2nd class Sin-i-tizens

Posted on August 26, 2008 by theoldadam

If you are going to be one… be a real one. If you are going to be one…be a strong one.

Don’t let anyone rob you of what you have rightly earned on your own.  Be a 1st C lass Sin-i-tizen!

When preachers preach to you a set of watered down laws or principles for living, they are robbing from you what is rightly yours…a death resulting in the realization that you are a full blown sinner with no hope of ever cleaning up your act towards righteousness.

When a preacher holds out for you some examples of people who have cleaned up their act, who are not engaging in particular sins, and who are now doing all the things that God expects of them (though imperfectlty), he is setting you up for not falling.

“What are you talkin’ about Martin!?” “Preachers are supposed to help you straighten out your life and get back on track!”

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong…wrong!

Preachers aren’t responsible for you making a success out of your life. That’s your job (if you want it). A preacher might be able to give you some helpful tips or good advice in a particular area or point you in the right direction (not in a sermon), but that is not job #1 of the preacher.  Job #1 of the preacher is to preach the full council of God that God’s Word might slay you and raise you again.

When the preacher doesn’t take sin all that seriously and believes that it is something that we can get a handle on if we try hard enough, or pray hard enough, or read our Bible hard enough…then he (or she) will be trying to reduce you to a 2nd Class Sin-i-tizen.

This will keep that old Adam or old Eve alive and kicking and will lower your status from a 1st Class Sinner to that of someone who really isn’t doing all that bad….at least compared to Joe and Mary Schlumpmeister… whose lives are REAL trainwrecks!

This is what Luther’s infamous letter (Sin Boldly) to Melancthon was all about. Luther said, in essence, quit worrying about guarding yourself from sin, Philipp, and live! Be a real sinner…because you have a real Savior! 

Luther wasn’t advocating that anyone go out and commit sins, he was saying that you already do, and that by staring at your navel and focusing on your performance, you don’t make yourself better…but worse, for you are no longer free to serve your neighbor in love but instead are consumed with the self.

So do the best you can in life, work hard at your vocation, listen to God’s Word and partake of His sacraments, and know that there is no hope in what you do or don’t do for righteousness sake… because you are a 1st Class Sin-i-tizen. 

But also know, that you are exactly the kind of person that He came for. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”               

 

Filed under: Sin | 14 Comments »

The 10 Commandments Do Not Apply to Christians!

Posted on August 22, 2008 by theoldadam

* Addendum: Towards the bottom of the post I write… “This is why focusing on Christ and staying away from language that would place the onus back onto ourselves is so important. One drop of poison (the law) in a glass of pure fresh water will taint the whole glass. Jesus Christ and His forgiveness is enough. It is enough.  He always has been and He always will be.” 

By this I do not mean that the law should not be preached ‘at all’ , but rather that it should not be preached after the gospel has been proclaimed to add something to the gospel, or to enhance the gospel, or to make us better Christians.

Since we constantly stray, we constantly need to be brought back inside the gate. This is done with the law (to kill us off…again) and the gospel (to raise us…again).

 

They apply to God’s creatures…not His children.

Now hold on a minute.  Don’t break out the tar and feathers just yet.

The 10 Commandments are God’s law. “Christ is the end of the law that every one who has faith may be justified.” (Romans 10:4)  God’s law was intended as a corale for us, that He might rein in evil for us and enable us to live together reasonably well. And also as an instrument of death, that it crush us and kill us who would establish a righteousness based on our own performance, instead of His perfect righteousness.

When a creature of God becomes a child of God through the gift of faith, he is no longer under the dominion of the law (that which we do), but rather he is now under the dominion of Jesus Christ. The new man or woman is now a slave of Christ. The Holy Spirit acts in and through the new person according to His will. This will not be obvious to any of us, neither the Christian, nor the observer. This new life is lived by faith, not by sight. ‘Sight’ is under the realm evidence, or our action…faith is in the realm of trust…in the Lord. We don’t need to do, say, or feel anything at all…to trust that we are saved. This is the faith that is given to us in our baptisms, in the sacrament of the altar, in the preaching of the gospel. This faith is not given to us in the law.

St. Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians that the 10 Commandments (on tablets of stone) is the ministry of death for all those that would use it towards their righteousness. He is speaking to us, not just to the Jews of his time.  Law is law, is law, is law. Anything that we should, ought, or must be doing to fullfill the demand that our existence places upon us…is law.  God will have none of it towards righteousness.

If all that is true, then what do we do? Nothing. God has already given to us the righteousness that we need (His righteousness). He frees us from the condemnation of the law and gives us a new life in Himself. Does He then give us permission to trash His law? By no means! The law is still there, in effect until the new creation is ushered in by Christ Himself.

