Showing posts with label Forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forgiveness. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2015
Luther on the Summary of all Christianity
"Grace and peace, these two words embrace the whole of Christianity. Grace forgives sin and peace stills the conscience. The two devils that plaque us are sin and conscience, the power of the Law and the sting of sin. But Christ has conquered these two monsters and trodden them underfoot, both in this age and in the age to come. The world does not know this,therefore it cannot teach anything sure about how to overcome sin, conscience, and death. Only Christians have this kind of teaching and are equipped and armed with it, so that they can overcome sin, despair and eternal death. It is a teaching that is given only by God; it does not proceed from free will nor was it invented by human reason or wisdom.
These two words, grace and peace, contain a summer of all of Christianity. Grace contains the forgiveness of sins, a joyful peace, and a quiet conscience. But peace is impossible unless sin has first been forgiven, for the Law accuses and terrifies the conscience on account of sin. And the sin that the conscience feels cannot be removed by pilgrimages, vigils, labors, efforts, vows, or any other works; in fact, sin is increased by works. The more we work and set to extricate ourselves from sin, the worse off we are. For there is no way to remove sin except by grace....Because the world does not understand this doctrine, it neither can nor will tolerate it. It brags about free will, about our powers, about our works, all these as means by which to ear and attain grace and peace, that is, the forgiveness of sins and a joyful conscience. But the conscience cannot be quiet and joyful unless it has peace through this grace, that is, through the forgiveness of sins promised in Christ.... Therefore your bones and mine will know no rest until we hear the Word of grace and cling to it firmly and faithfully."
Treasury of Daily Prayer, July 12, 2015
Thursday, February 25, 2010
You Can Be Forgiven!
YOU CAN BE PRE-FORGIVEN
ROMANS 10:8b-14
The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? [1] And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
In the name of Jesus:
When the mail arrived at our house this past Tuesday, Luann got this letter, which states on the envelope:” You’ve been pre-forgiven, open to find out how.” My first thought was, how nice, my wife is pre forgiven, which means that she is forgiven of a wrong even before she does something wrong. I was so happy for her, that I immediately ran the envelope to her so that she could open it. And then I looked for mine. After all, if she is pre forgiven, shouldn’t I be? After all, I am a minister, I am in the forgiving business, so if Luann would be pre forgiven, I would be as well. But I looked and looked, but couldn’t find an envelope with my name on it. Perhaps it was an oversight. So I looked at the mail the next day, no pre forgiveness for me. And none on Thursday as well. Here it is Sunday and I have not received a pre forgiveness notification!
Luann is such a gracious person, she allowed me to open her mail so that I could find more out about this pre forgiveness. Upon further inspection, the pre forgiveness comes with buying the insurance of the company that sent the letter. A phone number is listed so that Luann (not me) could call for a quote. So the bottom line is that you have to buy pre forgiveness. You have to do something to get it. It isn’t free, and no one is just going to give it to you.
The question which has plagued humanity is: “How can I get right with God?” It is a question asked by those who are in the prime of life and those who are facing death. People talk about getting right with their Maker when one lays on the death bed. All throughout life people are attempting to become justified before God.
It goes back to the Garden of Eden. There Adam and Eve tried to justify their actions before God. It wasn’t my fault, said both of them, it was someone else’s fault that caused me to disobey You, God. It was the serpent You made, Lord, it was the woman You gave me, God, that caused me to do what was evil in Your sight. What Adam and Eve said was essentially “I am blameless, justified in my actions, so go find fault with someone else.”
Mankind seeks justification for one’s own thoughts, words, and deeds. God speaks in Leviticus and states: “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live.” And so, mankind in its wisdom seeks to keep God’s laws and even tries to fool itself into believing that it has keep God’s Law when it hasn’t. The Bible is consistent and teaches that one may get eternal life if he or she can keep the Law. This is the way of becoming right with God, by one’s own behavior. This is what Paul calls in our text the righteousness of the Law, a righteousness that comes from one’s own efforts and endeavors. This is the becoming right with God that Jesus speaks about in Luke 10:28, when He speaks to the rich young man and says: “You have answered correctly, do this and you will live.”
