Confession and Life
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Paul Kretzmann’s commentary on the whole Bible has been a dear resource for generations of Lutherans. The books are long out of print, though you can probably still find used copies floating around. An alternative, though is to search and read it online. Try it out. This brief commentary was widely published and used for good reason.
An Evangelical, millenialist pastor named John Hagee has written an article for the Jewish Daily Forward. In it, Hagee presents some reasons why Christian zionists support the present-day nation of Israel. He writes,
On May 23, pastors, ministers and priests at more than 1,500 churches in all 50 states and over 50 foreign countries will dedicate their Sunday services to teaching the importance of Christian support for Israel.
Some of our members, or our neighbors, may wonder if we will join with those churches, or whether we should. The answer to that stems from the theology of Christian zionism. Zion is the name for the hill where the Jebusites had established the city of Jerusalem, and which King David later captured and made his capital. It became symbolic of the entire city, and ultimately, for the nation of Israel. Zionism is quite different, though the word is related. It describes a movement in which people attach special historic and theological importance to the existence of an earthly nation of Jews. It goes further than respect for the Jewish people as the nation from which our Savior, the Messiah, was born. It goes further even than recognizing a spiritual significance to ancient Israel that is connected to our present-day faith in Jesus.
In the words of John Hagee: “As is the case for many Jews, our support for Israel starts with God’s promises in the Hebrew Bible, but it does not end there.” By the Hebrew Bible, Hagee means the Old Testament scriptures. I suppose that the promises he references are the ones that describe a future kingdom of peace, ruled by the Messiah, when all enemies will be vanquished. Orthodox Christianity considers those promises to be fulfilled spiritually by Jesus right now, though their fulfillment will be revealed to all on the Last Day, which will be the First Day of our bodily eternal life in paradise. Millenialists, however, look for an outward earthly kingdom in which the Messiah will subjugate all outward enemies and reign as a sovereign potentate. This is not a new teaching; many Jews have made the same error for thousands of years. Hagee and others have, knowingly or not, imported such ideas into their Christian worldview. They support this notion with forced explanations of Bible passages under the guise of a “literal” interpretation. Unfortunately, those explanations usually do not allow the text of the Bible to stand on its own.
Hagee continues:
Christian Zionists recognize that we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Jewish people. As I have stressed to my Christian audiences for years: If you take away the Jewish contribution to Christianity, there would be no Christianity.
I beg to differ. It was not the Jewish people who provided the doctrine of holy scripture. That came from God Himself, in spite of those to whom He spoke. The Jewish people, as such, have their beginning in Babylon, after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first Temple in 586 B.C. They are called “Jewish” because the kingdom Nebuchadnezzar destroyed was Judah, named for one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Today’s Jewish traditions and worship are indeed very old, dating back to that 6th century before Christ. Yet we should not imagine that Jewish worship is the same as the worship of Israel. Jewish worship centers in synagogues, which became the organizational model for early Christian congregations. It was a tradition designed to preserve the precious doctrine among the generations of Jews, despite the absence of the most important element of Israelite worship: the Temple in Jerusalem, and before it, the Tabernacle.
Today’s Judaism is quite different from Israelite worship, say, during the reign of King Josiah, or during the period of the Judges. Judaism’s roots are found in Israelite worship and doctrine, but the two are different. More importantly, a major focus of both ancient Israelite worship and ancient Judaism has been lost in present-day Judaism. That focus is echoed today only among the “messianic Jews” (those who recognize that Jesus is the Messiah) and Christians. It is the redemptive, justifying atonement of the Messiah, who through His own suffering and death, would provide forgiveness and remission of sins for all Israelites and for Gentiles, to be received through faith alone. The significance of this is only understood when we know the deep depravity and guilt of original sin, which cannot be erased or mitigated by the efforts of mortal man. This is all taught throughout the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, but it is lost to modern-day Judaism.