Confusing? It can be.  There is a dual nature of the Christian. There is the new man or woman and then there is the old Adam or Eve. Inasmuch as we still inhabit this sinful world and our sinful bodies, we are subject to the demands of God’s law. There is no escaping it, and it will have it’s way with us unto the grave. While we are subject to it, it brings no authentic life, only temporary fixes, and then death. The realm of the old Adam revolves around the self justification project.

If we want life, real authentic life, that is governed not by a task master (the law), but rather by completeness, wholeness, purity and love…then we must look only to the gospel. This is where our focus ought be. The prescribtions of law meant to make us better Christians, can only make us worse for they shift the light away from Jesus and place it upon ourselves.

This is why focusing on Christ and staying away from language that would place the onus back onto ourselves is so important. One drop of poison (the law) in a glass of pure fresh water will taint the whole glass.

Jesus Christ and His forgiveness is enough. It is enough.  He always has been and He always will be.

OK…now roll out the boiling vat of tar. Easy on the feathers…I’m ticklish!

Filed under: The Dual Nature of the Christian | 16 Comments »

Some background on the Formula of Concord

Posted on August 21, 2008 by theoldadam

This is a snippet of a class on the Formula of Concord taught by  Rev. Steven D. Paulson, professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul Minnesota.

I thought it might be useful to realize that Lutherans at the time of the Reformation (just as today) did not agree on every point of theology.

It is edited quite a bit. Anyone interested in listening to the entire class can let me know and I’ll send it to them (e-mail).

   click here for snippet  –>    background on the Formula of Concord

Filed under: Formula of Concord background | 11 Comments »

Is Christ really Enough?

Posted on August 20, 2008 by theoldadam

YES!  (you’d better hope so)

Filed under: Add On's to Jesus | 5 Comments »

Looking Good…on Wood.

Posted on August 18, 2008 by theoldadam

Do you look good on wood?

If you’re going to have anything to do with Jesus the Christ, you will find out.

Every single person in this world is going to go to the cross…either in this life, or the next.

For followers of Jesus it is the same story.  Jesus told us that we also will have to take up our cross. He told us that we will have trouble in the world. He told us that we will be hated on account of Him.

The life in Christ is a paradox. When Paul wrote of his beatings and jailings and mockings for the sake of Christ, he called them blessings.

Some Christians have things much worse (or better?) than others. Some Christian’s lives are literally at stake each and every day in countries where Christians are viewed as a disease to be wiped out.

The day is evil. Our own flesh is evil. The devil is evil…and is after us.

There is a spiritual battle raging. The world, the flesh, and the devil are at odds with our Lord Jesus and wish to steal us from Him.

But Jesus is the conqueror. He has won the war for us. “It is finished.”

But until the New Creation is brought into being by our Lord, we will “have to suffer for a little while.”

As followers of Christ, we will go to the cross in this life…but not in the next.

We live in our baptisms. We experience many deaths, and many resurrections as we are carried along in this life by our baptisms. Dying…and rising. Repentance and forgiveness. Over and over, and over again…until we are laid down for the last time and put into the ground.

But that is not the last word. Our Lord has the last word and indeed is the last Word! He is the First and the Last. The Alpha and Omega. All things are subject to Him, and He has defeated the last enemy, death, on the cross and in His resurrection.

So while we suffer in this life, to varrying degrees, we have the assurance that when we are raised with Him on that last Day…there will be no more suffering, no more tears. We will spend an eternity in peace and joy and unimaginable bliss in our Father’s House. 

 He is our sure Hope.

Filed under: Assurance, Baptism, Theology of the Cross | 2 Comments »

Motivations

Posted on August 16, 2008 by theoldadam

Where do we go with this one?

Well, we can go a lot of places, but this time I want to try and unde rstand my own personal motivations in having this blog and what motivates me to post what I post.

First off I like to tell you what I think does not motivate me.

I have no desire to prop up the denomination, or the church body to which the congregation that I belong is affiliated.

The ELCA is a denomination that has fallen upon hard times. It has done so willfully out of a sense of it’s own importance. It has replaced God’s Word with man’s words and deeds. It has decided to ignore God’s law and institute a policy of radical inclusiveness, where sin is not only condoned, but flaunted. In it’s quest to be liked by all, it has forgotten it’s first Love and has fallen hard for the fleeting glances of a world which cares nothing for them, or for their God.

The ELCA is not concerned with lifting high the cross of Christ, but lifting high the head of man. It is a feel good program whereby one can justify his own willful disobedience by merely throwing trinkets at the poor, or helping sinners feel comfortable with themselves.

In much of ELCA preaching, Christ rarely shows up as a just and righteous God, but rather a teacher of good deeds or example of a great life lived…that we might emulate Him.

Since the ELCA has pretty much abandoned God’s Word of law, it has pretty much turned itself into a law of it’s own making. A do-gooder organization that helps a lot of people with their secondary needs, but leaves them starving for what they really need…God’s unmitigated law to kill them off, and then God’s unmitigated promise of forgiveness to raise them again. 

