Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study of the Biblical Background of 'The Small Catechism,' Part 17

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study of the Biblical Background of 'The Small Catechism,' Part 16

3 Things I'm Praying for Today, September 24, 2020

I pray for many things. But here are three things I'm praying for today. I offer my prayers to God the Father in Jesus' name, as Jesus teaches His disciples to do.

1. I'm praying that God will send workers into the harvest. This means I'm asking God to send disciples of Jesus, whether in person or among their contacts on the Internet, with the good news of new and everlasting life with God for all who turn from sin (repent) and trust or believe in Jesus. People need Jesus more than ever, especially, it seems, in the Church, where Christians have become beguiled by politics and entertainment rather than drawing hope from its only source, the God revealed in the crucified and risen Jesus. (I offer this petition every day, by the way.)

2. I'm praying that governments all over the world will treat all people with justice and mercy. God identifies with and calls believers to care for the marginalized, the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the different, the "other," and the despised. I pray that call be heeded by governments charged by God to act justly.

3. I'm praying that all government leaders will have God's wisdom and the courage to act on that wisdom. With this, I pray that those leaders who refuse to hear or heed God's wisdom will be peacefully removed  by God from their positions of power.

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study of the Biblical Background of 'The Small Catechism,' Part 15

Putting COVID-19 Death Numbers in Perspective

On the occasion of the 200,000th. American death from COVID-19, the Associated Press notes: “The number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days.” That helps to put the impact of this pandemic in perspective. 

So do other facts.

Consider that 58,318 members of our US Armed Forces were killed in Vietnam from 1955, when American military advisers arrived in South Vietnam, until the end of the war. Remember, those of you who were living at the time, the impact that war had on our nation. Then compare that with the number of US COVID deaths in just seven months: 200,000 versus 58,318, in twenty-one years.

Skeptical of those numbers? Consider that the past five months have seen more deaths than in any other five-month period of US history. So, even if you think deaths attributed to COVID were not solely caused by the virus but by other factors as well, COVID appears to be the animating factor in this alarming increase in deaths. Unless you think that it's simply coincidence, a massive COVID coincidence.

Pray that the grieving will be comforted, that scientists will find safe and effective vaccines, and that God will teach us to love our neighbor.

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study of the Biblical Background of 'The Small Catechism,' Part 14

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study of the Biblical Background of 'The Small Catechism,' Part 13

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 12

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study of the Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 11

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 10

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 9

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 8

 

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 7

 On Wednesday night, we looked at the Seventh and Eighth Commandments.

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 6

 

Only Nobodies Are Somebodies in Jesus' Kingdom (TEXT)

[This message was shared during online worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, on September 6, 2020.]

Matthew 18:1-20
Occasionally, there are stories in the news about people getting lost in the mountains out west. Confident in their sense of direction, these people will head off a path and, whether by their own errors or their errant faith in faulty navigation devices, become lost. 

Experts tell those who hike that if they get lost, they should just stop. Don’t move. Do nothing. Keep still and wait to be found. 

Many ignore the experts’ advice every year, consuming hours, even days, of effort by park rangers, EMTs, and police. Some of these lost people die. All because they think they can save themselves. The fact is that those who admit that they’re lost and do nothing about it are more likely to be found than those who deny that they’re lost (or that lost) and think that if they try enough, think enough, believe enough, do enough, they can find their way to safety.

Martin Luther, the inadvertent founder of the Reformation Movement of which Living Water is a part, said that there are really only two kinds of theology in the world. 

The most popular theology, even--sadly--among those who call themselves Christians, is the theology of glory. 

Instead of believing that human beings are completely dependent on God for all that they need, theologians of glory claim that God helps those who help themselves. 

Instead of believing that human beings are lost in sin and death, theologians of glory effectively brag of their piety and goodness by saying that they have decided to follow Jesus. 

Theologians of glory love to lie at funeral visitations, saying that the deceased was such a good person that they must be in heaven. 

But if any human being was capable of being good enough, righteous enough, to gain entry into the Kingdom of God, then the perfect, righteous, sinless Son of God, Jesus, would not have had to go to the cross. He would not have needed to endure the capital punishment for sin that each one of us deserves from our conception. 

When we look at the Ten Commandments, God’s succinct statement of His moral law, we know that any theology of glory that tells us that we who are lost can be found if only we try enough, think enough, believe in ourselves enough, or do enough is a lie that can only lead to death. 

We cannot save ourselves. 

So, how can lost people be found, dead people raised to life, or sinners be made righteous?

