Saint Matthew's

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been re-introducing myself to the blessedness known as the writings of C.F.W. Walther, the first president of our Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, a man who is most needed today in our church.

In his Nineteenth Evening Lecture, he reminds us of the matter of conversion. Today, many “born again” Christians and other Protestants stress the importance of “accepting Jesus in your heart” as proof of faith. Many of them can tell you the specific time and place they “accepted” Jesus, and with that acceptance, it proves that their Christian faith is alive.

We Lutherans counter this argument with a deeper understanding of faith and conversion — it is all an act of God. As Luther tells us in his explanation to the Third Article, without the Holy Spirit, we would never be able to accept and believe and come to Jesus Christ, our Lord.

How can we, as mere sinners, accept and believe something so holy and wonderful without God working in our minds and hearts by His Holy Spirit? The time and day of conversion means little as long as the faith is real, borne of God and strengthened by Him through Word and Sacrament.

Walther clearly expresses the conversion argument in a bold way — conversion is the turning from death to life.

And how, dear sinner, can you turn yourself around? Only by God and His work, both at the cross where the Son of God paid our sin debt, and by the Holy Spirit who turns our hearts from unbelief to belief in Him who died for us.

Now, it is indeed, true that conversion does not require a day or an hour, but only a moment. For according to the Holy Scriptures it is nothing else than the quickening out of spiritual death unto spiritual life, or the turning out of the broad way leading netherward and into the narrow way leading upward, or the transfer from the kingdom of the devil to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

An op-ed article in this morning’s Record made me giggle.

THE BIBLE, it turns out, is too liberal.

At least the Conservative Bible Project thinks so. The group has set itself the task of “translating” the Bible in a more conservative way, so as to eliminate liberal “misinterpretations” and prevent liberal “misconstruals.”

One of the funny things about the Bible has been the way politically liberal and conservative thinkers use the book to advance a political agenda. Both sides have, for the most part, raised up various points of Holy Scripture that portend to show that God is on their side. No matter the issue — abortion, helping the homeless, the death penalty, you name it — liberal and conservative thinkers say that God really promotes their agenda, so the other side should just shhh!

When it comes to bible translation, there are a number of people who have complained that more modern bible translations tend to be more “liberal” in their interpretation of the original languages. The complaints are always centered around words the words that were chosen to describe actions. For instance, when Jesus is crucified and the Roman soldiers are “casting lots” for his garments (thus fulfilling a prophesy), some conservative theologians believe that the phrase “casting lots” is a little to cagey. They want a more clear cut way to describe the act of the soldiers.

Hence, they want to replace “casting lots” with the word “gambling.” Not the worst thing in the world, I admit. It does render the translation more relevant.

But then go off the reservation. Apparently, the bible is also very socialistic when it renders workers as “laborers” (think – we’re laborers in the harvest field sounds too much like something Stalin would say). They complain that the English Standard Version of the bible, the one we use in church, only uses the word “volunteer” once, a word they consider more conservative.

On the other side, liberals tend to ignore some of the more direct writings in Scripture. When Scripture states that the priesthood is a role given to men, liberals tend to blame the culture that Saint Paul grew up in that minimized the role of women within the faith. Forget what Paul writes, they say; instead, use a more enlightened understanding of Holy Scripture. Instead of male-female direct references in biblical translation, liberals tend to translate roles by removing gender. By removing gender, they remove a critical translation component that renders the original languages irrelevant. They also tend to ignore that while abortion is not specifically mentioned in the Old or New Testaments, that the Word of God is clear that each child in the womb is a creation of God.

Of course, I could go on all day writing about both sides.

But the topic – from which political bent does the Word of God come – is one that will be argued until Christ’s second coming.

