Repentance and Forgiveness

What a special day it was yesterday for the families of our children who received their first communion!  It is such a wonderful thing to see the young people of our congregation growing in faith and participating in the gifts He gives us!  Congratulations to Adam, Katie, Andrew, Joshua, Emma, Kia and Lesli!

While yesterday celebrated first communion, it was also the first Sunday of Lent.  That is an interesting combination since first communion is a joyful moment in the life of the congregation and Lent tends to be a more somber season.  The two actually go together, though.  

As we work our way through Lent we lift our eyes to the end of this season when we will observe Maundy Thursday, when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday, when His body was broken and blood spilled for us to forgive our sins, and Easter Sunday when He won the victory over death.  As we gather around the altar to received Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins, we remember Him and proclaiming His death until He comes.  But we are not merely remembering Jesus; we are receiving the salvation He died to win.  

Jesus’ salvation is central to our lives.  

Maybe that seems like an obvious statement, but there is always part of us that makes us think we have to do something to either earn, or at least contribute to, our salvation.  It’s just not true, though.  We contribute nothing to our salvation.  

“Don’t I at least have to apologize?  Don’t I have to repent?” you may ask.  

You will repent of your sins, that is, you will turn away from your sinful behavior, but not to earn forgiveness.  We repent because we are saved.  We repent because the Holy Spirit has washed us of our sins in Baptism and He is still at work in our lives.  We repent – change the way we think and act – because Jesus has loved us and we love Him.  

So we read on Sunday that Jesus proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”   We sometimes separate those two things – repenting and believing, but they are really one action.  One cannot believe the gospel without repenting, nor can we repent without believe in the gospel.  

It has been said that repentance is the mark of the Christian life.  It is certainly a mark of the new life we have in Jesus.  Yet we always struggle.  We always fall short.  We find ourselves constantly pulled between sin and grace.  That is why it is so important to leave our salvation in Jesus’ hands.  That is why it is such good news (gospel) that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Jesus has entered this world and won our salvation.  

God bless your Lenten observations.  Don’t forget that we will gather on Wednesdays for worship and focus on Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Revelation.  Dinner is at 6 p.m. and service at 7 p.m.   

Preparing for Lent

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

What a beautiful day God has blessed us with today!  I’ve spent a good part of the day on hospital calls, and the drives have been quite nice.  It’s hard to believe that this Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent!  The weather seems to be in opposition to the church season!  

Yesterday was Transfiguration Sunday, the day we remember that Jesus displayed His glory to Peter, James and John as He spoke with Moses and Elijah on the mountain top.  We also concluded our series, Missio Dei @ Gloria Dei.  

However, having finished a series talking about God’s Mission does not mean that we’re done talking about what God is doing among us and where He is leading us.  God’s Mission is always central to what we are doing.  We are always mindful of God’s great desire for all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.  

Even in the Transfiguration we see God continuing His mission.  From this point forward Jesus heads toward the cross, where He was sacrificed to reconcile us to God.  It was as they came down from the mountain that Jesus instructed His disciples, “Do not tell anyone what you saw until I have been raised from the dead.”  That “until” is important.  The restriction is lifted, and we are now supposed to tell everyone we can what Jesus has done for us.  

As we step into Lent, it will be a time to remember that the Transfigured Lord came down from the mountain and fulfilled the stipulation necessary for us to share the message that Jesus is God’s beloved son, and He has called us to listen to Him.  He died.  He paid for our sins.  Then He rose, and He is alive forevermore.  

Lent is a penitential season.  It is a time of remembering the bittersweet truth that God loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.  The cost of that life is very high.  The love that moved Jesus to offer himself is very deep.  

During Lent we will meet for worship at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evenings to focus our hearts and minds on repentance and remembering what Jesus has done for us.  The sermons will focus on the letters to the seven churches of Revelation.  On Ash Wednesday we will begin with the letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2.  On the Sundays of Lent we will dig into the Old Testament lessons.  (Up to now I’ve preached almost exclusively on the Gospel lessons.  It’s time to pay attention to the rest of the Bible.)  

Jesus doesn’t often show Himself in His glorified form, but He does come to us as the Crucified and Risen One.  Please take time to meditate and pray about what Jesus has done for us across those forty days of Lent.  Ponder His love and passion – that is, His suffering.  Remember your Redeemer in repentance and confidence of the salvation He won for you.  

Yours in Christ,

Pastor T

P.S.  I would be remiss to not mention the Soup Suppers which will be on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. starting on February 29.  (There will be no Soup Supper this Wednesday.)  Come for food and fellowship and stay for worship. 