Hagee writes, “From the patriarchs to the prophets, from Jesus and his family to the men who wrote down the Bible, Jewish people have provided us with the fundamentals of our faith.” The patriarchs were not Jews, nor even Israelites. Jesus and the apostles were indeed Jews, of the kind disowned today by their unbelieving Jewish families. They all believed and taught that Jesus is the Messiah. For this, most of them were killed. I don’t hold that fact against modern day Jews, but mention it only because Hagee would have us thank present-day Jews for their contribution to our Christian faith. History shows this to be senseless.
Speaking for Christian Zionists, Hagee also writes something with which I heartily agree: “Israel is not the cause of militant Islam’s hatred of America, but an ally in the fight against militant Islam.” Islamofascists use Israel as a convenient excuse and a favorite punching bag, but their real target is personal freedom and the Christian worldview behind it.
Hagee writes that the focus of Christian zionists on May 23rd will include “God’s promise in Genesis 12:3 that He will bless those who bless Israel.” If you look up that verse, you will see that it does not mention Israel by name. It says “you,” meaning Abraham and the nation that would come from him. The promise in Genesis 12 does include Israel, but not in the way Christian zionists would have us believe. Israel was the beginning of the “great nation” descended from Abraham. The purpose of this nation was not to bless those who bless it, but that through it, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That is fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah, who has provided salvation not only for Israelites, but for every nation. Other blessings of God upon the Israelites were fulfilled between the Exodus from Egypt and the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. After that, many believed in Jesus as the Messiah, and finally, the time of Temple worship came to a permanent end when the second Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.
If we want to be a genuine blessing to the present-day Jews, we will hand them a copy of the Letter to the Hebrews and repeat what the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:7-9 (NKJV), “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” The faith Paul mentions is faith in the true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
That brings me to the false identification of present-day Israel with ancient Israel. There are only two similarities between them: their citizens are primarily descendants of the patriarch Jacob, and they roughly occupy the same physical territory. In all other respects, they are different. The ancient nation of Israel does still exist, but it is hidden in this world. Its members include all those who belong to the Messiah, Jesus, by faith. Some are in heaven already, including such Israelites as Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Rahab, Ruth, David, Hezekiah, Elijah, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, John the Baptizer, the apostle Nathaniel, the pastor Titus, the evangelist Luke, the confessor Athanasius, and the reformer Luther. Others still live on the earth. The root of Israel is described in the Old Testament, but the wild branch of the Gentiles has been grafted in by faith (Romans 11:17), while many original branches have broken away because of unbelief. Yet unbelieving Jews may yet believe, and some are converted all the time (v. 23).
The true Israel is the Church. It is not a democracy, like the modern-day nation of Israel, but remains a monarchy. Our king is the Messiah, Jesus, who has fulfilled the prophecies of His victory and will return to end this world of sorrow and bring us into His everlasting kingdom of glory. Christians are Israelites, citizens of this world while also citizens of heaven. We live in the time of fulfillment, in the “millennium” that so many are awaiting. We pray weekly that God will open the hearts of Jewish people to believe in their Messiah. We would have them blessed with all that God promised to their forefathers, but as long as they reject their true God and Messiah, we shall not call them the true “Israel.”
In a discussion Tuesday night at Lutheran Family Fellowship, we talked about how the Ten Commandments were given to Israel. I said that I thought Moses was required to write the text of the commandments on the second set of stone tablets, but he wasn’t. God wrote on the second set, just as he wrote the first. (Update: It depends, however, upon how you take the subject “he” in v. 28.) The difference was that Moses had to make the second set of tablets himself, while God had provided the first set that Moses broke. So the overall sequence (with some time between steps for other things) was:
God spoke the Commandments out of the cloud to the entire assembly of the children of Israel at Mt. Horeb (Exodus 20),
God gave Moses the commandments in written form on two stone tablets (Exodus 31:18, 32:15-16), which Moses broke upon seeing the syncretism of Israel (Exodus 32:19),
God had Moses make new tablets, and He wrote upon them the same thing as on the first tablets (Exodus 34:1-2, 4, 28-29).
