Christian Joy

The joy of the Christian is not to be found in some institution focused on the world.  The joy of the Christian is to be found only under the cross of Christ.  Again, this beautiful “paradox” of the cross rears its head.  The cross is, historically, a murderous tool.  This was no different in the case of Jesus, but the difference lied in what was accomplished upon Jesus’ cross.  On Calvary the most disgusting and beautiful act in the history of mankind took place.  The beauty of the cross is that through the worst sin ever committed, all sin was defeated!  It really is mind-boggling stuff when you think about it.  It is no wonder that Paul referred to the Gospel as foolishness.  The Gospel is nothing less than foolish, for the one not believing.  To the world, this beauty of the cross does not make any sense at all, and how could it?  What is it specifically about this 160 pound Jewish guy in the first century and his death on the cross that changed everything, forever?  How in the world does logic explain that?  It doesn’t at all.  And sadly, there are those even within the church that have chosen to seek a logical explanation for the works of God and how they came to be instead of taking them for what they are and trusting the faith they have been given.  Logic does not explain the cross.  The cross of Christ defies all logic.  If you try to make reason out of it, you wind up confusing yourself and causing doubt.  The Gospel was never meant to be interpreted through the eyes and wisdom of man.  Rather, it was meant for the wisdom of God and through God breaking down that barrier of sin by means of Jesus’ cross, we are able to respond and are saved.  

To some, the cross is a beautiful story, but it wasn’t everything.  There are those who say other things must be accomplished to assure themselves of their salvation.  We know this, that the cross forgave the sins of humanity and that the only thing that will not be forgiven is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, unbelief.  That’s right, every vile act of sin ever committed is forgiven through the cross in the context of faith.  Our brothers and sisters in some denominations argue that works must be completed to attain this, or that those outside of a specific church need a perfect act of contrition or be saved on the account of ignorance.  It is unfortunate that there are those in Christendom who would dare say the cross is not enough and bowing to an institution headed by some pseudo-Christ on earth is the answer to really bowing to Christ.  “For I do not nullify the grace of God, because if righteousness could be gained through the law then Christ died for no purpose!” (Galatians 2:29)  The argument is that these works have nothing to do with law but that they are things we are required to do for our salvation.  One comes to this understanding by twisting the Gospel and interpreting Romans, Hebrews, and Galatians through the Book of James rather than the other way around.  It is true, that faith produces fruit, which are works.  But these works are of no merit to ourselves.  These works are God working through us for the advancement of His Kingdom.  Do not ever let it be about anything else.  Ask yourself this question, when you arrive in heaven who are you going to point to for the reason you are there? Yourself? Mary? Some “special” Saint, or Jesus the living One of God?  For me, I will point and give all credit to Christ the King, our Lord.  

Faith=Righteousness

In Romans 4, where St. Paul is talking about Abraham being justified by faith, he goes on to say that “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5).  Because of our unrighteousness as sinners we are unable to enjoy life eternal.  Therefore we must need righteousness to enter into the Kingdom of God.  There is no perfect act of contrition or any amount of works that man can do to right himself with God.  Nor do works capitalize or assure us of our salvation.  I will tell you what assures you of your salvation:  That Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose again!  That single thing is what assures you of your salvation.  St. Paul goes on further to say that Abraham is “the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them” (Romans 4:11).  See that?  Abraham is the father of all who believe, not the father of all who do just works, or the father of those who believe but in addition to that assure themselves they are the seed of Abraham by the works they do.  Unfortunately, the Book of James muddies this situation for many people.  

The problem is that many read James and take him as saying that faith +works=salvation.  When he is promulgating the law of God, but in doing so showing that indeed faith=salvation but that a true faith shows its fruit.  The one believing in Jesus will be spurned by the Holy Spirit to do good works.  Certainly a man who says he is a Christian yet runs around defaming others, or worse murdering without remorse is no Christian.  James was warning against those who would label themselves as such yet live a life of sin glorification which spurned no good fruit for others to take example from.  “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 5:1-2).  Take serious note of what Paul is saying here: Because of what Christ did, the works of God, and through faith we are saved.  Indeed it took a work for me to be saved, but thanks be to God it wasn’t me who had to accomplish this task.  Jesus Christ, the Word of God is also the Work of God.  Upon that cross where Jesus died, I am redeemed through a work.  And by faith I may live my life in that work, and that faith spurns good works, but only because they are done in Christ.  What does this discipleship mean?  Does it mean we must abandon our lives at home and all become missionaries abroad?  No.  To deny oneself is to understand that this world and its promises have nothing to offer.  It is the first step, by God, that we are able to enter into faith, or discipleship.  Taking up ones cross does not mean we are to run stupidly into the Middle East and be executed for our beliefs.  It simply means to shoulder the things that come along with being a Christ, including the burdens.  And if you are to glorify God in death, then may it be glorious to Him.  To follow Jesus is to focus strictly on the cross.  It means that everything you do, you interpret through the cross.  