LCMS President Matt Harrison on HHS mandate re: contraceptives

 
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In response to President Obama’s announcement Friday concerning an “accommodation” to a previous mandate that health plans must cover all forms of birth control (even those that can kill the unborn), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) remains deeply concerned. We strongly object to the use of drugs and procedures that are used to take the lives of unborn children, who are persons in the sight of God from the time of conception. Drugs such as “Plan B” and “Ella,” which are still included in the mandate, can work post-conception to cause the death of the developing child, so don’t be fooled by statements to the contrary.
We see President Obama’s action Friday as significant, in that it appears to have been prompted by the many voices united in concern over an infringement of our religious liberties. But the “accommodation” did not expand the exemption for religious employers, nor did it restrict the mandate in any way. It simply described a temporary enforcement delay and a possible future change—a change that, unfortunately, would not adequately protect religious freedom or unborn lives.
We remain opposed to this mandate because it runs counter to the biblical truth of the sanctity of human life. We are committed to working to ensure that we remain free to practice the teachings of our faith, that our religious rights are not violated, and that our rights of conscience are retained. Freedom of religion extends beyond the practice of our faith in houses of worship. We must be free to put our faith into action in the public square, and, in response to Christ’s call, demonstrate His mercy through our love and compassion for all people according to the clear mandate of Holy Scripture.
The government has overstepped its bounds. This controversy is not merely about “birth control” and the Catholic Church’s views about it. It’s about mandating that we provide medications which kill life in the womb. And moreover, and perhaps even more ominous, it is about an overzealous government forcing coercive provisions that violate the consciences and rights of its citizens. We can no longer expect a favored position for Christianity in this country. But we can, as citizens of this great nation, fight for constitutional sanity against secularizing forces. As we have vividly experienced in discriminatory state legislation with respect to homosexual adoption, we, and our institutions (and those of other religious citizens of good will), are being robbed of the right to the free exercise of religion absent government intrusion or threat. The next assault will come upon church-related retirement facilities. How much longer will it be legal in this country to believe and act according to the dictates of biblical and creedal Christianity?
Jesus bids us, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Mark 12:17). We will pray for and support our government where we can, but our consciences and lives belong to God.
In His peace,

Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison President The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Missio Dei @ Gloria Dei - Why Jesus Came

I once had someone tell me, “It says in the Bible, that God helps those who help themselves.”  So I asked, “Where does it say that?”  The guy answered, “I don’t know!  Somewhere in the back!”  

Somewhere in the back, indeed!  You won’t find the verse in the Bible because it’s not there.  It’s actually a heretical statement when it comes to our salvation.  

I bring this up because people sometimes will talk about Jesus in a similar way as the famous non-verse above.  They talk about what their Jesus would or wouldn’t do.  They talk about political stances, philosophical ideas, and pragmatic notions in ways that say, in effect, “Jesus agrees with me.”  

This kind of co-opting of God and His Word makes me think of Joshua’s experience before the Battle of Jericho.  The Bible says:  Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"  ¹⁴ "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" (Jos 5:13-14 NIV)

God’s Word is God’s Word.  In a sense it is neither for (on our side) us or against us.  In another sense it is both for us and against us.  

In the first sense, the commander of the army of the LORD’s words put forth the thought that God does not conform Himself to our thoughts and desires.  He’s on His own side.  His agenda is what matters.  His Word tells us where we should be and delivers salvation to us.  

In the second sense, God’s Word always speaks in Law and Gospel.  The Law is always against us, condemning us for our sin and telling us where we fall short of the glory of God.  The Gospel is always for us proclaiming God’s love and forgiveness for us through the Cross of Christ.  

This is very important as we talk about the Missio Dei @ Gloria Dei.  As we discuss God’s mission, there is a danger that our sinful hearts will take the good works that He gives us to do and twist them to our own desires.  All of us know that caring for the poor, helping the needy, and feeding the hungry are good things.  In Christian love we are called to care for our neighbors.  But if caring, helping and feeding become our definition of God’s mission, we have put words in His mouth.  We have missed what He says for Himself.  

We always want to listen to what God says, and bind ourselves to His Word.  In terms of His mission, we pay close attention to Jesus’ words regarding preaching the good news, seeking and saving the lost, and proclaiming how to know God through Him.  If we fall short of that we miss the point that Jesus came to win people for God, and we are here so that by any means we might save some from Hell as the Holy Spirit makes faith in them so they can go to Heaven.