I have always believed that when society and the church raises up the Word of God and uses it in a political context, the real intent of the book is being missed. It is not a social contract – it is a book explaining God’s plan of salvation for humanity. It is God’s Word that shows how He justifies the sinful through the blood of His Son. It is a book that explains in a most impassioned way the life that God wanted for His creation –  a life free of sin, where the Law that was written on the tablets would be written on our hearts where we would love God above all things and those fellow humans as we would love ourselves always.

In our falling into sin, we fall away from God’s intent and struggle in our day to live better lives. God’s Word is that impetus that gears our heart to repentance so we can receive His forgiveness for our breaking of His holy Law. From that forgiveness, centered on our faith, we work hard to fulfill the Law that is simply loving God above all things and loving humanity without question. And as we live forgiven lives by our faith, we are different than what society tells us we should be like.

We just do good because that is who we are – justified before God, emboldened to show what Christ’s work for us at the cross really means.

I am a conservative theologian. My conservative Lutheran credentials are clearly stamped; just listen to me in church and in bible class. Yet, to use the Word of God to make a political point is not the intention of the Bible.

(Cross-posted from reviovine.com)

No matter what people tell you, getting something for doing nothing goes against the intrinsic nature of our human core. America was founded on the idealism of rugged individualism that struggles against the handout and promotes self-determination. Even when government promises something for nothing, we know that the ’something’ really costs us a lot.

Our nature believes the same when it comes to religion.

Justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ innately goes against our internal “do something, get something” impulses. It is hard to believe that our God would declare us sinners righteous if we constantly break His Law. Yet, that is what God promises us in His Word. He has done it all to bring us to Him for eternity. He sent His Son to suffer and die for our transgressions. He sends His Holy Spirit to us to place us on the true path of faith and light. And He promises to forgive us our many sins solely based on His Son’s sacrifice at the cross.

Our collective minds cannot accept this blessed grace and mercy. It drives us back to our internal impulse to believe that we must do something to get something, even from God.

So we cling to the Law instead of the cross.

Our thoughts wrap around the belief that one must ‘do good works’ as the Law demands to prove our love for God in a sort of ‘righteous thanks’ to Him to saved us. In this ‘righteous thanks’ we very quickly lose sight of the Gospel. The Law spouts in our heart while the blessings of the Gospel are weeded. Our trust in God and His promises to us are minimized and replaced with acts of human love. And when this happens, we miss the central point of God’s love for us.

Lutheranism clarifies this religious struggle in all of our hearts. We clearly state that if we live our lives by the Law, we must be judged by the Law; but if our lives are lead by the Gospel and the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, our lives are different, more fulfilled, and deeply rest on the very foundation that God each one of us and has done everything to save us from eternal damnation.

Justification is an act of God – a judicial act that declares sinner innocent because of the vicarious atonement bought by Jesus Christ at the cross. Given to us freely yet paid for by our Lord Jesus, it is imputed to us through faith by work of the Holy Spirit through the blessed means of grace, the Sacraments of the church. For what do we say about faith? We don’t buy it at Wal-Mart. We receive it at our Baptisms. Our hearts believe because of the work of God through that sacrament.

And that is what scares people.

It is like we do nothing yet get the greatest gift ever. We think we have to do something to get it; God tells us otherwise.

(Cross-posted from reviovine.com)

This afternoon, I met with someone to discuss some of his spiritual problems. As a former Roman Catholic now embarking on a Lutheran journey, this gentleman had a number of concerns about the central theology of the church, namely justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ. He, as someone raised within the Catholic Church, is having problems understanding why we leave out THE primary factor of the life of a Catholic – living lives according to God in love.

For people outside of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (sadly, I am finding that many “Lutherans” out there don’t accept this blessed understanding of the theology behind justification), it is spiritually troubling to understand fully that God does the justifying solely and we have no part in the justifying act. It is done by God by His grace, mercy, and love. Our Lord Jesus Christ does the work of redeeming humanity from sin; nothing we can do can accomplish even the tiniest bit of what our Lord did. In a love we’ll never understanding as long as we walk on this earth, God the Father gave over His Son to His enemies to suffer and die for us, to take our place of punishment for our sins for us. But first He fulfilled the Law by living His blessed, holy, and innocent life.

