The Old Adam Lives!

Rough Times Ahead

Posted on October 14, 2008 by theoldadam

The time is coming when it will be illegal to mention Jesus Christ as the only way to Heaven.

The time is coming when ‘government’ will be the sole regulator of our churches. Everything said and done within and without the confines of the church walls will be subject to those that hate religion, and more so, Christianity.

The “easy times” for Christians is on the way out. Our faith and faithful witness will be put to the acid test and it won’t be long now.

Stand fast. Do not let government officials stop you from speaking of Christ and Him alone as the way to salvation and true peace.

He is our Great Redeemer. He is our Great Hope. He is our Great Comforter. He is our God. He will never let us down, nor forsake us.

Jesus Christ is our Lord…period.

Filed under: Testing our Faith | 11 Comments »

Are you addicted to sin?

Posted on September 22, 2008 by theoldadam

Superficial optimism ultimately breeds despair. A theology of glory works like that. It operates on the assumption that what we need is optimistic encouragement, some flattery, some positive thinking, some support to build our self-esteem.
Theologically speaking it operates on the assumption that we are not seriously addicted to sin, and that our improvement is both necessary and possible. We need a little boost in our desire to good works. Of course our theologian of glory may well grant that we need the help of grace. The only dispute, usually, will be about the degree of grace needed. If we are a ‘liberal’, we
will opt for less grace and tend to define it as some kind of moral persuasion or spiritual encouragement. If we are more ‘conservative’ and speak of the depth of human sin, we will tend to escalate the degree of grace needed to the utmost. But the hallmark of a theology of glory is that it will always consider grace as something of a supplement to
whatever is left of human will and power. It will always, in the end, hold out for some free will.
Theology then becomes the business of making theological explanations attractive
to the will. Sooner or later a disastrous erosion of the language sets in. It must constantly
be adjusted to be made appealing. Gradually it sinks to the level of maudlin sentimentality.

Theologians of the cross, however, operate quite differently.
They operate on the assumption that there must be, to use the language of treatment for addicts, a
“bottoming out” or an “intervention”. That is to say, there is no cure for the addict on his
own. In theological terms, we must confess that we are addicted to sin, addicted to self, in whatever form that may take, pious or impious. So theologians of the cross know that we can’t be helped by optimistic
appeals to glory, strength, wisdom, positive thinking, and so forth… because those things
are themselves the problem. The truth must be spoken. To repeat Luther again, the thirst for glory
or power or wisdom is never satisfied even by the acquisition of it.
We always want more…precisely so that we can declare independence from God. The thirst
for the absolute independence of the self… and that is sin. Thus, Luther’s
statement of the radical cure in his proof for thesis 22: ” The remedy for curing desire does not
lie in satisfying it, but in extinguishing it.” The cross is the “intervention.” The addict/sinner is not coddled by false optimism but is put to death so that a new life can begin. The theologian of the cross
:says what a thing is”. The theologian of the cross preaches to convict of sin. The addict
is not deceived by theological marshmallows but is told the truth so
that he might at last learn to confess… to say, ” I am an addict… I am an alcoholic”,
and never stop saying it.
Theologically, and more universally, all must learn to say,”I am a
sinner “… and likewise never stop saying it until Christ’s return makes it no longer true.

– Gerhard Forde

Filed under: Glory vs. the Cross | 10 Comments »

Jesus Christ is just bad…that’s all.

Posted on September 17, 2008 by theoldadam

Anything and everything goes nowadays…except Jesus Christ.

Hinduism, Mohamedism, Budhism, Shintoism, Atheism, Zoroastrianism, Animism, Enviromentalism…all the ism’s are just fine…no problem. But Jesus. He has got to go. We do not want Him anywhere near us, or in the conversation, or to even see the name in print. Jesus Christ is just bad…that’s all.

Why?

Because Jesus Christ claimed to be the living God. He claimed to be the One sent from the Father. Incarnate as a man. He was good. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead. He forgave sins. And for that He was staked to wood and left to sufficate and bleed to death.

I think there are two main reasons that the world hated Him then, and why the world still hates Him. He said He was the One. All other claims to divinity, or roads to righteousness are counterfit…phoney substitutes. That’s reason one…the exclusive claim to Godliness, and the undoing of the religious projects designed to bring people up to a level of acceptabilty towards gaining favor with God.

