Legally, a church cannot officially “marry” anyone in the eyes of the state without the couple receiving a state-issued marriage license. Hypothetically, if a couple walked into my office this morning and asked me to marry them this afternoon, my first question to them would have to be whether they have a government-issued marriage license. Of course, I’m talking hypothetically — I wouldn’t marry anyone who showed up on my doorstep and begged me to marry them right away.
The relationship between God and marriage and the state is challenging one, especially in our day when gay marriage is a hot topic. Those who subscribe to the biblical and traditional marriage rite of one man and one woman are being questioned as to their subscribing to their beliefs and, when they hold to their understanding of marriage in a God pleasing sense, are being described as wanting to take away civil rights from their opponents. Or, as I’ve been accused of, being filled with hate for gays. On the other hand, those who want the government to allow same sex couples to be legally married, are being attacked as being deviants.
This is a terrific tool for all of us – Rev. Matthew Harrison of the Lutheran World Relief and Human Care posted to his blog a song he wrote about the bible. Wonderful!
Rev. Todd Wilken of Issues, Etc. (a Lutheran radio program that you should be listening to everyday) reminded me of an important aspect of missions work: Without Christ and His cross at the center, missions is just a strategy.
I was reminded of this topic after reading Rev. Wilken’s response to my post from yesterday dealing with Rev. Anthony Steinbronn’s presentation to the 2009 New Jersey District Convention (a presentation that I must admit I missed; I was talking with a fellow pastor outside of the conference room). The entire presentation is centered on a strategic plan for missions; as Rev. Wilken pointed out, it was missing Christ.
Our district and Synod have been focused on “missions” for a long while, but I feel that we’ve come off the tracks, so to speak, as we try and push this train forward. The Synod’s “Ablaze” program is supposed to be centered on reaching 100 Million people with Christ by 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. Regardless of the effectiveness of this missions’ strategy (come see me at church and bring lunch; I will go on for hours), it has always missed an important aspect of why we’re doing these “missions” in the first place:
That is Jesus Christ.
That is fulfilling his command to Baptize all nations in the name of the Triune God.
That is showing love of neighbor as we proclaim Christ crucified.
When our direction is on figuring out how to run a more effective bake sale or how we raise money through a car wash, this direction is not centered on Christ. How is getting a car clean proclaiming Him who died for us?
The important part of a missions strategy has to be on a missions program that presses Christ and the salvation He won for us at the cross. For this salvation is not just for me and the members of our church; it is for all people. Telling this Good News must be at the heart of all missions. Without this very basic Christian understanding of our faith, missions projects become fundraisers.
As a pastor, it is far too easy for me to fall into pressing a missions strategy that is centered on the financial bottom line. But evangelism is more than just bake sales. It is about proclaiming the salvation won by Jesus Christ at the cross.
Yes, in the post below, I mention that our district’s Mission Executive has created a video of his missions presentation to our 2009 convention. But I never realized that our district has a YouTube page.
In June the district relaunched its website – njdistrict.org – with a number of “new features,” including blogs for several of our district leaders (right now, only Rev. Steinbronn has activated his). There is a lot of information available about the district and what it is doing — a good thing for those wondering what is happening around this district.
Oh, and if you don’t know what the little logo in this post is all about, it is the New Jersey District logo. There is actually a meaning to it.
Rev. Anthony Steinbronn, the Mission Executive with the New Jersey District, has offered his 2009 New Jersey District convention presentation as a YouTube video. Each slide moves by pretty fast, but I think you’ll get his point.
No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth – I’ve just been in a posting rut lately. I try to explain my laziness over at my personal blog, but still, I should find time to write here more often.
Hopefully now that a busy period in my schedule has concluded, I will find more time to write.
If you are looking for a book of the bible to read and really sink your teeth into, then you can find no better a book than Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans. It is a blessed writing, crafted very systematically and detailed, driving a reader’s heart into a true understanding of what it means to be a child of God. In our Wednesday Night bible class, our direction is focused squarely on the central meaning of the book: the justification by faith alone without work of the Law.
This theme has been critical to the Lutheran understanding of the church since its inception back in 1517. We can never do enough or live our lives as stringently to satisfy the perfection called for in the Law of God. Luther saw this clearly in his day as he watched God-fearing people being used and abused by the church. He saw how the church was taking the Word of God and corrupting it to make the church more powerful than God Himself. Luther showed how faith in the papacy took the hope of a better day away from God’s people. They missed the incredible message found in Romans—how we are graciously granted forgiveness of our sins not because we deserve to be forgiven by God, but because He is merciful and gracious and through His Son He forgives our overwhelming amount of sins solely by our having faith in Christ and His work at the cross for us.