But this won’t work. It can’t and won’t work. Why? Because it is the wrong righteousness. Paul says that he wants the Jews to be saved, that is his desire. But they have the wrong righteousness because their relationship with God is based on what they do or can do. The Bible says that there is a way which seems right to man and that way ends in death. To seek our own relationship with God on our own terms ends in our own death, and ultimately, eternal separation from God which is eternal death and damnation. To seek God on our own terms, our own efforts or self justifications denies the justification that God gives in Jesus, for God’s righteousness only comes in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has brought an end to the delusion that the righteousness of the Law can save man.
Why has Jesus ended the delusion? Because God gives to all access to Him in Jesus. This right standing with God comes not from man, but from heaven. God the Father brought this all about by sending His Son from heaven, to live rightly before God and man, and to die rightly in God’s sight on the cross. To prove that God has made all things right in Jesus, God raised His Son Jesus from the dead on Easter morn.
Jesus gives you this right relationship with the Father in His Word. God doesn’t say in His Word: Do this and live with Me, because that is impossible, it can’t be done. So what God says in His Word is that all is done. Jesus spoke from the cross: It is finished. Nothing else needs to be done for everything has been accomplished. Man can not nor does he need to discover it, man can not nor does he need to devise it, it has been done. Jesus, God’s only Son has done it and He alone gives it in His Word. This divine work is proclaimed to you in and through the Word of God. It is proclaimed in the Word and given in the Word.
In Baptism God has given this to you. In His Word He tells it to you. In the Supper He shares it with you. You are God’s child. You are forgiven. You have been made right with God in Christ. You have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, and this is not of your own doing. This is a divine work, a Godly gift to you all on account of Jesus.
By faith you receive this gift. Faith takes God at His Word. Faith receives the gift the God gives. Faith trusts that Word of God saying: Yes, this is mine, because God has made it so and because God says so. God says that in Christ you are cleared of your guilt. It is so. God says that in Christ you are forgiven, it is so. God says that in Christ you are saved, it is so. God says that you are His child and will live with Him now and forever, it is so because God says it and makes it a reality in Jesus.
This faith is a living an active faith. It proves itself as sincere as you confess with your mouth your faith in Jesus. It shows itself in its life as you seek to live your life to God’s glory because of what God gives in Jesus. NO ONE WHO IS A DISICPLE OF JESUS IS A SILENT DISCIPLE. NO ONE WHO HAS THE LORD JESUS HAS HIS LORD REMAINS A SILENT SERVANT OF HIS LORD, BUT SERVES HIS MASTER IN WHAT HE SAYS AND WHAT HE DOES. God has forgiven us in Christ, and this fact permeates all that we say and do.
In a Danish village there was a Lutheran Church where each Sunday the people would walk into the church by way of the center aisle. At the front of the church, there was a break between the pews and a blank white wall. Every Sunday, the people of that church would walk down the center aisle to the front of the church and genuflect at the blank wall. A man visiting the church did not understand what the people were doing; when he asked them they said that they had always done this. Upon further investigation, he learned that hundreds of years before there had been a painting of the Virgin Mary on that wall. At the time of the Protestant Reformation when the church became Lutheran they had painted over the display of the Virgin Mary. Since the people had always bowed before the Virgin Mary, they just kept on bowing even though there was nothing there. There are many people in church who simply go through the routine Sunday after Sunday. They know all the prayers by heart and could go through the entire service without ever opening the hymnal. For some that is all it has ever been. They do it because they have always done it that way before. But God wants to move beyond the routine. He wants the gospel to become so real that we confess with our own lips that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. God wants his love to be routine no longer but to be very real in our lives.