Reason two is that we have a natural aversion to God. Because of our sinful nature, we want to be our own god. We want no one telling us how we should live. When true goodness, true Godliness enters the picture, we feel threatened and want to snuff it out, lest we be exposed in our lesser state. “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.” ( John 3:19 )

There is also a third reason, much lesser than the first two, but still a factor (I believe). The legalistic, moralistic self-righteousness and judgmentalism of many Christians. This creates a comic book characterization of Christians and the Christian faith. Much of which is earned and well deserved.

There is an answer for this problem of Jesus hating. It lies in Jesus Himself. He holds out the only true hope for fogiveness and reconcilliation with the Living God. His love for sinners is great. He died for the sins of the whole world. Not just a few. He welcomes all unto Himself and desires that all come unto Him. In Jesus Christ there is always hope, there is always forgiveness, and there is always love and authentic life.

That ought to be good news for a world that is hopelessly lost without Him. It ought to be.

Filed under: Hating Jesus | 13 Comments »

Sin…the gift that keeps on giving.

Posted on September 12, 2008 by theoldadam

Ok, so you commited a great big one. You’ve outdone yourself this time and hauled off and done something really bad. You have sinned in such a way as to affect not only yourself, but all those around you. And you can’t take it back. You can’t fix this one. This one has had a domino effect that is still going…years later.

What do you do? Well you can say you’re sorry. You can try and make up for it in all the ways you can think of. You of course, have told the Lord your God all about it and He was glad that you did (as if He wasn’t aware of it already). You begged His forgiveness and He has told you that He does forgive you. You knew He would, He has promised He would, on the cross, in His Word, in your baptism, and in His supper. And that is truly a wonderful thing.

But you just can’t get over it. You see the damage that you have caused and it you wonder if it will ever end. You replay the incident over and over in your mind. “If I had only done this, or not done that”. “If only I hadn’t …”. But all the ‘If’ I had only’s’ only seem to make matters worse. Those that were hurt say they forgive you. And whether or not they really do or not, they will never forget. The trajectories of their lives are forever altered. They now are passing on the hurt to others. The wreckage adds up and multiplies in ways we cannot know, but we know it is happening whether we see it or not.

This is sin. This is what happens when we least expect it. These are the depths we have fallen to. This is why we deserve nothing more than temporal and eternal death as creatures of a Holy and Righteous God.

While the pain oftentimes does not subside, and while those we have hurt may never ever fully recover, we can be sure of one thing. Because of the cross of Christ and His answered prayer to the Father, we surely are forgiven. He chooses not to remember this injustice against Himself, ourselves, our families and our neighbors. He chooses to honor the prayer of His Son…”Father forgive them…”

“All things work together for good for all those who have faith.” I have a hard time believing that. I often have very little faith. I have to hope that He will keep me in His faith and give me the faith that I need, and carry me through times when I just don’t believe Him.

“Lord I believe, help me in my unbelief.”

Filed under: Sin | 4 Comments »

Got ‘Smote’?

Posted on September 8, 2008 by theoldadam

I got ‘smote’.

It happened yesterday at church. In the pastor’s sermon. In the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine (the body and blood). It happened as I lay in bed this morning examining my life. It happened as I returned to my baptism (I do it quite often out of necessity). It happens in ways great and small all throughout my life, my week, my day.

But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can be, if you dwell on it. If you take the attitude that this whole thing depends on you. If you think that there is something inside of you that needs to be brought forth that in some way will enhance your goodness quotient. If you think that you can do better so that you won’t need God’s Word of law to smite you…then it can be a bad thing. ‘It’ is not actually the bad thing, but more aptly put…you are.

Not only isn’t it necessarily a bad thing… it is a good thing. God’s wants to smite you. He has sent forth His law to make sure this happens to you.

Having been smitten, smote, smacked, whacked, bludgeoned, killed…isn’t the end of the story for the Christian. There is another side of baptism, you know. The side where God lifts you out of the water and breathes new life into you. The side where the wound that the blade has cut is cauterized and you are made whole again. The joyful, redemptive side. The new and everlasting life in Christ, side. “O death, where is thy sting?”

So don’t be afraid to get smited, smote, whacked, killed. “For if you would lose your life in this world, you would gain it.”

Thanks be to God for His law and His gospel. Thanks be to God for His death and His resurrection.