In the first four verses of today’s Gospel lesson, Matthew 18:1-20, Jesus addresses this question. There, the disciples ask Jesus, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1)

To answer, Jesus gives the disciples an object lesson. He calls a child to Him and then puts the child in the midst of the disciples. “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4) Notice that Jesus starts out by simply addressing how a person enters that kingdom. 

Jesus is effectively telling the disciples, “You lunkheads are asking about getting to the head of the class when you should be wondering how you can even get enrolled in the first place!”

It may be difficult for us to understand how absolutely scandalous Jesus’ answer would have been to the disciples. One commentator says, “...in first-century Judaism, children were...regarded as inferior, without status or rights, treated more as property than as persons, and never held up as a model for anything.” 

What power or status did children have then? None. 

What could they do to gain status, power, or respect? Nothing. 

Children were, apart from whatever love or regard their parents chose to give them, seen by that culture as nobodies, nothings.

The only people who can get into the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is saying, are nothings and nobodies. 

The greatest aren’t those who deny they’re lost in sin and death or think they can find God by setting out on a quest for God, or believe that God is bound to save them because they’re such nice people who do such wonderful things. 

The only ones who enter the kingdom of God recognize that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves worthy of being part of God’s kingdom, who see that, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). They understand that “There is no one righteous, not even one... there is no one who seeks God.” (Romans 3:10-11; Psalm 14:1; Psalm 53:1-3) 

Jesus says that our human theologies of glory simply will not cut it if we want to be part of the kingdom of heaven.

Entry into Jesus’ kingdom can only be given to us, by a different theology that has nothing to do with our efforts, decisions, goodness, or good deeds. It happens by the theology of the cross. 

This is what Jesus means when, elsewhere, He says, “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38) 

People saved by God in the theology of the cross know that there is nothing we lost people can do to find ourselves. 

When God’s Law makes us aware of how lost we are--of how we don’t always worship God alone or gladly hear and learn His Word, or love our neighbor as we love ourselves--and when we become aware that we could climb every spiritual ladder the sinful mind of humanity has invented and still be lost in sin, death, and condemnation, we must stop. I must stop!

Just like someone lost in the mountains out west, I must stop. 

In my helplessness and lost-ness, I must learn to do nothing but cry out to the God I know in Jesus, owning my powerlessness and my sin. 

I must become a child. 

As the American Lutheran theologian of the last century, Gerhard Forde puts it, “...the theologian of the cross knows that there is nothing to do now but wait upon grace, to recognize that when all the supports have been cut away we can only throw ourselves on the mercy of God in Christ.”

Even entry into God’s kingdom is not something we can gain by our own effort. It’s a gift to those who understand the theology of the cross, to those who sit patiently as God teaches them to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10), to those who heed God’s call, to “wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14) 

The way of the cross is the way of honestly confessing our sin and powerlessness to the Father in Jesus’ name and trusting that Jesus will send His Spirit to cover us in His cross-borne righteousness. 

The way of the cross is the faith that there is nothing I must do and nothing I can do to make myself part of God’s kingdom. Jesus has done it all! 

The way of the cross begins in humiliation, in the recognition that there is no way I can make myself good enough for God.

It culminates in joy and resurrection as, freed from the pressure of proving ourselves, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus is all we need or ever will need for all eternity.

By pointing to a child as a model for getting into the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is telling us what His earthly brother, James, would later write in his New Testament letter: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10) 

May we humble ourselves before the God we know in Jesus each day so that He--and He alone--can lift us up to whatever place in His kingdom He has in mind for us. 

May we follow not the way of pride, the theology of the glory and the path of separation from God, but the way of the cross, each day. 

May we throw aside our pride and delusions of self-sufficiency so that the crucified and risen Jesus can find us and like the child He used as an object lesson, set us in the midst of His eternal kingdom. Amen,

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 5

 Tonight, after I got my act together, we looked at the Fifth Commandment, "You shall not murder." These are two renderings of the same session, the first from Facebook and the second from YouTube. Subscribe to my long-neglected YouTube Channel, to which I'll be adding more content.

The Way of the Cross, the Way of Life (TEXT)

[This is the message for worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, last Sunday, August 30, 2020.]

 Matthew 16:21-28

America’s two major political parties have now held their conventions for 2020, meaning that for the next sixty-five days, we’ll be hearing both nominees tell us things that they and their “handlers” think we want to hear: things that will vindicate us in our desires and ambitions, maybe in our fears and prejudices. Political campaigns are rarely times when we’re told either hard truths or true promises.

Today’s Gospel lesson, Matthew 16:21-28,  shows us that Jesus never took the advice of political “handlers.” Otherwise, He wouldn’t have given the hard truth or true promise He delivers to us today.