As we prepare to enter the season of Lent for 2010, there is much planning to do in our little parish. We are blessed in many ways, not least in having Vicar Gullixson and his family among us. Lord willing, that will continue at least until June. After their stay with us, we will have to readjust to a parish life without a vicar.
In the meantime, we expect to celebrate the confirmation of some of our Jr. Members at both churches on Palm Sunday. We anticipate joint mid-week Lent services, beginning on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17) at 6:30 PM, at Bethany, and then alternating weekly between the two churches until Palm Sunday. After Ash Wednesday, we’ll have a “Soup & Sandwich Supper” at 6:20, followed by a Lent service at 7. Candidates for confirmation will have a public examination in those services.
After Easter, everyone is invited to the Emmaus Conference, held at Parkland Lutheran Church in Tacoma. This will be its third year. The Jacobsens are planning to take some vacation time after April 11, while Vicar Gullixson will be here to “watch the shop.”
In May, Bethany is planning to celebrate its 25th year with a special service. We hope that Pastor Frank Fiedler will be able to attend and preach. Well before that happens, Bethany’s narthex project should be finished, so that we can dedicate it to the glory of God, with thanksgiving for His merciful goodness. (At present, the only essential thing remaining is some fine-tuning of the new outer doors.) As the Summer season approaches, we can be thankful again that God provided the means to replace our air conditioner in 2009.
2010 is already a banner year for Concordia, since we have adopted a revised constitution that we can fully uphold in practice. It will be submitted to the synod this year for review. At our annual meeting, we elected office-holders with a one-year term, since our constitution calls for an election in every odd-numbered year. Also, the narthex renovations at Concordia seem nearly complete, with a beautiful, new, level floor and a fine, custom railing made from local materials. Our guests should already find a welcoming, pleasant atmosphere as they enter the building, and we hope to improve it further as we finish the project. Our maintenance budget this year will be reduced somewhat due to an emergency furnace expenditure, but we can be reasonably certain now that the new furnace blower will be reliable.
As we continue our outreach Bible classes in Klickitat, it has become apparent that we should use a basic introduction to the Bible and to our faith. Meanwhile, our members who are more experienced students of the Bible would also benefit from a fresh approach to a more in-depth study of holy scripture. While I intend to continue using the Gottesdienst class as an overview of Christian teaching and worship, I have found a more comprehensive program for presenting the critically-important elements of Bible study. This program not only introduces the Bible to those less familiar, but provides the tools and skills needed for every disciple of Jesus to continue growing in God’s Word. The course covers many topics, from Bible interpretation through parts of the Old Testament, and also the New Testament. Every member of Bethany and Concordia would find it greatly beneficial, from about 10 years old and older. Our challenge will be to arrange it so that our members and guests will be less likely to miss any classes and fall behind. Your advice is welcome.
At the moment, I am considering a schedule where three presentations of the same class session will be held weekly: one at Bethany, one at Concordia, and one at Klickitat. That way, if a student in one place has a schedule conflict, he can plan to attend the same class at one of the other places that week. As long as the church schedule allows it, I would present all classes in each unit, then take a month or two off before the next unit begins. I could begin teaching the first unit (10 lessons) in May. Again, your advice is welcome.
Let us thank God for His many blessings upon us, and pray for His continued providence — especially the providing of His pure Word and Sacraments, wherein we find and receive the forgiveness of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Soul Cafe is really a church! Beyond being a youth center on 12th St. in Hood River, it’s a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). That’s the largest church body in the United States that calls itself “Lutheran.” We also call ourselves “Lutheran,” but we mean something different by it than does the ELCA. We consider the label “Lutheran,” when applied to a church, to mean the particular confession of faith to which that church holds in its teaching. Specifically, we consider a Lutheran church to be one that holds (without compromise) the teachings confessed in the Lutheran Confessions, because they fully and faithfully agree with the Bible.