To us sinners, God imparts the victory that Christ won at the cross to us not because we’re all nice people and listen to Him all the time. He does so because He loves us and showers us with His mercy and grace. He gives us faith to believe in His Son and to believe wholeheartedly that what He did was enough to pay for our sins. As Saint John reminds us, God loved us so much that He did it all to save us and to bring us to Him for all eternity.

Now, to believe as we Lutherans do about justification doesn’t mean we should act like thugs and live lives as wanton sinners. We struggle to be better than that. We fight those internal and worldly external urges that push us to break the Law of God, acts that bring a smile to the devil every time. We know of our sinfulness and plead with God not to look upon our failures. In repentance we come before God and our loving Father forgives us our sins, reminding us how much we mean to Him.

And in forgiveness, He forgives forever.

So, this afternoon as I explained this very important theological point in as basic a way as possible, he said to me:

“But I still have to show love to my neighbors, right?”

I have found that Lutheranism scares people – it really isn’t for wimps. We espouse the greatness of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, not the power of the individual over sin. If we had any real power over sin, we’d be like Christ. And if you can find anyone who is like Christ in this world … well, you can’t so don’t try looking.

This coming Sunday, we’ll be celebrating the Reformation in church. In 1517, monk Martin Luther started a theological revolt against Roman Catholic doctrine that locked away the Gospel from God’s children and replaced it with a reliance on the law (mostly man-made). Luther’s struggle to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the forefront of Christian thought caused a split within Christendom and eventually led to a church body that bears his name.

I like Reformation Sunday. Yes, it is a Lutheran “rah-rah” day, but it is more than that. We truly celebrate the Gospel on this day!

Sunday will be fun.

(Reprinted from my personal blog — www.reviovine.com)

Concordia Publishing House has started to release additional volumes to Luther’s Works, an extensive catalogue of writings of Martin Luther. CPH will be releasing one additional volume each year for a number of years that extend the 55 volume set of Luther’s writings. The cost for each volume is $49.99, or $34.99 if you set up a subscription (which I have).

Several years ago, I purchased an electronic copy of Luther’s Works when I was at seminary. This copy included every volume in the Luther’s Work catalogue to date prior to this latest publication.

Last evening, I found myself flipping through this latest volume, one that completes Luther’s sermons on Saint John’s Gospel, this volume containing sermons based on Chapters 17-20. I came to a stop on John 18:38:

Pilate said to (Jesus), “What is truth?”

To which Luther explains as such:

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Just when you thought that the Episcopal Church — split by its recent acceptance of homosexual clergy — couldn’t get even more torn apart, they do this.

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.

I was arguing with a friend this morning over the direction of the Missouri Synod.

He was all gung-ho for a move to change the name of our beloved LC-MS to something more generic, or as he crafted his argument, making the name less “regionalized.” Additionally, he fully supported the changes being proposed to shrink the number of districts and increase Synodical official membership to include all church workers. Finally, he said that he continued to provide overwhelming support for the Synodical “Ablaze!” program that has so far raised $44 Million. Moreover, he explained he continued to endorse “evangelism” programs that made churches bigger while reducing the numbers of “smaller” churches by having them merge with other small churches to make them more viable.

It was early so I didn’t want to scream.

To answer his points with my ideas:

1. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with the name “Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod?” I mean, there is nothing wrong with it. It is historical and deep-rooted within the movement of confessional Lutheranism in the world. Just because some within the Synodical structure have this idea that we’ll get on TV more if we call ourselves something more generic doesn’t mean what they are proposing is right. Keep the name. Don’t worry about the PR. Just preach Christ crucified.

