Here’s a little snippet from one of Pastor Mark’s classes on the book, ‘Where God Meets Man’, by Gerhard Forde.
Some of this might make your eyes bug out!
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The gospel of the Lord is not something that can be proven. Nor is the gospel of the Lord something that can be sized up. The gospel of the Lord is not som
ething that one can be coaxed into believing. The gospel of the Lord is not something that you can decide to make valid in your life. The gospel of the Lord is not something that is 99% finished and you just need to add that last 1% to complete it.
The gospel of the Lord is an objective truth that must be done to you. It takes hold of you from outside of yourself. It makes it’s own way into your broken heart, mind and soul.
It is the Promise of God, spoken to you by a preacher… read in His Holy Bible… washed over you in Baptism… given to you freely in the Sacrament of the Altar. That is the gospel of the Lord.
This life giving good news is done to you, by God, through the means mentioned above.
“Well, that doesn’t sound too sexy.” “That doesn’t sound like there’s much for me to do.” “That doesn’t leave my ‘free will’ intact.” “That just puts an end to my religious efforts.” That means that just anyone can qualify.” “That just doesn’t make any sense.”
Maybe not. But that’s the truth. That’s the gospel. Have a nice day.
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My last post was probably a bit convoluted. The examples maybe were not the best.
What I was trying to get across is that so much of today’s p
reaching and teaching regarding the Christian faith is nothing more than ‘law’ . St. Paul tells us that there in no life in the law…only death.
So when a person goes into a worship service and the law has had it’s way with them all week, at work , at home, and in society, the last thing that person needs is more law trying to get them to improve. It’s like pouring gasoline on the fire! That old, tired, sinful self needs to be killed off (not propped up!) and the new man or woman put in it’s place…by the gospel!
The problem is that so many churches have no idea of this. Their theologies are ‘man’ based to start with, and so they just naturally progress from there along the path of man’s efforts to become more Christlike. They don’t understand the objective nature of the sacraments and the comfort that they bring to real sinners. So the comfort they are seeking and that they need must come from themselves. It has to come from their feelings, their sincerity, their good fruits, as proof that they are really in Christ.
That we are Christians has nothing to do with what we say, think, feel, or do. It has everything to do with what Christ has done, is doing, and will yet do…FOR US!
This is a real problem for folks in the law churches. For them, the whole enterprise is about what we say, think, feel, or do. According to St. Paul, this way of thinking about the Christian faith is very dangerous.
The question is how do we get them to realize this?
Filed under: Assurance, Doing, Dying to Self, Law and Gospel, Sacraments | 8 Comments »
I was a bit disingenous with that title. This post really isn’t about how you, as a Christian, should use your money. This post is really about the proper, and improper use of the law in a sermon.
Here is a ficticious sample sermon on the use of money (which is law, remembering the principle that anything you should, ought, or must be doing, is law language):
“As a Christian, you should give money to help thos
e less fortunate than yourself. Jesus said, “give to the poor.” There is probably more you could be doing along those lines, not hanging onto so much for yourself… for God will always provide for you all the things that you need. Jesus tells His disciples to do these things with respect to the giving of money and everything else that we own, as well. A Christian should give to be in the will of God, and show that he or she has been taken hold of by the Holy Spirit. So, friends in Christ, you have the power to get out there and do what is right.”
Was that a Biblical message? Yes it was. It’s all right there in the Bible.
Was it a proper use of the law in a sermon? I say it was not a proper use of the law, and especially not if it was not followed up with the announcement of the gospel…the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake.
Now here is what I believe to be a proper use of the law in a sermon…
” Jesus tells us to give money to the poor, to those in need, those less fortunate than ourselves. He tells His disciples that not only should they give their money, but everything else they own, as well. Are you hanging onto a little more of your money than you ought? Are you taking what you can down to the homeless shelter and making regular donations? Are you making an effort to seek out and find those truly in need and not put that extra money in a bank account or go out to nice dinners at your favorite restaurants? Jesus expects us to give and to give generously…all the time! Well…how are you doing in the giving department? If you are anything like me, the answer to that question is…not very well. But while Jesus clearly demands that we give all, He also gave all. He gave His very life for sinners like you and me, those that for their own lack of trust in God, simply will not relinquish all that they have, or even very much of it. It was for people like that, people like you and me, that He died on that cross and asked the Father to forgive us. And the Father answered His prayer that we might live again. That our selfish aims and lack of trust in God would not be held against us. We ought give, out of Christian charity and concern for others… we ought give. But more importantly, we ought give away the ‘good news of Jesus Christ’ and His love and forgiveness for all those that just don’t quite measure up. I you ever find youself not measuring up to the high standards that God has demanded of you, just remember that One did measure up. That One is Jesus, and He gave everything He had…for you.”
Now, in the latter example, notice how the law was not used to prod, or make better…but rather to accuse, or to expose. Once the sinner is exposed the law can go to work to kill off the old Adam who believes that what he’s doing is good enough. “I’m not perfect, but I’m better than he is”, kind of stuff. The unmitigated wielding of the law is used to crush the sinner. Then notice how the gospel is handed over…free of charge! Nothing left to do…no more law…only the promise of what God has done for the sinner. That is the Word! And that Word, when by God’s grace, is heard by a broken sinner, can give new life. A resurrection can then take place! The gospel is actually done to the sinner…just as the Word of law was actually done to the sinner to cause the death of that sinner.