ROMANS 10:8b-14
The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? [1] And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
In the name of Jesus:
When the mail arrived at our house this past Tuesday, Luann got this letter, which states on the envelope:” You’ve been pre-forgiven, open to find out how.” My first thought was, how nice, my wife is pre forgiven, which means that she is forgiven of a wrong even before she does something wrong. I was so happy for her, that I immediately ran the envelope to her so that she could open it. And then I looked for mine. After all, if she is pre forgiven, shouldn’t I be? After all, I am a minister, I am in the forgiving business, so if Luann would be pre forgiven, I would be as well. But I looked and looked, but couldn’t find an envelope with my name on it. Perhaps it was an oversight. So I looked at the mail the next day, no pre forgiveness for me. And none on Thursday as well. Here it is Sunday and I have not received a pre forgiveness notification!
Luann is such a gracious person, she allowed me to open her mail so that I could find more out about this pre forgiveness. Upon further inspection, the pre forgiveness comes with buying the insurance of the company that sent the letter. A phone number is listed so that Luann (not me) could call for a quote. So the bottom line is that you have to buy pre forgiveness. You have to do something to get it. It isn’t free, and no one is just going to give it to you.
The question which has plagued humanity is: “How can I get right with God?” It is a question asked by those who are in the prime of life and those who are facing death. People talk about getting right with their Maker when one lays on the death bed. All throughout life people are attempting to become justified before God.
It goes back to the Garden of Eden. There Adam and Eve tried to justify their actions before God. It wasn’t my fault, said both of them, it was someone else’s fault that caused me to disobey You, God. It was the serpent You made, Lord, it was the woman You gave me, God, that caused me to do what was evil in Your sight. What Adam and Eve said was essentially “I am blameless, justified in my actions, so go find fault with someone else.”
Mankind seeks justification for one’s own thoughts, words, and deeds. God speaks in Leviticus and states: “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live.” And so, mankind in its wisdom seeks to keep God’s laws and even tries to fool itself into believing that it has keep God’s Law when it hasn’t. The Bible is consistent and teaches that one may get eternal life if he or she can keep the Law. This is the way of becoming right with God, by one’s own behavior. This is what Paul calls in our text the righteousness of the Law, a righteousness that comes from one’s own efforts and endeavors. This is the becoming right with God that Jesus speaks about in Luke 10:28, when He speaks to the rich young man and says: “You have answered correctly, do this and you will live.”
But this won’t work. It can’t and won’t work. Why? Because it is the wrong righteousness. Paul says that he wants the Jews to be saved, that is his desire. But they have the wrong righteousness because their relationship with God is based on what they do or can do. The Bible says that there is a way which seems right to man and that way ends in death. To seek our own relationship with God on our own terms ends in our own death, and ultimately, eternal separation from God which is eternal death and damnation. To seek God on our own terms, our own efforts or self justifications denies the justification that God gives in Jesus, for God’s righteousness only comes in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has brought an end to the delusion that the righteousness of the Law can save man.
Why has Jesus ended the delusion? Because God gives to all access to Him in Jesus. This right standing with God comes not from man, but from heaven. God the Father brought this all about by sending His Son from heaven, to live rightly before God and man, and to die rightly in God’s sight on the cross. To prove that God has made all things right in Jesus, God raised His Son Jesus from the dead on Easter morn.
Jesus gives you this right relationship with the Father in His Word. God doesn’t say in His Word: Do this and live with Me, because that is impossible, it can’t be done. So what God says in His Word is that all is done. Jesus spoke from the cross: It is finished. Nothing else needs to be done for everything has been accomplished. Man can not nor does he need to discover it, man can not nor does he need to devise it, it has been done. Jesus, God’s only Son has done it and He alone gives it in His Word. This divine work is proclaimed to you in and through the Word of God. It is proclaimed in the Word and given in the Word.
In Baptism God has given this to you. In His Word He tells it to you. In the Supper He shares it with you. You are God’s child. You are forgiven. You have been made right with God in Christ. You have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, and this is not of your own doing. This is a divine work, a Godly gift to you all on account of Jesus.
By faith you receive this gift. Faith takes God at His Word. Faith receives the gift the God gives. Faith trusts that Word of God saying: Yes, this is mine, because God has made it so and because God says so. God says that in Christ you are cleared of your guilt. It is so. God says that in Christ you are forgiven, it is so. God says that in Christ you are saved, it is so. God says that you are His child and will live with Him now and forever, it is so because God says it and makes it a reality in Jesus.