Thanks be to God that they haven’t thrown out the liturgy and the sacraments yet. Christ is still there in those things.

I pray for a change of heart over at the ELCA whereby (by the grace of God) they might return to their first Love, and return to the mission of preaching the cross of Christ to sinners.  God may work a reformation at the ELCA. The libertine, 60’s mindset leadership will not live forever, and God may breathe fresh life into that organization, or He might just let them go on ‘playing church’ until He decides to turn out the lights.

That said, I realize that there are many good and faithful congregations and pastors within the ELCA that are more ‘centered’ (Christ centered).

I am not motivated by a desire to hold up any person, or written document, or scripture verse, or denomination (including the LCMS, WELS, or any others) whereby the efforts of man are put forth in a manner that leads one to believe that he can actually contribute, even in the slightest, to the goodness and righteousness that only God alone in Jesus Christ can provide. I believe preaching cooperation with God towards our sanctification is pouring gasoline on a fire. (We have discussed this recently a few posts ago…I already know your disagreements)

That said, I realize that there are many good and faithful congregations and pastors that are more ‘centered’ (Christ centered), within those denominations also.

 So I am not motivated by a desire to defend those that stand on scripture, but rather those that stand beneath it.

I am motivated (when I’m at my best) by a desire to preach Christ and Him crucified, to a world that needs Him… and Him alone.

I am motivated by a desire to take our efforts and place them in the proper arena, that of the neighbor and his needs.

I am motivated by a desire to kill.  To kill off the Old Adam or Eve that lives within us all, that Christ might raise the new man or woman.

I am motivated by a desire to have others know of the great freedom in Christ that has been bestowed upon me in my baptism. A baptism that did, and still does, exactly what it promised to do…kill me and raise me…forgive my sins and give me Christ.

I am motivated to let others know that Christ’s promises are true. When He says “my yoke is easy”…He means ‘easy’ for us…costly for Him. I believe an easy yoke is not a list of things that we ought be doing.

I am motivated by a desire to say to one and all, that Christ has done it all. There is not one thing left to do. Not one. “It is finished.”  I think He meant that quite literally. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completetion.”

I know my motivations are tainted by sin. I also know that where Christ and His forgiveness of sins is proclaimed, He promises to show up, regardless of my motivations, and the mistakes I might make.

I pray that He will continue to show up, and to keep us in His faith.

    – Steve Martin

Filed under: Motivation | 7 Comments »

Hey! Let me into this Fight!

Posted on August 13, 2008 by theoldadam

Get out of my way!  Make some room for me in this rhubarb!

You can’t have a battle of sin, death, and the devil and leave me out of it! I’ve got to get a couple of shots in!

Oh yeah, I’ve heard Luther’s great hymn ‘A Might Fortress is our God’, but sometimes ‘I am the right man on our side.’ Sometimes I do contain within me that spark of righteousness that can make me a better man! Oh I’m not saying that I do it alone. I’m saying that the Holy Spirit, or the law… helps me. Sound familiar?

“If in our own strength confide our striving would be losing, I’m not the right man on our side ‘the law’ of God’s own choosing.”

Did I mess up again? You mean those aren’t Luther’s Words? But Luther said this, and Luther said that, and Luther, Luther, Luther.

I love Luther. Period. Do I believe he was right when we said that we should run the Jews out of town and burn down their synagogues? Do we take to heart every utterance from the mighty Luther’s lips?

Luther was a sinful man, just as we are sinful men and women. The Lord used Luther in a mighty way to uphold the cross of Christ and his sufficiency…ALONE!

Anywhere and any place that the sufficiency of Christ is challenged by either the free will of man, the power of other gods, the helping hand of the law, or any other counterfit method to attain righteousness, we ought to be engaged in lifting high the cross of Christ. Higher and higher. We must increase, He must decrease…right?  Wrong!!!  I was just seeing if you were awake…or if you were a Pelagian sympathizer.

“He must increase, I must decrease.”   He has done, is doing, and will yet do everything…for you!

Now isn’t that a relief? No! You mean you really do want back into this fray?

Filed under: Add On's to Jesus | 7 Comments »

Bits and Bites from the Pastor’s Class

Posted on August 11, 2008 by theoldadam

Here are a few snippets from Pastor Mark Anderson’s (my pastor) class from Sunday Aug. 10th.

Each snippet is only a few minutes long.Classroom

When is the gospel purely preached?

Scriptures are not all on a level playing field

Episcopacy handcuffs

Feel free to weigh in on any or all. 

Filed under: Audio Snippet from Pastor Mark Anderson | 7 Comments »

Seeking to figure out the truth.

