The Old Adam Lives!

The Pastor’s Perspective  by Pastor Mark Anderson   Lutheran Church of the Master, Corona del Mar, CA

Regular readers of the Pastor’s Perspective will know that I do
not make a habit of allowing my remarks to be driven by cultural trends, issues, and fads.  There is, after all, nothing redemptive or especially edifying about the culture.  We do not need what the culture offers.  The culture does need what the Church proclaims: the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ.  One current story, however, has gotten my attention; the story of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

 ‘Justice is simply the advantage of the stronger’, so said the Greek Thrasymachus.  Those in power (pick your color) inevitably believe themselves to be standing on the high ground of justice.  Any rational assessment of the world will bring you to this conclusion.  This also applies to leaders in religious organizations who cloak themselves in the mantle of ‘prophetic ministry’.  The fact that the liberal theological tradition claims this mantle, both in black and white churches, does not justify their skewed view of the Christian faith.

In this regard let me state that I believe it to be inherently un-Christian to advance any church’s identity primarily on ethnic, racial or political grounds.  When churches do this they betray the truly inclusive message of the cross and sell the birthright for a cheap porridge of narrow, bigoted religion, however righteous they percieve their cause to be.  They also fail to see themselves as full-fledged partners in the huiman fellowship of sin, as much in need of forgiveness as the neighbor they excoriate.

So, if you want to build a religious institution around justice grievances and hammer away at this group or that, go ahead.  But please, do not sully the work of the Savior by calling yourself a church who claims to speak in the name of the One who willingly gave up His life for sinners.  The God I know takes no pleasure in pastors or congregations, white, black, green or purple, who take delight in pointing out the speck in the brother’s eye while ignoring the log in their own.  The God I know takes no pleasure in churches that allow topical issues and justice grievances to supplant the glorious Gospel of His Son’s bloody cross and glorious resurrection.

So, to Rev. Wright and ANYONE else who claims to speak for God in Christ, here is some advice:

The next time you have an opportunity to stand in front of a congregation of sinners (any color will do), tell them their sin is forgiven for Jesus’ sake,  for that is our message when all is said and done.  And then lead them in this (probably infuriating) variation on an old song:

            ‘ Jesus loves the little bigots, all the bigots of the world,

             red and yellow black and white they are precious in His sight.

             Jesus loves the little bigots of the world.

  If you can’t sing this and mean it,  you have not heard the Gospel.

                             Grace to you,

                                       Pastor Mark Anderson

 What say you about Rev. Wright’s preaching on the topic of race?

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    The following article is by  Pastor Mark Anderson,                                                               Lutheran Church of the Master  Corona del Mar, CA

    The religion of accommodation is everywhere today, and it shows. Seeker-friendly churches allow those who couldn’t care less about the church to define the church, jettisoning everything that resembles historic Christian worship in favor of the latest pop fad. Many mainline pulpits have become nothing more than stumps from which the latest political cause is trumpeted as the folks in the pews are admonished to care, and care deeply about the myriad plights of the world, as if that were the essential business of the Church. The religion of accommodation proclaims the false gospels of slick marketing, false optimism, uplifting self-help techniques, and a fussy do-goodism. It has no need for Christ, His cross, and His costly forgiveness.

    God’s message of judgement and mercy to this pride-soaked world is not meant to make us feel good about ourselves, meet our percieved needs, or prop up our ideas of what we value as crucially important. God’s message – the entire scope of the biblical revelation – condemns the way we have broken His immutable law while at the same time announcing God’s decision to forgive us. And God forgives not because of us, or in spite of us, but because He chooses to forgive us out of His sheer goodness and mercy. “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God – not because of works -lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) The task of announcing God’s Word to this world must reflect an unflinching resolve to proclaim both the judgement of God’s law on each and all of us ( we have nothing to offer God towards our salvation) even as we proclaim the bloody cross and the glorious ressurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as God’s merciful, compassionate response to our sin and rebellion (we are saved by God’s grace through faith alone for Christ’s sake).

     The following quote from Gerhard Forde says it well;

   ” Christ is the end of the law to everyone who has faith. Christ is the only end. There is no other. That is the reason the treatment of the law can and must be so uncompromising. For where the law is watered down or jettisoned we come under the most diabolical illusion of all – that there is no longer any need for Christ. We must not take that road. What the church has to offer in all matters, is not accommodation, but absolution and a new life. That is the greatest service to the neighbor we can do. True, many today may find this to be of small comfort. But that may be only because they fail to realize how desperate the battle is.”

                                                                                       – Pastor Mark Anderson

  Do you think that getting people in the door should be a consideration with respect to the types of worship practices that a church engages in?

                                                        – Steve M.

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