Soul Cafe’s church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, acknowledges that the Lutheran Confessions have historical importance, but no normative importance over present-day Lutheran teaching. Therefore, we would not describe the ELCA with the adjective “Lutheran.” Appropriately enough, Soul Cafe seems to avoid that label.
If you’d like to confirm for yourself that Soul Cafe is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, have a look at its web site. Be sure to scroll to the bottom. If you’re still not convinced, you can look it up in the ELCA congregation directory.
Soul Cafe’s web site uses some of the code language of homosexual advocacy (“open and affirming”), extending it to accept and affirm many different social choices that the Bible considers to be sinful. It promotes an organization called “Lutherans Concerned/North America,” which advocates the acceptance of homosexuality in Lutheran churches, contrary to several passages in Holy Scripture. The person it calls “pastor” has written several statements there that show a radical separation from historic Christianity. She alludes to the Lutheran Confessions (specifically, Augsburg Confession article 7), but only to claim that most of what the Confessions say should be considered “adiaphora,” meaning “that which is neither commanded by God nor forbidden.” The effect is to dismiss the Confessions, as well as much of the Bible’s doctrinal content as a matter of mere personal opinion. More troubling, she seems to deny the trinitarian foundation of the Ecumenical Creeds:
I have learned that the Trinity is not some complex theological doctrine. The Trinity is the experience of God the Father/Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit in relation, in community with one another and in relation, in community with all the world. The Trinity is the perichoretic God—the God who circulates and dances through the neighborhood, working healing and wholeness.
Any church that persistently denies the Trinity, or even the authority of God’s Word in all matters of faith and life, is not a Christian church, though it may still claim to be. Christianity is not a matter of being nice to others, nor a matter of merely living a certain way. It is a matter of what we believe, which then flows naturally into the way we live. When we confess that God’s Word is right about our sins, and then trust in the forgiveness He applies through Jesus Christ, we have begun to be Christians. This faith continues with a confession that God is right about everything else that His Word addresses. Unfortunately, the heritage of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America includes theological liberalism, which does not consider the Bible to be God’s Word. Therefore, there is very little to prevent a congregation like Soul Cafe from completely losing the character and doctrine of the Christian Church.
We should pray for our friends and neighbors influenced by such places as Soul Cafe, and do what we can to help them avoid such places. We can offer them so much more, beginning with the certainty that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, and has died and physically risen to life again as the atoning sacrifice for every sin — even sinful life choices like homosexuality. Some may still not be convinced that Soul Cafe is a church. Remember Matthew 7:15-20, where Jesus predicted such things:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
To those preparing for the Final Advent of our Lord, My family and I feel very blessed to be among so many wonderful people. You have been very generous and kind to us. Thank you for your hospitality and the opportunity to serve you. I knew preaching and teaching God’s Word would be enjoyable, but it is made all the more enjoyable when people are appreciative and understand the value of it in their daily lives. When I first came to Concordia and Bethany, I understood that there was a desire for more opportunities to study God’s Word. This is a desire that is truly pleasing to God and can only come from His work in your hearts. This is also a blessing for Pastor and me since this is the very reason that we are among you – to teach and preach God’s Word to His people. In this Advent season, we key in on the truth of Jesus’ coming. At Christmas time, we celebrate His first coming to this earth, being born of the Virgin Mary so that as both God and Man, He could live perfectly for us and take away our eternal punishment. But this first coming would mean nothing to us if He did not come into our hearts. This gracious coming happens only through His Word (the Bible) and Sacraments (Holy Baptism and Holy Communion). In His Word, God tells us that Jesus will come again on finally on Judgment Day. Jesus gracious coming to us is essential for both benefitting from His first coming and preparing for His final coming. This gracious coming is why we Christians continually desire to come together around the Means of Grace – Word and Sacrament. In the 3rd Commandment, God reminds us that the day of rest, was for both the body and the soul. Jesus is your Sabbath rest. “Come unto Me ye weary…and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) So I invite you to come and rest in your Savior. There are many opportunities happening every week.