Thanks be to God that He does all this for us in our baptisms, in His supper, and in the hearing of His Word.

Got ‘smote’?

Filed under: Law and Gospel | 13 Comments »

Christians who want to keep God’s Law for righteousness sake…

Posted on September 3, 2008 by theoldadam

St. Paul goes to great lengths in his letter to the Galatian Christians to distinguish between law keeping and faith in Jesus.

He talks about the freedom from the law that Christ has given to us with respect to pleasing God.

Listen in on Pastor Mark Anderson from Lutheran Church of the Master, Corona del Mar CA, as he upacks the scriptures in the book of Galatians with respect to the vital question, “Why did Christ die for me ?”

click here for Bible study -> for freedom Jesus has set us free

… and some more ->part 2 of bible study

Your opinions (except Brent’s) are appreciated! Thanks!

Filed under: Bible Study | 21 Comments »

So what will you do for God today?

Posted on September 2, 2008 by theoldadam

If you plan on doing something for God today, it had better be pretty darn spectacular. It had better be something far better than you’ve ever done before and better yet than you’ve ever even dreamed of doing.

I put it like that because God is not easily impressed. God doesn’t get giddy when He sees one of His creation doing something for Him which, quite frankly, doesn’t cut the mustard.

God does not need you to do cartwheels for Him and then looking up and saying,”pretty good, huh!”

God is not interested in your keeping His commandments for His sake. “The sabbath was made for man, man wasn’t made for the sabbath.”

There was really only one that has ever done the necessary work to impress God. There was only one that was of pure heart, of pure motives, who acted out of pure love and faithfulness to the Father. There was only one that heaped upon Himself the firery coals of our sinfulness. God was impressed by this one. One who would take the punishment onto Himself and willfully give up his life for those who murdered Him. This One impressed God so much that He answered the prayer to forgive the murderers, the liars, the thieves, the self obsessed idolators. This is what impresses God. Not our half-hearted efforts at obedience.

Jesus Christ has impressed God by His faithfulness and has asked the Father to forgive us…for His sake.

And now we are at peace with God because of Christ. No more struggling to do what is right that we might be acceptable in His sight. No more wondering if we have done enough to merit forgiveness and entry into Heaven. We have not, and will not. But He has, and He does, and He always will, that we might live with Him eternally.

So do not worry about what you can or should do for God. It has already been done…for you!

Now, in that great freedom, purchased for you with the blood of Jesus, go out and live the way that God always intended for you to live…in love for others. Realize that He is already pleased with you because of Christ. Realize that when you fall back upon yourself in sin that you ARE forgiven. Realize that now, in your baptism and in hIs supper, He has put to death the old sinner in you and is conforming and transforming you into the person that He wills you to be.

A much better question, then, is ‘what will you do for others today?’

Filed under: Assurance, Doing | 15 Comments »

How can you be sure?

Posted on August 31, 2008 by theoldadam

Baptism…that’s how.

Check out the great post concerning baptism and the assurance that God wants you to have in yours, over at http://fivepintlutheran.blogspot.com/

Who does the baptising?

If we do it, then how can we trust in it?

If God does it, then can’t it be fully trusted?

Does anything really happen in baptism, anyway?

Do you feel like you are a Christian and strong in the faith one day…and then the next day or week, you have almost forgotten about Jesus and wonder just how much of a Christian you really are?

Baptism is a topic that often flies under the radar, so we like to bring it out in the open every once in awhile.

Thanks to David over at ‘Five Pint Lutheran’ for bringing it to the fore yet once again.

Filed under: Assurance, Baptism | 10 Comments »

Take a leap of faith…

Posted on August 29, 2008 by theoldadam

What is stopping you?

You have felt that warm tug on your heart-strings and you know that someone is calling you. The Lord Jesus is saying to you the exact same thing He said to Abraham and Sarah, to Moses, to David, to Paul.

He is telling you that right now you are on a path that is leading you to the graveyard and that very soon you will succumb to the forces that rule this world. You will die. All of your plans, all of your work, all of your hopes and dreams in this world, and you yourself, will be lowered down to the bottom of a grave.