Let’s set the scene. The Gospel lesson continues a conversation we began to consider last Sunday. In it, Simon, the son of John, confesses that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Because it’s on this confession of Jesus as both God’s anointed King, in the world to make all things right, AND God the Son, that Jesus will build His Church and His Kingdom, Jesus gives Simon a new nickname, Peter, Petros, meaning Rock. All who can confess Jesus as their King and God have new and everlasting lives with God. Their lives are built on the strong rock of God’s grace that gives forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who trust in Jesus.

In today’s lesson, Jesus explains to us what it means to have Him as our Messiah (or Christ) and King. “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Matthew 16:21)

But this isn’t what Simon, the Rock of faith, or the other disciples had in mind at all. And it isn’t the sort of thing that Trump’s or Biden’s handlers would advise their candidates to say.

Nobody wants a Savor King, a Christ, Who suffers and dies, even if death is followed by a promised resurrection.

We want Messiah Saviors who are going to make our lives smooth and easy, who will save us without telling us to give up our sins, selfishness, greed, envy, gossip, adultery, idolatry, and prejudices.

We want glory without a cross, forgiveness without contrition, resurrection without crucifixion, new life without the death of our old sinful selves.

But, Jesus is saying that’s not how the Kingdom of God comes into our lives. If even the sinless Lamb of God must die in order to fulfill His mission in life, how much more must we, who are sinners, die to sin in order to share in Jesus’ eternal kingdom?

Peter's reaction to Jesus’ words is immediate and forceful. “‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’” (Matthew 16:22)

It’s here that Jesus gives Simon a new nickname. Thundering with anger, Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:23)

In the blink of an eye, the foundation rock, Peter, has become a stumbling stone, an impediment trying to prevent Jesus--just like Satan had in the wilderness--from fulfilling His mission.

That mission is simple: To offer His sinless life on a cross, paying the price for our sin, so that all who follow Jesus rather than the call of sinful human concerns, will be raised from the dead with Jesus.

We’re to stop getting in Jesus’ way with our sinful desire for the worldly successes and victories of this dead world and, instead, get behind Jesus and follow Him through cross and resurrection.

Jesus clarifies His call in this way, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

What exactly does Jesus mean here?

Years ago, a group of pastors approached a colleague, who served a small inner-city church, about becoming bishop for their church body. The pastors had long been impressed by his faith, his teaching and preaching, his servant heart, and the way the love of Christ was seen in him. After they’d made their pitch, the inner-city pastor said that he couldn’t be a bishop. He explained that his wife suffered from a debilitating condition and his adult son had developmental issues. Both needed his care. Surely, his colleagues insisted, he could enlist help.

The pastor felt in that moment as though he was being accosted by Satan, being given an easy path away from his call as husband and father so that he could chase the glories of the world. He didn’t cave.

He could, he told the group of pastors, get more help for his wife and son and he might need to do so sometime. But for the foreseeable future, he believed, God was calling him to be with his wife and son. He couldn’t delegate the life to which God had called him to anyone else.

Keep in mind that this pastor’s cross wasn’t his wife or son. People today misuse Jesus’ words from today’s lesson when they describe the adversities of life as their crosses. No, this pastor’s cross was the satanic allure of forsaking his call to follow Jesus in order to gain the rewards of the world, the sin all of must confess, of wanting this world more than we want the crucified and risen Jesus.

That pastor was ultimately able to refuse what the world would regard as a promotion because following Jesus goes by way of the cross, the way of crucifying the old self “with all sins and evil desires,” as Martin Luther puts it in The Small Catechism, so “that the new person [can] come forth every day and rise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

With what easy pathway is Satan tempting you today?

You married folk, is there someone else in your life who’s new and exciting, someone with whom you’ve never had an argument over bills or purchases, kids or childcare?

Young people, is there an easy way for you to cheat on your tests and get the good grades you think will unlock a great future for you?

Citizens, are there candidates offering easy solutions to hard problems, candidates telling you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear?

The world is filled with Satan’s siren call to the easy way. But the easy way is a stumbling block to following Jesus and the life He gives to all who trust in Him.

There’s only one way to life with God. It’s the way that Jesus speaks of today: the way of daily repentance, that is, daily turning away from sin and daily turning to Jesus for the forgiveness of sin that brings new life from God.

This is the way of daily burying our sinful selves so that our new selves can face each new day free from sin, guilt, and the shifting standards of an unforgiving world.

This is the way of taking up our crosses and following Jesus, “the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

May Jesus be the Way we follow today and always. Amen

Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 4

If you prefer, below is the YouTube edition.



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Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 3

 

[This can, if it suits you better, also be found on YouTube.]

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Tonight's Weeknight Bible Study, The Biblical Background of The Small Catechism, Part 2

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