Yet, we are humans, and we screw up.  Luckily, we are covered by grace through faith.  Yet this faith does not ask us to be quiet and to sit at home and say, “Whew, it’s over.”  Nowhere in the Bible does it promise a happy, healthy, wealthy lifestyle in following God.  In fact it states just the opposite.  Jesus told His disciples that the world would hate them because it hated Him first.  From a world-view there is no joy in that.  But the Christian sees the joy in giving it all up for Jesus, and that is how we are happy in this life.  

We walk THROUGH faith...

2 Corinthians 5:1-10, ESV (taken from Bible Gateway Online)

1For we know that if^(A) the tent that is^(B) our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God,^(C) a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this tent^(D) we groan, longing to^(E) put on our heavenly dwelling, 3if indeed by putting it on^[a] we may not be found naked. 4For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal^(F) may be swallowed up by life. 5He who has prepared us for this very thing is God,^(G) who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

 6So we are always of good courage. We know that^(H) while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7for^(I) we walk by faith, not^(J) by sight. 8Yes, we are of good courage, and we^(K) would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to^(L) please him. 10For^(M) we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,^(N) so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

I love this!  Shows us how God is the one at work in our lives.  It is God and God alone who works faith in us through His Holy Spirit.  Verse 5 tells us that God has given us His Spirit as a guarantee.  The NIV uses deposit and I really like that translation.  Think of it this way:  God by His grace deposited faith into you by way of His Holy Spirit.  Faith is a gift, as free as can be.  All we do is receive it and believe.  There are no special prayers we have to say.  There are no works we need to do, there are no restrictions.  To put it into worldly terms, it's like someone depositing a sum of money into your bank account.  That is a gift, and you receive such gifts.  You can reject it and thereby offend the giver, but most people would receive the funds into their accounts.  In a similar way with God, He deposits faith into us at our baptism.  Well then why aren't all people still believers after baptism?  Some people abuse the gift and in time reject it.  That is a sad fact of sin unfortunately.  Otherwise, the one having faith with them forever it is a gift of God depositing it or guaranteeing it for them.

As much as I love that, my particular favorite aspect of this passage is verse 7.  In just about every English translation it says "for we walk by faith, not by sight."  The Greek word for "by" is "dia."  That word can mean other things then "by."  Greek is a much fuller language than English, so it is a shame a lot of the concepts so strengthened by the Greek cannot be translated into the English.  One of the words "dia" can mean is "through."  Although an awkward sounding English translation, "We walk through faith, not through sight."  It really hammers home the idea that we live through our faith.  Saying "by" implies we may have something to do with it.  Rather the idea is that God works that faith THROUGH us and THROUGH that faith we walk, we live.  

What do you have to do?  Just live.  

"For we walk THROUGH faith, not THROUGH sight."

Amen.

Great Resources

In addition to unChristian, there are other resources out there that we can use by applying sound Lutheran doctrine to them.  The LCMS' youth website "Youth e Source" has a review written by Terry Dittmer, Director of LCMS Youth Ministry, on the book The Like Jesus But Not the Church.  In the review, Dittmer recognizes some problems with it based on it not being Lutheran, but also finds it to be an important tool Lutherans can use in venturing out into the world and with them bringing the Gospel message of Christ to the lost.  

I think this is just another aspect of how Lutherans can really come to the forefront here by presenting a Law/Gospel message to the lost to make up for the Law based Gospel messages and No law all Gospel messages that are now reaching the lost unsuccessfully.  This stuff is important, and we have to learn how to adapt to it before it passes us by, and with that Lutheranism passes us by.

Consider these statistics from Concordia Irvine's Center for U.S. Missions

One LCMS Church closes per week

Just 900,000 out of 2.6 million LCMS members attend church each week

The LCMS is 98% Anglos, and by 2040, Anglos will be a minority in the U.S.

LCMS is shrinking 3.5% per year, and that is 20% when compared with overall population growth.

This is a huge problem.  Now I know the church "is not about the numbers" but the message.  Does that mean we sit back and watch our beloved synod disappear into the night?  Does that mean we do nothing to go out into the world to bring the lost into the church?  No, and I don't buy the administer the sacraments is all we need to do philosophy.  We need people to administer the sacraments to, and the people in large part are leaving and are not here.  

We have to go to them, without sacrificing Lutheran identity.

Law and Gospel

We are certainly at a point in the history of this country where things are rapidly changing.  Many now say we are in this so called "post modern" era.  Movements that have come about on account of this era as far as the church is concerned include the emergent and missional movements.  Both movements are something that make the stomachs of most Lutherans churn, and a part from a Lutheran concept of these movements, it should make Lutherans stomachs churn.  But what about when we apply our understanding of what it means to be Lutheran, in the larger church catholic, to these ideas of being emergent and missional.  For me, I am more concerned and interested in the Missional aspect.  Why I believe the missional movement does not work, at least faithfully, is because it embraces the anything goes notion of post modernism and waters down the church to obtain the objective of bringing people "back" to the church.  

