Pure Joy

Due to some recent revelations, it has been a semi tough week for me.  But no pity party needed.  It just sets up how special this years confirmation service was.  Confirming their faith today were several students who I taught in Vacation Bible School a few summers ago, and several more whom I have come to know through youth group.  It is a special class of kids, with a special faith that boggles the mind.  There is a pure joy that these kids have in loving their savior, and that is not something one could ever teach.  It comes from above, from the God who gave them that faith.  They understand what many adults do not, and that is a testament to their faith and commitment to Christ.  They are spurned by the love of God that we have found in Jesus Christ.  That special joy is something that no one can take from them, try as they might.  Life is what they need, and living life to the fullest is what they will do.  I thank God for this great example, and for lifting my spirit because of it.

Boasting Only In The Cross

Kind of on a cross kick right now.  Being Lutheran I suppose that's not such a bad thing.  Just got back from a college fellowship night at my church where the message was heard as true as always and the fellowship was as genuine as always.  Little else makes me happier then seeing faith fully alive.  Speaking of, and in context of the cross, John Piper really brings a good cross centered message.  Piper is of the Reformed tradition so although his theology is not Lutheran per se, it is most of the time real solid.  His talk, linked below, centers around the cross.  He expounds upon Paul's words that we are to only boast in the cross, and any other "boasting" we do is because of the cross.  Well worth the 40 minutes or so it takes to hear. Enjoy!

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/EssentialResources/1483_Boasting_Only_in_the_Cross/

The Cross

What is the one focal point of Lutheranism that distinguishes it from the "rest?"  Many ideas about Christianity that reign out there in the land of America can and are very "me-centered."  This me-centered idea is sometimes even done unintentional.  It's just how some interpret scripture.  Unfortunately, a me-centered theology allows oneself to become part of the process.  Truth is, we are saved by faith through grace, not at all our own doing (Ephesians 2).  The only possible explanation for a most sound theology would be looking toward the thing that allows us to have a theology at all, the cross. 

The very cross of Jesus Christ is where all our understandings of God should flow from.  When looking "out there" and seeing new techniques being used as to how people should be brought into the church if it does not match up with the theology of the cross, it ought to be left at home, or incorporated in a way that it can match up with the theology of the cross.  The cross is simply where it's at.  There is no other place where all people can go to and find peace, comfort, humility, fellowship, and most importantly, salvation.  From Jesus' blood at Calvary we are redeemed, we are made anew.  Notice where God is most present.  God is most present "in the wilderness."  We know it to be true that the Israelites wandered the desert for forty years because God brought His people there to be closer to them.  In the same fashion, Jesus went to the wilderness, or desert, for forty days to be tempted by Satan and face the same perils that God's people do.  

Tragedy is something that happens every single day.  People look at tragedy and are confused, they are broken, and they are hurt.  Questions abound wondering how such a thing could happen, especially to them.  One of the most popular questions during times like these is, "Where is God?"  Where is God while I am sitting here suffering this unbearable pain.  And sometimes, the pain is unbearable on your own.  So, where is God?  It's a feeling of emptiness, a feeling of immense doubt, and a feeling of great pain.  Where is God?  The wonderful thing about going through your own hell on earth, is that God is right there with you.  The Creed's state that Jesus was crucified, died, and buried.  Then they go on to say he descended into hell.  Jesus went through hell, so when we felt immense anguish, He'd be right there with us.  Jesus went through hell so we would never have to.  On the cross, Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"  God the Father, literally disowned and abandoned God the Son, Jesus Christ.  The Awesome Trinity was indeed in great anguish over this move.  But it had to be done.  God had to offer up His Son, as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Where is God?  God is right there in the thick of things.  God is standing in the middle of the mud with you.  There is nothing that we go through that Christ hasn't endured for us.  Christ even endured much worse than us, being abandoned by the Father.  

The cross is beautiful and it is ugly.  It is ugly because it shows us our sin, it shows what the consequence of sin is, and it took God having His own Son crucified to correct it.  Yet, at the same time, the beauty of the cross is there.  The cross is God's throne.  The cross is the victory sign for all believers who see their King sitting upon His throne and declaring "It is finished!"  Sin, death, and the devil are defeated.  They still exist for now, but to the one clutching to the cross, it has no power over them.  In our much, in our mire, in our darkest hour that's where God is.  God is revealed at the cross.  Elie Wiesel, a concentration camp survivor, in writing his book Night spoke about how after seeing the Nazi's brutally kill, and hang people that God was dead.  He asked the question, "Where is God?"  And he answered it most unfortunately saying God was dead, hanging in the gallows.  But the second part of that, "God is hanging in the gallows" is something Christians can agree with and even say amen to.  God went to the gallows for us, and in our darkest moments, that's where we find him.  The cross shines light unto our sin and cleanses it completely.  Where is God you ask?  The cross, baby, He's at the cross.  It is that cross and empty tomb that give us our hope and our salvation.  Does the world not thirst for this?