2. Reducing districts is a good idea – it could reduce overhead. However, as with all these “let’s merge district” movements, the bottom-line is that bureaucracy will not be reduced – it will be enhanced. Bigger districts mean bigger staffs – more people will be needed to “organize” the far flung areas of larger districts. Unless the Synod actually decides to gut its own bureaucracy and lead the way, our districts, even if they merge, will never get smaller or cost less. It is a pipe dream unless they get serious about how the bureaucracy will be eliminated at district and Synodical levels.

3. Why is it that the idea of evangelism never seems to be rooted in Lutheranism? Why do we need a major Synodical push for centralized and bureaucratic missions in the first place? Couldn’t the Synod provide more help for Lutheran mission programs worldwide if they encouraged local churches to support a mission or missions on their own? On the Ablaze program itself, why should churches fork over 10% of their annual budget to the program with the hopes of seeing some of that money returned to their church if they come up with some new “evangelism” program? Why not just keep the money and fund your own program without it going through the Synod?

4. The backbone of the Missouri Synod has always been its smaller churches. Most churches worship less than 100 people on any given week. Just because a bureaucrat feels that these churches should merge with other small churches in order to create larger churches doesn’t mean that it is right. Congregations should decide their fate, not some bureaucrat in a district or Synodical office.

I have jokingly said that the only proof Lutherans need for the existence of purgatory is that there are Chicago Cubs fans. Every year, Cubs fans say that their team will make it to the Promised Land, yet each year they come short.

The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is similar. It is believed that when one of us sinners dies, we don’t go straight to heaven. Instead, we make a stop off in some other place to be purified by fire, so that when we stand before God, we’d be perfectly sinless. Eventually, we’ll make it. But we don’t know when. Just like the Cubs – they’ll eventually win the World Series, but we don’t know when.

The purgatory topic was raised on the Busted Halo website, a site for young adults in the Roman Catholic faith. The reason I read this website is because I know someone who runs it. Michael Hayes, a friend of mine (went to school, played in the neighborhood, and also played baseball together, and rooted for opposing baseball teams – me, the beloved Yankees, he, the Mets from Queens), is one of the chief architects at Busted Halo and the Paulist young adult ministry in the city. Mike is also the author of “Googling God,” a very good expose on reaching out to Roman Catholic youth.

A good Lutheran response to the doctrine of purgatory is this – if the suffering and death of Jesus Christ isn’t payment enough for our sins, then the bible is a bunch of hogwash, ain’t it, Mr. Roman Catholic? OK. Leave out the Luther-like sarcasm.

Holy Scripture, from the first page to the last, details God’s plan of salvation for His people. It is not a plan that has a stop off in some mystical place; it is God’s one and only plan to rescue His people. This happens only one way — God’s Son humbling Himself to take on human flesh, living and suffering and dying at the hands of His enemies, and rising from the dead three days later victorious over humanities’ greatest enemies of sin, death, and Satan.

By faith granted us by God the Father through the Holy Spirit, we believe — we know —- that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient payment for our sins. We are, as we read in Revelation, washing clean in the blood of the Lamb. By faith alone in Christ we are saved.

No need to stop off at the cleaners. We are clothed in white because we’re washed clean in Christ’s blood. His blood washes away all sin.

A 2006 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary (my seminary alma mater) has announced that he is leaving the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and is joining the Orthodox church. This has happened several times in recent history. To be honest, these men struggled and internally debated whether or not the “Lutheran way” was the right road in which to travel upon. And yes, in the end, these men decided that the Orthodox church (think Greek and Russian) provided a better and more solid theological foundation.

I have had no problems with them.

Until this week.

It was learned that a pastor in Brooklyn, who graduated less than 2 years ago, was leaving the church for the comforts of the Orthodox church. I know this “pastor” from seminary; even engaged in group conversations with him from time to time. He always seemed to be down on Lutheranism; but at the seminary, I was down on Lutheranism at times just to get a rise out of people and get them to think.

But this man seemed more serious.