At Bethany:
Sunday 9:30 AM – Sunday School and Confirmed/Adult Bible Class * Going through the life of Jesus
11:00 AM – Divine Service * Going through Old Testament History through the Church year
1:15 PM – Confessing Jesus * Going through the Confessions of the Lutheran Church: the Book of Concord – currently studying Luther’s “last will and testament”: the Smalcald Articles.
Tuesday 5:15 PM – Lutheran Family Fellowship (2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month) * Office of Compline: At the end of Luke (a chapter at a time.)
7:00 PM – Bible Study * Going through the book of Acts
Friday 9:00 AM – Confirmation Class
9:30 – Advanced Bible History * Starting with the Creation
10:30 – Gottesdienst * Studying the Catechism through the Liturgy
12:00 – Junior Members
Saturday 7:00 – Private Absolution * This is a good time for examination and preparation for Communion.
At Concordia
Sunday 9:00 AM – Divine Service * Going through Old Testament History through the Church year
10:30 AM – Sunday School * Going through the life of Jesus
10:30 AM – Confirmed/Adult Bible Class (on Sundays with Communion and 5th Sundays of the month) * Going through the life of Jesus
1:15 PM – Confessing Jesus (Through Skype) * Going through the Confessions of the Lutheran Church: the Book of Concord – currently studying Luther’s “last will and testament”: the Smalcald Articles.
Thursday 5:15 PM – Lutheran Family Fellowship (1st & 3rd Thursday of the month) * Office of Compline: the Gospel of Mark (a chapter at a time.)
7:00 PM – Gottesdienst * Studying the Catechism through the Liturgy
At Klickitat Thursday 5:00 PM – Gottesdienst * Studying the Catechism through the Liturgy
A couple months ago, I was talking to one of our members about a new Bible Study coming up, which she was excited about. She said something that hits the nail on the head. She said, “You know, I just have to do something for me.” She is exactly right. Learning about God’s Word is “for you.” I would encourage you to take some time “for you.”
God Bless, Vicar Gullixson
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is splitting over its recent decision to ordain openly practicing homosexuals as ministers. While we may rejoice that some recognize that God’s Word should not be compromised, it must be pointed out that there are many other areas where the teaching of the ELCA departs dramatically from self-interpreted Holy Scripture. For example, the Bible claims to be the inspired, inerrant, infallible, and completely sufficient Word of God. ELCA disagrees. The Bible assigns gender-based roles to men and women, particularly in churches. ELCA disagrees. The list could go on.
We should pray for our friends in ELCA churches, and those who will be leaving the ELCA, encouraging them to stand upon God’s pure and unchanging Word alone, no matter what the world around us may think of it.
The Lutheran Church confesses that the Bible is God’s Word, in every part. It is our pastors’ responsibility to preach God’s Word: the condemning and instructing Law in all of its parts, as well as the justifying and comforting Gospel in all of its aspects.
In some places (notably, Canada) it is now illegal for citizens in general to teach some parts of what the Bible says. You might think that such a law could never pass in the United States, where our freedoms of speech and religion are protected by the First Amendment. However, you should be aware that a movement has been afoot in our government to pass just such a law.
I don’t think our churches should be politically-oriented, because that’s not our mission. However, when the political part of our land transgresses into the realm of biblical teaching, I must at least inform you about it, so that you can do what your conscience dictates as a voting Christian citizen and a constituent of our representatives in Congress.
According to this “watchdog” group, so-called “hate crimes” legislation will soon be voted on in Congress. Reportedly, this vote is its only real hurdle to becoming law. If it were to become law, the door would be opened to a new kind of religious persecution, in which faithful teachers of God’s Word could be targeted by the justice system for teaching what the Bible says about gender.
According to those who favor such things, a “hate crime” occurs when someone commits a regular crime against another person, but in special circumstances. To make it a “hate crime,” the victim must be a member of a group of people especially targeted by the perpetrator. It seems the only groups considered by Congress for special protection are homosexuals and the disabled, but not religious adherents such as Jews, Catholics, or Lutherans.