Posted on August 8, 2008 by theoldadam

I am going to ask a question of all my friends (and others, if you prefer) out there in the blogesphere, that I can’t seem to figure out. question

I mean it. I really do want to understand the position of the advocates of the 3rd use of the law. So I ask this question in all earnestness, and with no ill will… just a desire to work this out in my own mind.

Here goes:

‘What benefit has the 3rd use of the law (preached to, or directed at you , either personally or as a believer in the pew) brought to your own personal life as a Christian?’

I will try and relate how the hearing of the law has affected me, being presented in only two uses, and see where the diferences and similarities might be.

Thanks for going along with me on this one.

                           – Steve M.

Filed under: The 'Third use of the Law' | 147 Comments »

The Top 10 Reasons that you might not even be a ‘Real Christian’

Posted on August 5, 2008 by theoldadam

In addition to the person of Christ Himself, mankind has always deemed it necessary to add on something that the ‘real believer’ ought do, say, feel, or think in order to be included amongst the true believers.

The following are some of the things that many people believe you need (in addition to Jesus)

#10 You don’t “Speak in Tongues” as proof that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in your heart.

I do believe that some people can actually speak in tongues. But I believe that many people just babble because others around them are babbling and because they won’t be considered a ‘real Christian’ if they can’t exhibit this behavior. St. Paul told us that the important thing about the ‘gifts of the Spirit’ is their use. I fail to see any great utility in the speaking of tongues. But then again… I may not be a ‘real Christian’.

#9  You haven’t received the “Fifth Annointing” of the Holy Spirit. Or the Fourth Annointing…or the Third Annointing. I don’t even think I know what they are, all I know is that I haven’t received them yet.

#8 You haven’t had a real “Spiritual Experience” that you can point to as evidence that God has made you one of His own.

#7 You haven’t made a “Decision for Christ”. You haven’t publicly announced your decision to follow Jesus and make Him your Lord and Savior. You’ve never recited the ‘sinner’s prayer’. You’ve never walked down the aisle at an altar call, and if you did it didn’t stick because you were not really serious about it in your heart.

#6  You don’t believe that the “Bible is Inerrant”. You don’t believe that every jot and tittle of scripture fell from heaven on a silver platter. While you may believe the ‘message’ of the Bible is inerrant, that is not quite good enough, after all, if the Muslims can have a text that is perfect in every way, why can’t we?

#5 You do not believe in “Free Will”. If you do not believe that we have the capability of choosing God as we can choose whether of not we eat Chinese or Mexican food tonight, then you really do not understand how God operates.

#4 You do not believe in the “Historic Episcopacy”. If you think that the power of God is totally sufficient in His Word alone, and where it is present, alone, and that the power of Bishops that were supposedly touched by other Bishops going all the way back to Christ is nothing more than superstition and tradition…then you may not be a ‘real Christian’. Besides, how can we know that there is any real power in the sacraments then?

#3  You believe that Christ is really present and active in “His Sacraments”. This might show some bias on your part towards God and His action, while taking away from ‘our faith’. After all, the important thing in this whole Christian enterprise is our faith, is it not? That God has to give us this faith and keep us in that faith somehow, takes a back seat as we need to get on track ourselves and show that we really are serious and worthy.  

#2 You do not have a “Pope” as one who can decide on all matters of faith and life, and accurately interpret scripture for you. I know this related to #4, but I wanted to drive the point home that you say you are a Christian, but if you are not deferring to a higher power on earth that  will distribute God’s grace to you on the basis of your worthiness then you are just kidding yourself. And if you are outside of that system then you are more than likely just playing church. For the Pope IS the ‘real church’, here on earth. And don’t you forget it.

And now the #1 reason that you may not even be a ‘real Christian’ ….(drumroll please)…..

you may not even be ‘a real Christian’ if you are  not exhibiting the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’.

That’s right. You thought that you were trusting in Jesus Christ alone and His death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave, but it is quite obvious from your lackluster performance that you do not trust Him. You flat out refuse to do things He tells you to do. You talk a good game, but are you going out of your way to help the poor, the needy, the outcasts in society? Are you walking the walk?

Are you living on a thin margin of income, eschewing the baubles and bangles that extra money above subsistance might bring, and giving the rest to the Church for mission, or to help feed the hungry?

Do you visit nursing homes and prisons on a regular basis, instead of watching television, or going out to dinner, or going on vacations?

Are you attending Bible studies enough? Are you reading your Bible and praying enough? Are you involved at church like you ought?

Are you getting a handle on your sinning? Surely to exhibit ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ you cannot be sinning the way you used to.

Not exhibiting the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ is ‘THE DANGER SIGN’ that you may not even be a ‘real Christian’ after all. But any or all of the above add-ons will work to let you know where you really stand with God.

I know I left some good ones off the list. Can anyone think of another?

Filed under: Add On's to Jesus | 13 Comments »

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