This faith is a living an active faith. It proves itself as sincere as you confess with your mouth your faith in Jesus. It shows itself in its life as you seek to live your life to God’s glory because of what God gives in Jesus. NO ONE WHO IS A DISICPLE OF JESUS IS A SILENT DISCIPLE. NO ONE WHO HAS THE LORD JESUS HAS HIS LORD REMAINS A SILENT SERVANT OF HIS LORD, BUT SERVES HIS MASTER IN WHAT HE SAYS AND WHAT HE DOES. God has forgiven us in Christ, and this fact permeates all that we say and do.
In a Danish village there was a Lutheran Church where each Sunday the people would walk into the church by way of the center aisle. At the front of the church, there was a break between the pews and a blank white wall. Every Sunday, the people of that church would walk down the center aisle to the front of the church and genuflect at the blank wall. A man visiting the church did not understand what the people were doing; when he asked them they said that they had always done this. Upon further investigation, he learned that hundreds of years before there had been a painting of the Virgin Mary on that wall. At the time of the Protestant Reformation when the church became Lutheran they had painted over the display of the Virgin Mary. Since the people had always bowed before the Virgin Mary, they just kept on bowing even though there was nothing there. There are many people in church who simply go through the routine Sunday after Sunday. They know all the prayers by heart and could go through the entire service without ever opening the hymnal. For some that is all it has ever been. They do it because they have always done it that way before. But God wants to move beyond the routine. He wants the gospel to become so real that we confess with our own lips that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. God wants his love to be routine no longer but to be very real in our lives.
Friday, October 2, 2009
David Letterman
I couldn't sleep last night so I watched the news on 10TV. The news anchors told the viewers to stay up and watch Letterman because he had a shocking confession. So, I did what all pastors are called to do... I listened to his confession. I was struck by a number of things: his nervousness, the audience's laughter (were they uncomfortable, did they think that this was funny?), and by a phrase that Letterman used in his confession. I quote: "I am just a towering mass of Lutheran mid western guilt" To which he thanks the audience for their applause.
I have good news for Dave, and all who are "just a towering mass of Lutheran mid western guilt." I hope and pray that somehow he and others will hear (or read this). Lutheranism is not just about Midwestern guilt, but also the grace of God in Jesus Christ. God's good news is that He sent His Only Son, Jesus, to pay the price for the sin and guilt and death that comes from man's separation from God. Dave, I hope that you remember that Lutheranism is not just about the Law and the showing of sin, but also the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Please listen to the grace of God in Jesus: For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. For you have been saved by God's grace, through faith in Jesus, it is not of works, so that if you boast, then boast of the Lord. Come, let us reason together, though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow.
You see, Dave, God's grace is for you in Jesus Christ. It is for all of us. When you are plagued by guilt, go to Jesus. In Him there is forgiveness and hope.
For if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
Dave, you may have felt better saying what you said last night, but there is another way, the way of Christ. I pray that you will not suffer mid western guilt over this but find forgiveness in Christ. And that is worthy of applause.
I have good news for Dave, and all who are "just a towering mass of Lutheran mid western guilt." I hope and pray that somehow he and others will hear (or read this). Lutheranism is not just about Midwestern guilt, but also the grace of God in Jesus Christ. God's good news is that He sent His Only Son, Jesus, to pay the price for the sin and guilt and death that comes from man's separation from God. Dave, I hope that you remember that Lutheranism is not just about the Law and the showing of sin, but also the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Please listen to the grace of God in Jesus: For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. For you have been saved by God's grace, through faith in Jesus, it is not of works, so that if you boast, then boast of the Lord. Come, let us reason together, though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow.
You see, Dave, God's grace is for you in Jesus Christ. It is for all of us. When you are plagued by guilt, go to Jesus. In Him there is forgiveness and hope.
For if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
Dave, you may have felt better saying what you said last night, but there is another way, the way of Christ. I pray that you will not suffer mid western guilt over this but find forgiveness in Christ. And that is worthy of applause.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)