If you don’t believe in the Lutheran Church and its theological foundation, there is no way in the world you should continue to study at a Lutheran seminary, complete course work, graduate, get ordained, and serve in a Lutheran parish. You essential show yourself to either be a liar or a snake, trying to lead God’s people who are Lutherans away from the church.

To be ordained and serve a congregation for less than two years and then decide to leave the church for the blessedness of the Orthodox church, I don’t care if people get angry at me — to me it shows this “pastor” to be a rat.

If I had a problem with Lutheran teachings or the unaltered Book of Concord, I would have been honest enough with myself and would have never been ordained as a Lutheran pastor. I would have never sworn before God that I would uphold Lutheran teachings and serve Him. A pastor cannot just divorce himself from his ordination vows after less than 2 years. It is wrong, plain and simple.

My prayers go out to Trinity Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

According to the Pew Research Center, more and more Americans are loosening their ties to being part of any particular religious denomination for an extended period.. More and more people each year are experimenting with varying denominations, testing the waters to find something that “feels good.”

Speaking from a Christian point of view, religious lives of Americans are more fluid today, which gives all churches an opportunity to re-examine who they are what they are all about. It provides a chance for pastors and congregations to take a serious look at themselves and challenge themselves to be rock-solid in their understanding of Holy Scripture, not watering it down to make people feel good.

People tend to view reports like this one in a negative light. Instead, it provides mainline churches – of which Saint Matthew’s is firmly planted in that category – the opportunity to be stronger in our understanding of what God tells us through His Word. It pushes us to offer programs, like our pre-school that is opening in the fall. It makes us reflect on what our Lutheran heritage means and drives us to tell others the blessings we receive from our Lord.

By standing up for God and His Word and the grace received through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we will stand out from watered-down churches who profess love of God, but require much in terms of keeping mandates of legalism.

Rev. David Petersen of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana has a terrific post dealing with what are pastors to do in the Missouri Synod who feel that the tide has turned against confessional Lutheranism. Some pastors and congregations have up and left the Synod. Others seemingly are in a box as to what to do. Rev. Petersen’s answer?

Preach the Gospel.

We must preach it rightly, which means condemning sin and proclaiming the forgiveness of those sins.  It means rightly balancing Law and Gospel in the preached word. It means telling it like it is, not like how society wants it to be.

But he also reminds all of us the importance of catechesis – learning and re-learning what it means to be a Lutheran.

Rev. Petersen also raises the specter of how to use the Internet to help do this job of keeping confessional Lutheranism alive.

A fabulous post.

We are reading through Romans in Morning Prayer. Today, we hit Romans 3. While there are plenty of issues that I can write about this most joyous and wonderful chapter of Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans, I want to discuss ever so briefly the idea that God is righteous to us. More after the jump.

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…why Roman Catholic priests can’t get married?

Rev. Paul McCain explains why here.

The prohibition of a married clergy in the Roman Catholic Church has very little to do with Holy Scripture. As Rev. McCain points out, Saint Peter (the first pope) was married.

Near the end of McCain’s post, he writes:

The Augsburg Confession here rightly asserts that marriage is a gift from God to be received with thanksgiving by laypeople and clergy alike, and to teach otherwise is a teaching of the Evil One. When considering the problems among Roman Catholic clergy and child abuse one need ponder long and hard the extent to which insisting on celibacy among the clergy has not provided a supposed “haven” for homosexuals and others dealing with sexual problems, thinking that the “safety” of enforced celibacy will help them resist their particular sexual temptations. One can hear in the words of the AC (Augsburg Confession) the direct, personal experiences of those who were forced to live celibate lives, like Luther and Bugenhagen and others of the Lutherans who were at one time Roman clerics or monks.

“For it is clear, as many have confessed, that no good, honest, chaste life, no Christian, sincere, upright conduct has resulted from the attempt to lead a single life. Instead, a horrible, fearful unrest and torment of conscience has been felt by many until the end.” (AC XXIII.6; Concordia, p. 46).

No one could say it better.