Yes, He is telling you that. But He is telling you something far more important. He is telling you that He loves you and forgives you all your sins. He is telling you that He is right there with you as you suffer in this life on the way to the grave. He is telling you that He suffered and died…FOR YOU…and that He will embrace your lifeless body, lift it up to Himself and breathe into it new life. He will breathe into it eternal life, undefiled life, a life unto Himself where there will be no more suffering or death. He gives to you a life of unimaginable joy and perfect peace in service to the One who IS LIFE and who creates all things.

The Lord Jesus loves you so much that He gives you a peek at your future ahead of time. He gathers you together with others whom He has called. He gathers you that you might be comforted in the love of His family. He gathers you so that you might hear Him speak to you in His Word of promise from the mouth of a preacher, and the words of His holy scriptures. He gathers you that you would partake of Him and become one with Him in baptism and holy communion.

The Lord Jesus has taken a flying leap across a span so immense, a chasm so wide, from His righteousness to our sinfulness, that we cannot comprehend it. But yet He has done this for us solely out of His great love and mercy for sinners.

So why don’t you take a flying leap? Well, Jesus Christ has taken the leap for you and there is actually nothing that you have to add to that…nothing at all. But He would love for you to speak to those who have not yet heard of His great love. He would love for you to gather in worship to Him and to comfort and support others in His family. He would love for you to be there on Sunday (or whenever) so that when others come to hear, that the doors will be open and they won’t be there all alone.

Why don’t you take the leap? What is it that is keeping you on your own?

Filed under: Why go to church? | Leave a comment »

De-scription…not Pre-scription

Posted on August 27, 2008 by theoldadam

I recently received a sermon by a Lutheran pastor from someone that was trying to turn ’round my way of thinking about the law and it’s realtionship to me.

It was a very good sermon. It highlighted the problem (my sin) and handed over Christ to me, the complete forgiveness of my sins and total justification before God.

So far, so good.

Then the preacher made crystal clear that now that Christ has done this for you that you just can’t live anyway you want. You ought present yourself as a living sacrifice, sins and all. That’s great. That is a description of the life of the believer.

This happens as a result of the Spirit of God working in the life of that believer.

This will not happen as a result of anyone telling you that you must do it, or how you can do it, or even that you should do it. The Holy Spirit will sanctify the chosen and called one. “He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies me as He does the whole Christian Church on earth.” Was there anything there about what you have to do?

‘Well…but you just can’t live anyway you want!’ says the well meaning (we hope) law wielder. And to that I say, “Well, you seem to be doing a very fine job at living anyway that you want to. In fact from the looks of it, following you around for a couple of days, it appears that you might not even be a believer at all. How ’bout them apples?!”

For the preacher to let you know that you are free to live out your Christian lives in service for the neighbor is fine (as if the Holy Spirit needs to be reminded of it), but for the preacher to tell you that your effort is required to make sure that all this happens is semi-Pelagian baloney.

I do know this, you can mess up a great Christ filled sermon and take Christ away from the sinner, and have the sinner start to fall back on his own performance if you go to this (wrongheaded) synergistic aspect of the life of the Christian.

The law always accuses. Anything that we should, ought or must be doing is the law.The law says’do’. The law is the method by which God accuses, then kills us. The gospel on the other hand is God’s Word of forgiveness. It says ‘done’. The gospel is the force of God that brings us life and creates in us a clean heart, totally apart from what we do.

The Roman Catholic way of thinking is that if you do good things you will eventually become ‘good’. That’s wrong, and one of the reasons that I am not a Roman Catholic.

The Southern Baptists believe that there is a little spark of ‘good’ inside of you and that you can choose to do good and obey God. That’s wrong, and that’s one of the reasons that I am not a Southern Baptist.

Those that feel there is somehow a little spark within us that we might cooperate with God (even a little bit) towards our sanctification are just plain wrong and all they would have to do is look in the mirror to see it.

But it has always been that men love to tell other men what they need to do in order to be acceptable, all the while living anyway they darn well please (themselves).

The law is written upon our hearts…is it not?

There is no excuse for not living the way God wants us to. There is no excuse for ignoring the plight of our neighbors (except to pay lip service to them). There is no excuse for being a hypocritical Pharisee…other than we just want to. We enjoy being bound to sin. At heart, we are basically unbelievers who do not want God.

But Jesus Christ enjoys forgiving us and creating repentance in us.

What in the world could we possibly add to that? (before you answer, let me don my protective ‘yeah-but’ suit)

Filed under: Doing, Sanctification, The 'Third use of the Law' | 21 Comments »

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