I feel as though it ought to be the responsibility of Lutherans to embrace the missional aspect and apply our being Lutheran to it.  Being Lutheran, the problems with these anything goes movements is we identify our leaders/elders/pastors as those rightly called to faithfully administer the sacraments and preach the Word.  Our understanding of preaching the Word and seeing scripture in the Law/Gospel dichotomy is exactly what evangelicalism and the missional movement need.  Even non Lutherans such as Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, authors of the book unChristian recognize the need for such a balance, they just didn't know to call it Law/Gospel.  Recently reading the book on a plane I picked up on this, "The real problem comes when we recognize God's holiness but fail to articulate the other side of his character: grace.  Jesus represents truth plus grace (see John 1:14).  Embracing truth, without holding grace in tension leads to harsh legalism, just as grace without truth devolves into compromise" (Kinnaman, 36).  How profound for non Lutherans!  They recognize the failings of the evangelical community has been a law based Gospel and not a beautiful truth/grace or Law/Gospel dichotomy like Lutherans understand.  

At the very same time however, I feel it has been the failings of the Lutheran church to not be missional.  Overly defensive of our traditions we let the hairs on our backs stand straight up as though we are being cornered.  How do people come to faith?  We cannot go into the streets and offer the sacraments to unbelievers, so saying that as long as we just faithfully administer the sacraments we are doing our job is not entirely accurate.  Administering the sacraments is a very important aspect of the job of the rightfully called and ordained, but the world, the lost, cannot hear us from behind closed doors.  The sacraments are to bring faith, that is already there, and sustain it because they are God's means of grace.  A missional Lutheran can drive evangelicalism out of business by faithfully proclaiming Law/Gospel and explaining what grace actually means and having been brought into the church by God Himself, we faithfully preach and administer the sacraments.  I guess what I'm trying to say is we should embrace this movement and tackle its failings with being Lutheran instead of allowing our own queezyness with vocabulary to highlight our own failings of not going out into the four corners of the world and proclaiming the message of Christ.  That is what being Ablaze! is about.

Change the world

Recently a book titled unChristian hit the shelves. The book is written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons of the Barna Research Study group. Both these men are Christian, and in this book they set out to see how people who are not Christian view the religion. In their research they found that out of their sample group that they studied only 16% of people ages 16-29 have a favorable view of Christianity. Let me repeat that line...only 16% of people outside the Christian faith have a favorable view of Christianity. This is a problem. Although Christians know there will be hostility towards them, one wonders in this country how much of this dislike is actually self inflicted. As the research shows, the number 1 reason Christianity is not viewed favorably is NOT because they find Jesus offensive. It is because Christians come off as too judgmental, or too anti their pet sins. This is not to say the largely evangelical crowd is wrong in identifying lifestyles or behaviors as sinful, because they are not. But there is certainly a way to say something, and the evangelicals (the voting bloc) in this country have missed what the Gospel is. The Gospel is not about having sins 1 and 1a, homosexuality and abortion, however sinful they may be. The Gospel is about sharing with people the good news of Jesus Christ being crucified and then risen from the dead to right humanity's wrong. Evangelicals in this country have a largely law based Gospel in which they identify some sins or behaviors as worse than others and instead of expressing love and compassion in their explanation of why repentance is needed, they beat people over the head with Bibles and then end up being disgraced in public when they cannot live up to their own standards. As an evangelical Christian (not the voting bloc) I find it disturbing that much of our image problem has to do with the way we engage the world.

There's a lot of talk about changing the world going on out there. Being it's a presidential election year, you are almost guaranteed to hear talk of change and promises of change. It becomes comical to listen to rather quickly because real change is hardly ever delivered. For me as a Christian, knowing non Christians may very well be reading this, I take comfort in seeing change take place. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which literally means to turn around, to change. The idea of repentance is to have that change of heart that transforms you inside. A change in humanity was needed from the outset. Once sin and death entered the world it needed to be addressed and defeated. One popular question I receive in talking to non Christians and even some Christians is if God knew humanity would sin, why would He create/why wouldn't He stop it? Almost as though God hadn't thought about how His creation would screw up and be in need of saving. So I like to turn the question around. The same scripture that claims humans chose to screw up also shows us God knew we would, but because of His love created anyway. God is love and in that love He creates. We can see that in examples of everyday life. Revelation 13:8 shows us that Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross has eternal consequences, past, present, and future. God created knowing the cross would have to happen. So I like to ask, why would God have created knowing He would undoubtedly have to take the form of man and suffer for us? The answer: God is love. It is THAT love that changes the world. Don't be labeled a hateful evangelical Christian because you have pet sins, but let sinners (of which you are even as a Christian) know that your sin is not better or worse than theirs. The only reason people should look unfavorably upon Christians is because they faithfully proclaim the saving name of Jesus Christ to the world. Want to change the world? Tell some who doesn't believe about the love of Christ found in the gospel. That's how real change will take place in this country and this world. Do not hammer people, do not beat them with verses, simply share the Gospel with them and why they need it, let God do the rest. Always keep that door open and let them know you'll always try to answer questions. The old saying goes "Kill them with kindness." Well kill sinners with love. We all need love, and "there is no greater love than this, that a man should lay his life down for his friends." Go out there and change the world.