God's Word has a way of breaking into our lives in new and suprising ways! Not only was the eternal Word of God born into our world as the Child of Bethlehem, that same Word comes to us daily through the Scriptures and the proclaimation of Christ “for you.” With the coming new year, WordAlone Ministries has many new things in store, seeking to spread the Word through a new website, blog, and the
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Recently, a colleague was telling me about his first experience on his road to the seminary, when her took a college course in philosophy. He told me that the very first assignment the class was given to the students was to write a paper explaining “how they knew that the reality they experienced was Real.” After receiving a “D” on that first paper, he said it was only by the grace of God that he
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As a pastor, I have had the opportunity on many occasions to teach about forgiveness from a biblical perspective. The theme is central to our understanding of the mission of Christ, and the blessing he came to accomplish on the cross. Forgiveness is key to our understanding of God’s grace and mercy, as well as our calling to go forth into the world to speak in his name.
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The Apostle Paul began his religious career as a persecutor of the Christian faith. But God had something better in mind for him. Through a flash of light and the Word of the risen Christ, Paul was changed on the road to Damascus. Something happened to him that day — an inner reflection or decision of his own, but an act of God himself.
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The word “Amen” appears hundreds of times in throughout the Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments. Some may assume that this word, commonly heard at the end of a prayer, a blessing, or doxology of praise, is simply a religious way to say, “the end.” But the word “Amen” means much more than that.
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Evil is a tricky thing. As Scripture tells us, with the exception of Jesus himself, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). As fallen human beings, we all turn aside and do wrong. Sometimes this may be by mistake; but often we know we are doing wrong when we do it.
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Evil is a tricky thing. As Scripture tells us, with the exception of Jesus himself, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). As fallen human beings, we all turn aside and do wrong. Sometimes this may be by mistake; but often we know we are doing wrong when we do it.
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Every once in a while, when people talk about Jesus’ words here about forgiving or withholding forgiveness, they speak as if they think Jesus is offering us two different options in how we might choose to respond to sin. It’s as if they hear Jesus saying, it’s up to us as disciples to evaluate whether someone is worthy of having their sins forgiven or not, and then apply our own judgment in what J
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The verse above is the conclusion to Jesus’ parable of the man who built bigger and bigger barns for his wealth, often referred to as the Parable of the Rich Fool. In this parable, a man is blessed with productive land and an abundance of crops. His response to this blessing was not to share with those less fortunate than himself, or to invest the money in a manner that would help his community. R
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In old English, people expressed an action in the future tense by using the word “shall” — as in “It shall rain tomorrow.” The wording indicated an unaccomplished action, or the certainty of something that had yet to happen. People in those days, however, expressed their future desire by using the word “will” — as in “someday, I will become the master of my destiny” (meaning, I want or wish to do
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For some time now, in my articles for Connections, I have been writing under the title of “Sacramental Discipleship.” The main theme I have tried to convey is that in our lives as disciples of Jesus, we serve as a kind of living “means of grace” in service to the world. That is, God uses us – real human beings – to convey the message of the Gospel through our word and actions, “so that you may bel
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Chapter 4 of the Book of Acts shows us the conclusion to an event that happened in the previous chapter. Peter and John had been going up to the temple one day in Jerusalem when they encountered a man born lame who was begging for alms. What he received that day was much more! Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise u
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As people begin to study and become more familiar with the Holy Scriptures, inevitably, they are confronted with the question of the human will. Most people start with an assumption of human freedom, and the God-given ability to do as we desire. Then they come across a passage like the one above, where the Apostle Paul confesses that he is unable to do what he wants. By this, he is referring to hi
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I have often wondered about the verses above. I wonder exactly what it was that Paul was referring to, and why he would apparently affirm those who preach the gospel with ulterior motives? Paul always did have detractors. He spoke often of those who contradicted the message of grace in Christ, seeking to reinstitute the law as the basis for Christian faith. There was a sort of rivalry between him
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When I think of God’s Commandment that we should not bear false witness against our neighbor, I can’t help but think about what kind of witness we should give to our neighbors. If “bearing false witness” means to misrepresent, lie, and deceive, then bearing true witness means to give honest testimony to what we have seen, heard, and experienced.
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In the second chapter of the Book of Acts, directly after the day of Pentecost, we are given a glimpse of the first days of the early Church, and how the first fledgling congregation “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). We also hear of how they loved and cared for one another in faith, by sharing what they had and
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In the Book of Ephesians, as Paul is talking about what faith means for our human relationships, and how God calls husband and wife to love and respect one another, it’s as if he can’t keep himself limited to the topic at hand. Like the good preacher he is, he finds it necessary to point back to Christ and what Christ has done for us. Regarding the ordinary and everyday relationship experienced b
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Throughout the Scriptures we hear directly from God claims that would not be true if spoken by any other being. In the face of all god-like pretenders, the Lord Almighty asserts divine sovereignty – even over life and death itself. Scripture maintains a monotheistic view of one God who is above all. In fact, the very word “holy” means “set apart.”
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From the very first pages of Scripture, we hear of a God who brings order from chaos and establishes the universe according to his good pleasure. By his powerful Word, God spoke the heavens and the earth into existence – “all that is seen and unseen.” And in the midst of this created order, God formed and placed us into each other’s lives as human beings.