I realize that this sort of thinking with regard to preaching is certainly in the minority.
I’m just wondering what you think about this Law/Gospel style of preaching. Does this make any sense to you?
Thanks!
– Steve Martin
Filed under: Law and Gospel | 8 Comments »
What was the purpose of Jesus’ dying and being raised to forgive our sins? In other words, by forgiving our sins what was Jesus’ goal?
St. Paul ansewrs this question and he answers it quite directly.
Join Pastor Mark Anderson as he unpacks the scriptures surrounding this question by looking at some verses in Romans and Galatians.
It’s only about a half an hour and I believe you will really enjoy this abbreviated version of the class.
click here to listen to the Class
Did you think Pastor Mark’s class answered the appropriate questions, or did it leave things a bit fuzzy with respect to the main question at hand?
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Good show on the radio right now (or on the net KFUO.
If you miss it live on the net, you can catch it tomorrow on the archived programs.
Become as these little ones…and listen in!
Filed under: Law and Gospel | 4 Comments »
One area where the Church often finds itself with divergent opinions is the subject of ‘free will’. There is one terrific example that Pastor Mark Anderson likes to bring up whenever speaking with folks that are in the ‘free will’ camp when it comes
to choosing God and that is Saint Paul’s ‘free will‘.
Do you think that this is a legimate example of how God works in bringing His people to faith, or do we have more of a roll to play with our decision for Jesus?
One might wonder then, well if God is the One who is bringing people to faith with the proclamation of His Gospel, then just exactly who is the Gospel meant for?
Do you think that this is the most efficient way for God to bring people to faith? Or is that none of our business?
Filed under: Free will | 15 Comments »
Written by John on the island of Patmos, the Book of Revelation was given to John by an angel and told (in not so many words), ‘the Lord wants you to write this stuff down, John!’ So he did!
We discussed the apocalyptic style that the b
ook is written in. We learned that the book was argued over profusely and barely made it into the Bible. Many of those that didn’t want it included said it was just too hard to understand. We looked at the guiding and corrective nature of the letters to the seven churches, and that Jesus Himself was the One who was speaking directly to the churches. Also, that when He speaks to them He is speaking directly to us, His Church of today. We talked a bit about the direct warning to the churches that were not doing as He wanted, that He would “remove the candlestand from that church”. The candlestand holding the flame that represented the Word itself…Jesus Himself.
We discussed how the Book paints a picture of terrible times to come for the world and for Christians in particular during the last days. We learned that the Greek word ‘nikao’ means ‘to conquer’ and is used all over the Book with respect to Jesus and His coming back to straighten out this mess and make things right. While there is much affliction, war, persecution and battles for dominion, the overaching theme of the Book is that Jesus will conquer, ‘nikao’. (also that is where the tennis shoe company got it’s name…’Nike’) We talked about how the Book has been a great source of comfort to Christians during the period of the two world wars in particular, and how it could once again be a great source of comfort in the coming days of tribulation for the Chruch.
We also taked a bit about how the Book of Revelation has been a source of great conjecture and of gnostic prognostications. Pastor Anderson gave us his belief that trying to figure out the details of this ‘plan of God for the end times’ isn’t helpful to the Christian and it might actually be harmful as it actually works to weaken, and not strengthen one’s faith.
We also received some great outlines of the Book of Revelation that would make it easy to access the main sections of the Book and each of it’s corresponding themes.
We left the class with increased awareness of the ‘plan of God’ to finalize the process that we call ‘history’ and to conquer the forces of evil and put into place the New Kingdom.
To sum it up:
Rough times are surely ahead, but Jesus, the Conqueror, will get us through it, one way or the other.
Do you think that we are in the end times already? Is it alright to try and figure out the details of God’s plan and pin down specifics, or should we be content to trust that whatever happens it will be the will of God? Or both?
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In ‘The Hammer of God’ by Bo Giertz , a Sweedish pastor describes God as a man who walks down the roadway with a pointy stick picking up old rusty tin cans and putting them into his sack.
The pastor was trying to make the point to a young pastor how it is with God, that He is the one that does the choosing of us and not the other way around.
The pastor also seems to be making the point that God likes junk. He likes to pick up something that for all intents and purposes seems trashy, discarded, used up, and worthless. He then cleans it up and gives it new life and puts it to use in His service.
Does God pick up every old rusty can He comes across, or just certain ones that He chooses?
The Bible says that God chooses some. Jesus says, “many are called , but few are chosen.”
Is this hard saying, troubling to you? Comforting? Or puzzling? Or would you prefer to just not think about it?
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Today being The Sunday of the Holy Trinity, there is an excellent sermon that might (well…it just might ) enlighten some of our friends that don’t believe that Jesus was, and is everything. They think He’s the number 2 guy and that the Father is the real God.
Anyway, take a listen to Pastor Anderson’s Sermon on the Trinity. If you can forward it along to maybe (by God’s grace) open someone’s ears and heart… then have at it.
Enjoy!
Filed under: The Trinity | 3 Comments »
The Old Adam Lives! 