When we think about justification, it almost sounds as if it is too easy. Just believe, we’re told, and that’s it. Faith only in Christ, not in our work, will grant us freedom from sin. The sad rebound is that God’s people forget that even though we’re forgiven of our sins, it doesn’t mean that we should go on sinning like there is no tomorrow. It is a faulty understanding of the Lutheran theology on justification by faith that says “God will forgive my sins; so I will go out and sin as much as I want.”
If you have that understanding of Lutheranism, speak to me about a refresher catechism course immediately after church.
Justification by faith alone in Christ, without works of the Law, is THE central theme of all Scripture. However, there is nothing within the pages of Scripture that point us to the belief that since we’re forgiven, it means we can sin more and more and more. It is just the opposite!!
God’s children try to combat sin in their lives. When tempted to do something wrong (and I mean what is wrong in the eyes of God according to His Law, not our own personal ideas of what is good and bad) Christians are compelled by their faith not to sin. Our faith should prod us to do what is good, to act in a God-pleasing way all the days of our lives.
This challenge is critical to each of us for we do sin plenty each and everyday. We fall short of God’s glory. That is why our faith compels us to do good, not because we receive special benefits for our goodness, but because Christ has already paid the debt of our sin to God the Father and in His mercy, grants us forgiveness.
It is a rare day when I actually accomplish most of the items on my to do list before 11:00am. So as I looked at my to do list a few minutes ago, I was quite surprised that I only had two items remaining for this Wednesday:
1. Prepare the Midweek homily (for our Divine Service this evening at 7:00pm)
2. Clean off my church desk.
This morning, I have completed a number of tasks that had been piling up as “overdue” on my to do list. I really hate it when overdue tasks stare at me. Of these overdue to do’s, I had a number of telephone calls that I’ve put off for one reason or another. Throw in the acutal list of things that needed my attention this Wednesday, I am quite surprised that I am at this point in my day that I only have two items remaining.
Of course, this means nothing because “stuff” always pops up throughout the day. Yet, with a nearly clear to do list, these pop up issues will be easier and less stressful to tackle.
I will be working from home the rest of the morning. After lunch, I will be in the church office to work on the homily and prayers for tonight while trying to file the few papers that remain on my church desk.
I found out this morning that my recent updating of my email contact list went a little awry — apparently, as I was changing, deleting, fixing up my contact list last week, I inadvertently made an error when it came to email addresses. Somehow, if I had more than one email address for someone in my contact list, when I would send an email to them, the email was sent to both addresses.
Oops.
I guess I have to stop using that email program on my computer and instead just use Google’s Gmail interface. If you were one of the unlucky people who received dual emails from me, I apologize. This morning, I will spend some time correcting this error.
It is almost like the Episcopalians are intentionally trying to eliminate the true voices of Bible scholarship from within their denomination in order to create a secular, socialized church. Their leadership is taking this church down a secular path by making the entire theology and structure devoid of any centralized Scriptural understanding of the law and replacing it with a post-modern thought process.
“Well, God loves everyone. So should we,” goes the mantra of secular Christians who reject the Law as holding any part in their lives. This creeping rejection of the Holy Bible as God’s Word is nothing new — even within the Lutheran house, we’ve battled this reduction of God’s Word during our bitter battles in the history of the LCMS.
Secularism creep is trying to destroy the church. Thanks be to God that God promises this will never happen. We need to stand firm in His Word and trust in Him while fighting for Him who saved us from sin.
There are easy ways to help Saint Matthew’s financial bottom line:
For instance, you can purchase a Shop-Rite gift card from our church. For each purchase, Saint Matthew’s receives a percentage of the card sale. It is like pre-buying your groceries.
Additionally, you can support us by clicking on the ads in the right hand column. The first one is part of the Google Ad program – click on the ad that interests you; we don’t want you to cheat the advertisers by clicking on their ad if you don’t have any interest in what they are offering. The second ad is from Goodsearch — use it as a search engine AND a place to purchase items on the internet (I use it to buy music on iTunes). Each search and purchase yields our church a tiny bit of revenue.
On a day we remember those brave Founders who fought for liberty and freedom against a tyrannical government, reading the Declaration is a perfect way to spend a few minutes.
The BBQ can wait.
May God bless you and our United States of America.
All opinions and ideas expressed on The Pastor's Blog are those of the individual writers. Copyright (c) 2006-8 - Saint Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 225 Center Street, New Milford, New Jersey 07646. Design Downloaded from www.vanillamist.com
Yes, in the post below, I mention that our district’s Mission Executive has created a video of his missions presentation to our 2009 convention. But I never realized that our district has a 