The Old Adam Lives!

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I get them all the time from well- meaning friends and family.

You know, the e-mails with the beautiful photos and flowery descriptions of God and His handiwork. The cutsie sayings and wonderful advice on living and giving and caring and sharing. The wonderful graphics with angels and mountains and redwoods. The admonitions to stop and smell the roses before it’s too late. The advice to not take things for granted and to be grateful for all the wonderful things and people that God has given us. All of that may certainly be true…and we certainly ought be grateful. And there is encouragement and good lessons in many of those e-mails. I am grateful for that and those that would share this encouragement with me.

But what about the wrath of a God who is pretty ticked off about what we have done with those gifts He has given us? What about the wrath of God who has given us up to our sin? What about a God who tells us that “the wages of sin is death“? What about a God who is deadly serious about our insistance on replacing Him with a god that we form from our own hearts and minds? That God might as well be the devil as far as we are concerned. Apart from the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus the Christ, and the forgiveness of sin that He gives to us, that God would have us suffer the full consequences of our rebellion.

Once in a while those e-mails have something of Jesus in them. Once in a while they speak of the cross of Christ and the mercy and love that He has for us. And for that I am grateful. Once in a while they do not contain the promise of blessings if you pass the e-mail on to 10 people in 10 minutes, and return it to the one who sent it to you…and for that I am also grateful (nothing worse than “Christian” superstition).

But God did send us His Son. God is loving and merciful. God did give Jesus all power and judgement over creation. God did answer Jesus’ prayer to forgive us by raising him from the dead. The one who died for us, is the same One who will judge us. For that I am greatful.

So, if your looking for something to do, apart from passing on those nice e-mails about a loving God and His beautiful creation…then I would advise you to repent of your sin and believe, be baptized, regularly take and eat His body which was broken and given for you. Drink His blood which was poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Trust in Him when He says that He forgives your sins, all of them. Cast off the yoke of slavery which is the religious project of trying to prove to God, yourself and others that you are serious about God. Realize that deep down you really aren’t all that serious about God (not all that often anyway)…but realize that He is serious about you. Serious enough about you to take the only action that would suffice for you…and that is to die for you, and to forgive you all your sin.

Do all the good in this world that you can do. Just do not connect it to God’s forgiveness for you.

Realize the truth of what Martin Luther said, that “the good that you do will not save you, and that the evil that you do will not condemn you…because of Christ Jesus”.

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.Photo by Amelia PS  and Flickr

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Well, it didn’t seem too ‘good’ for Jesus, or his followers, did it?

What often appears to be good to us, isn’t… and what appears to be just awful…in reality and quite often in hindsight…is good. God’s ways are not our ways. His ways are opposite our ways.

A totally innocent man beaten very badly, and then staked to wood and left to suffocate and bleed to death. All because of me…and you…and every person who has ever lived.

That’s good?

Ah…yes it was.  Yes it is.  It is better than good. It’s the single most important event (along with His ensuing resurrection) that the world has ever know or ever will know.

It’s where God declared the war between Himself and sinners, that is every single person on the planet, to be over…once and for all. “Father forgive them…”

By His gracious mercy and love, He has declared you to be righteous for the sake of His Son, Christ Jesus. You. Little ol’ sinner, not much of a believer, you.

The future is wide open for you now. The present is wide open for you now. You have an unbelievable treasure awaiting you in Heaven that is beyond description, and you will do nothing at all to aquire it. For He has done all that is needful…on the cross..and in your baptism. That is real freedom! The freedom that God has purchased for you with the blood of His only Son. Free for you… very costly for Him. That’s the love of a wonderful Father.

Of course, He had to die before He could be raised again…as do we, for we are not greater than our Master.

But the darkness will give way to Light and Life in a few days as our Savior’s prayer is answered by His Father.

If that is not ‘good news’…then I don’t know what is!

I pray that the Lord will give us faith, and keep us in His faith that we might believe it, until He pulls us up out of that grave and raises us to everlasting life with Him in Paradise.

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The kingdoms of this world will pass away.

Only God’s Kingdom will last forever.

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The only true freedom that we have and that we can count on, is the freedom found in the Savior, and in Him alone.

All else is fleeting.

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I think this is a very well done video. 

I’d like to look into what it would take to have something like this done for the congregation of which I am a member.

Question for non-Lutherans, ‘Does this church creep you out with all the traditional worship practices that are shown in the video?’

‘Is it too counter-cultural for you…too Catholic looking?’

‘Would you ever consider going to a worship service at a church like this?’

Thanks.

Hat tip to Curtis over at  The-Lutheran-Baptist.

Thank you, Curtis! 

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You live in my house. You eat my food. You wear the clothes that I provide for you. You enjoy all the benefits from being a member of my family.

But I have told you time and time again to keep your room clean, and you don’t. I have told you time and time again to take the trash out on Thursday night, and you don’t. I have told you time and time again to pick up after the dog goes, and you don’t.

So I really don’t consider you to be my son, anymore. I am telling you to leave my home. I don’t love you anymore.

Is that how it works with us?  Is that how our parents treated us?  Is that how we treat our children?

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I removed the sentence about ‘Mr. Washer’ from the post.

It was not very charitable of me, and I was wrong to have it there to begin with.

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10, 11, 12

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

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 I often find that I am unwilling.  Unable.

But my Lord is always willing to save me, yet once again, and bring me home.

And again, I stray.  And I continue to pray David’s prayer.

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I heard that from a customer in the market where I work, a co-worker, and two family members in the last couple of days. That’s what church ought be about, they said.

“Well…(I said)…it can be”.

But the Bible does not speak in terms of positive or negative.

It speaks of going from death…to life.

I told them that they need to find a church where the Word of God is proclaimed in such a manner as to expose you and your ineptness, your unwillingness, to be what God would have you be. And then they need to procalim to you what God has done for you about that problem. And then they need to hand over to you, without charge, the meal that the world does not, and cannot offer, the meal that gives the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

I told them that they can be lost. I told them that Jesus will never lose them, be that the troubles and cares of this world, and their own rebellion from God, and the devil, are actively working to seperate you from God.

I told them that they need to go to church and hear the Word and receive the Lord’s Supper and to force themselves to go if they did not feel like going. Because they are dying people and will soon enter the grave and they will then need someone to pull them out of that grave to new and everlasting life.

I hope, by the grace of God, that they find a church door.

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“But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

                                                                                                      – Jesus

Hang in there my friends.

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Hat tip to anti-itch-meditation blog.     ________________________________________________________________

Please pray for the persecuted Church, wherever it may be.

Thank you.

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