer. Instead of answering that his fellow Jew is his neighbor, Jesus tells a story that results in what the lawyer considers as his enemey being his neighbor! The last words of the text are a giveaway that this is Law when Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus’ answer to the question about what one would have to do to get to heaven is to obey the Law perfectly. The text is not really about loving the neighbor except for the fact that this is one area of sin which the lawyer has trouble overcoming. To conclude that this is NOT a parable, one only has to look at an almost identical passage to Luke 10 and that is Mark 10.

The same question is asked by the rich man and the same answer is given by Jesus to obey the Law and the same technique is used by Jesus to point out one area in life in which the rich man fails to obey the Law perfectly. What is helpful in Mark 10 is the extended conversation with the disciples in which Jesus answers their question as to who then can be saved with, “With men is it impossible.”

If Luke 10 is a parable then one must interpret Mark 10 also to be a parable which, of course, it is not. Put the two passages side by side and it is clear that Jesus is using Law and Gospel distinctions in not giving the Gospel to the swine; that is, those who do not think they are sinners.

It is unfortunate that most commentaries assume that Luke 10 is about loving the neighbor and Mark 10 is about giving away your money. Instead, both passages are making the clear point that it is impossible for anyone, whether lawyer or rich, peasant or poor, man or woman to do anything to inherit the kingdom of God. But what is totally impossible for man, has been done by God in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The three readings assigned for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost are Isaiah 66:10-14 (Jerusalem rejoice), Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18 (Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision), and Luke 10:1-20 (Appointing 70). The text chosen to apply is Galatians 6:16 which reads “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”

When one thinks of the main teaching of Christianity, it is “salvation by grace, through faith” not by works lest anyone should boast. Then what do we do with this verse which speaks about walking “according to this rule”? Once more we realize that a superficial reading of the Bible can lead to apparent contradictions in the Bible when in reality an indepth king and queen approach clears them up.

The king of theology is context (Scripture interprets Scripture) and the queen of theology is application (Law and Gospel). The context appears in the previous verse in which Paul is making the point that it is no longer important whether one is circumcised or uncircumcised. That, of course, was not true under the ceremonial laws, but “in Christ” as verse 15 begins, the ceremonial laws are no longer in effect.

Then why are the ceremonial laws abrogated? The previous verse 14 explains, “But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” There is the new paradigm or new testament replacing the old testament agreement of Exodus 24. Now God alone is our salvation without any merit or worthiness in us that is needed.

In this context walking “according to his rule” of verse 16 is clear. The “rule” is not a new set of commandments but rather a standard to be believed; namely, that our salvation is no longer on the basis of our works (even the ceremonial laws) but on the basis of the works of Christ’s death and resurrection. Paul emphasizes this new paradigm with verse 18 by saying, “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”