While none of us should be committing crimes against others to begin with, this “hate crimes” movement should be troubling to us as Christians. There is something fundamentally new when an identical crime can be prosecuted differently based upon the supposed motive of the criminal. Worse yet, the condemning motive may be nothing more than our acceptance of God’s Word concerning homosexuals. That means anyone who teaches the biblical position on homosexuality could be accused as a “teacher of hate.”
Some think that condemning homosexuality as sin is truly hateful, but they could not be more wrong. Is it hateful to warn someone that his behavior is self-destructive, and will lead to eternal punishment? No, it’s the loving thing to do, especially because there is forgiveness and healing in Christ for all who repent.
I won’t tell you what to do about this, but I will remind you that our elected representatives answer to their constituents. Our representatives will listen to us, because we can vote them out. At the same time, you can be sure that the vocal minority of homosexuality advocates are sending all the encouragement they can to Washington. They have been organized, and have been following this strategy for some time.
I will post this in the newsletter/blog space on our web site.
Your comments are welcome.
You already know that Jesus lived a sinless life. That means that He made full use of the synagogue meetings, and also faithfully made the journey to Jerusalem for the feasts of Unleavened Bread (Passover), Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles (the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur). It was on one of those journeys to Jerusalem that Mary and Joseph mistakenly left Him behind and began their trip home to Nazareth. They returned in a panic, searching for days. When they found Him in the Temple, He innocently asked them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). His Father’s business was naturally at the Temple, where God had promised to be found by His people (1 Kings 8).
Jesus attended synagogue on the Sabbath, at whatever synagogue He was near. He began his ministry with a visit to the synagogue in Nazareth, where He performed the office of a rabbi, or teacher, by reading from the Bible and commenting on it. This pattern of teaching was repeated at other synagogues, sometimes accompanied by miracles to demonstrate that what He taught about himself is true.
At Nazareth, the Bible verse He read to announce His ministry was Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then, when all eyes were fixed upon Him, He said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, Isaiah wrote those words to describe what Jesus was doing at that moment. In fact, the Lord continued the same activity at every synagogue meeting, and for all who came to be with Him.
Then Jesus died. For obvious reasons, that usually means a person will no longer be attending Church. Not so in Jesus’ case. The night He was betrayed, He established a gift for all Christians: the meal of His body and His blood. “This is My body,” He said. “This is the New Testament in My blood, shed for many for the remission of sins.” His command was to “do this,” including the eating and drinking, “in remembrance of Me.” Afterward, Christians knew that every time they celebrated the Lord’s Supper, Jesus was in attendance, just as surely as He was there at the Last Supper.
Jesus also defeated death and rose from the grave. This is the key fact that upholds Christianity. Without it, we may as well believe anything that interests us. Without it, we may as well skip church on Sunday in favor of other commitments: social activities, work, sleeping in, etc.
But if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then why would we ever want to miss out on the Divine Service? The body and blood of the living Christ — the One who defeated death — are there as His blessings to us. He is really there for us! Even now, Jesus is in attendance at Church for our benefit every time the Lord’s Supper is offered. I shudder to think what it must mean if we prefer to be somewhere else.
Yet Jesus’ Church attendance is even better than that. Before He ascended to heaven, He also promised in connection with His Word and Baptism “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 19-20). The evangelist Mark describes how things went for the infant Church after that (Mark 16:20): “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” Since the Divine Service has always focused and centered upon the Word of God, specifically the message of Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:23), we may be certain of Jesus’ promised presence every Sunday, wherever the Gospel is preached and His Word is taught, especially where this is done faithfully and accurately.
So we should ask ourselves — we, who must still struggle with our sinful nature, and are so good at excusing ourselves from God’s blessings: where is the best place for me to be? Should I be in the gracious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who faithfully attends Church even now, in order to bless me with His forgiveness? Or should I allow other things to rob me of the opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet and receive the blessing I need (Luke 10:40-42)?