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In the sacristy of the church I served, there was a whole drawer of old, used candles. After being on the altar for a season, it seemed like all old candles would somehow end up in this particular drawer. I never knew why. Perhaps it was a member of the altar guild, the church custodian, or an usher readying the sanctuary for worship who changed out the candles. Most people knew where the new ones
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When Peter and John were brought before the Jewish Council to explain the healing of the lame man they had encountered in the Temple (Acts 3-4), they made it clear that it was not by their own power or skill that the man had been healed, but rather, it was the power of Jesus — and in His name alone — that the man was made well.
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I remember hearing an observation about life in the military and the difference in status between officers and enlisted personnel. It is said, “There is no one more private than a General, and there is no one more general than a Private.”
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When I teach confirmation students about the Holy Spirit, I always talk about what it means to believe that God himself is at work in our lives –- not only about what God does for us but also about what God does in us. Both of these are key to what Christian discipleship is about.
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Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). In doing so, he showed us that being his follower has a sacrificial quality, not unlike Jesus’ own sacrifice for our sake on the cross. Jesus taught
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In the course of this series of articles emphasizing a “sacramental” view of our lives as disciples, we have drawn upon the basic Law-Gospel distinction that is familiar to many Lutheran Christians. As Lutherans, we know that when we listen to the Word of God, we hear the Law in terms of the expectations and demands that God makes upon us as his creatures. The Law tells us what we must do for God.
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There are two related terms in the verse above that refer to the change in standing that is brought about by the Holy Spirit in faith. One is “justification” and the other is “sanctification.” Scripture describes both of these as the work that the Holy Spirit brings about within us through faith in Jesus Christ.
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The season of Easter is the season of Resurrection. The foundation of our faith rests in the promise that Jesus died on the cross and was raised again in victory over the grave. Just as we acknowledge that Jesus died for us, we also bear witness that he was raised for us as well.
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In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he addressed the common spiritual assumptions of the world, found among the religious and the irreligious — both the Jews and the Gentiles. Contrary to self-centered and worldly theologies of glory that lift up human accomplishment, Paul spoke rather of what God is accomplishing in us through faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ.
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In my senior year of seminary, as part of our final graduation requirements, we were asked to write an essay on our theology of Christian mission and how we understood the rationale for evangelism. (Yes, in those days, that was still considered important.) I chose the verses above from 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, as the opening text for my essay -– only later to find out that all of the other stude
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This October, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (1517 – 2017). It seems appropriate to say a little about how Martin Luther reflected a sacramental understanding of discipleship in his teaching, as well as in his vocation as a husband and father. It would not be an overstatement to say that all the theological teachings and reforms undertaken by Martin Luther had a pastoral con
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In Article 5 of the Augsburg Confession, when the first Lutherans describe how God works to instill and sustain faith in us as believers, they speak of Word and Sacrament as the tangible instruments God uses to do his work in us. They explain: [God has] provided the Gospel and the sacraments; through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases, in
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In John, chapter 9, we hear the story of when Jesus healed a man born blind, and how he was questioned by the Pharisees who would not believe. In the midst of this confrontation, the issue of discipleship is raised.
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In this article series over the past year, we have been looking at the subject of Discipleship through the specific lens of a sacramental Lutheran perspective, in the belief that our faith tradition has important contributions to make to the larger conversation about Christian discipleship that is happening in the Church today.
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The Apostle Paul speaks in these verses of the grace and kindness of God, by which he has saved us and through which he continues to transform our lives in Christ. This forward-looking promise recognizes that God is opening up a new future for us each day. In our daily lives of faith, our Lord is driving us forward to the coming ages where his kingdom will be fulfilled in us. As Paul says, the ric
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For many Christians today, it is a sad fact that Baptism has little or no meaning for daily living in faith. Even for those who talk much about Baptism, or include reference to it in much of their religious language, Baptism seems to have little practical connection to the life of discipleship – at least, not in the way that Luther describes it above.
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When we hear the phrase “daily devotions,” one of the first things that we may think of are those little devotional booklets that many of us use on a daily basis. Most of these follow a similar pattern, with a quotation from Scripture followed by a brief homiletic reflection, then closing with a prayer. Such resources can serve a good purpose, and are readily available. We are used to such a patte
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The Tower of Babel story from the Book of Genesis always reminds me of my attempts as a child to build the highest skyscraper I could, using Lego building bricks. No matter how high the tower, inevitably, it would come crashing down. Fortunately, I never believed that my value and purpose in the eyes of God depended on how high a tower I could build.
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You know the story. When Jesus came to visit the house of two sisters, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his teaching, while Martha kept busy with her ministry to the needs of those who had come to her. Overwhelmed by the good things she was trying to accomplish, Martha went to Jesus to admonish her sister for not helping with the work – that is, she came to complain that Mary was not
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“The good and gracious will of God is done indeed without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it will also be done among us.” (Luther’s Small Catechism, Explanation to the Lord’s Prayer). Just as he did to those fishermen by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus calls us to be his disciples, and to make disciples in his name. But what does that mean?
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Not long ago, I remember sitting in the lobby of the health club I belonged to, randomly picking up and paging through a magazine on martial arts. Having no experience in the sport myself, I was interested to read how the author described his experience of having become a master of a particular school of martial arts. He talked about how the modern view of martial arts as a “sport” was not what it
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