It may seem like a no-brainer, but then why do we often make the other choice? Are you really convinced that you need Jesus’ gracious presence? Are you convinced that Jesus has truly risen from the dead, and now bestows upon us the favor of God and the medicine of immortality? Maybe that’s the problem: we don’t firmly believe these basic truths that define the Christian faith. But then, that would mean we are “wavering between two opinions,” like the unfaithful Israelites in Elijah’s day (1 Kings 18:21).
If we were truly convinced that we are hell-bound sinners, but also that the Son of God died and rose again to redeem us from the grave, and that He attends the Divine Service every week to provide us with the forgiveness of our sins, then the Divine Service would be our own highest priority. Since it is not always our highest priority, but just another thing we’d like to do when convenient, we must conclude that our faith and eternal life are in grave danger.
What can we do? Take comfort in this fact: Jesus is still there for you in the Divine Service, week after week. He’s there for you, even when you’re not. Like the prodigal son, you have the opportunity to repent and return to the arms of your loving Father. Take advantage of that opportunity, while it lasts. Jesus still invites you to receive His Word of forgiveness, the bread of life. He still wants to feed you with His own body and blood, the price of our redemption. Because He loves you, Jesus’ own Church attendance is perfect.
The world around us has many different ideas about religion. We know from holy scripture that the true religion is a matter of revelation rather than discovery. In Matthew 11:27, Jesus said, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” The book of Hebrews begins, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” So genuine religion includes the faith that Jesus Christ is God the Son, that He has reconciled us to God through His atoning death, and that we will all share in the resurrection from the dead that began on Easter.
Meanwhile, the world around us can’t really appreciate all of this, so it considers any belief in God as true religion. That’s not surprising, and it’s one of the reasons we are here: to enlighten the world with the truth that God has revealed.
One of the things we see in the experiences of people around us is that God does not necessarily bring utter enemies of religion to full-blown faith in one step. There are three prominent examples of His working bit by bit. One has already resulted in saving faith for the individual, and the others may well be on the same path. It is certain that God wants all of them — and us — to believe the truth and through faith in Christ, to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
The former atheist who is now in heaven is C.S. Lewis. You might find his writings to be edifying, as many people have. Among other things, he is the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, now being made into motion pictures. Lewis was a notable defender of the faith, after his conversion. He believed that God was always working on him, bringing him closer and closer to the true religion through many experiences and influences, especially the Word of God.
Another former atheist in the news is Anthony Flew, who has become a theist instead. You can read an interview with him on the Internet. A theist is not the same thing as a Christian. It means that Flew believes in God, that He exists. While it is not a saving faith, it is a step closer to the true religion.
The third example is Francis S. Collins, a well-respected genetic scientist, and head of the Human Genome Project. He has a book in which he shows the evidence that supports his decision to believe in God. For Collins, science and faith may be harmonized, so that he believes that God created us through a process of evolution. It is a reasonable theory, but comes from the mistaken notion that religion can all be discovered. We can understand the mistake, because some parts of religion can be discovered (Psalm 97:6, Romans 2:14-15), and indeed, have been discovered by Lewis, Collins, Flew, and others. However, the point comes quickly where our natural reason fails us, and to learn more, we must turn to what God has revealed.
For example, the main purpose of the Bible is to reveal our Savior from sin and death (John 20:31). Before we are ready for that revelation, we need to understand what sin and death really are. Genesis chapters 1-8 show the origin and early effects of these things, pointing out that death did not exist, for human beings anyway, until sin entered the world. We only know this because God has revealed it to us, and no human could discover it on his own. Yet the theory of theistic evolution — that God created us through a process of evolution — relies upon death as the mechanism by which evolution gradually progresses. Either theistic evolution must be wrong, or Genesis 1-8 must be wrong. One is the result of human discovery and reasoning, and the other is what God has revealed.
At some point, I anticipate that God will lead people like Flew and Collins to realize the importance of divine revelation, and that faith is really a trust in that revelation, rather than a trust in what we have seen and discovered for ourselves. Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
