Getting A Glimpse of God - Crucified

"In Jesus Christ, the God-Man we are given a glimpse of God. Imagine a statue so vast that it filled the whole universe, and therefore could be seen by no one; and then another statue was formed, and exact model of the other in the shape of the limbs and features, in form and material, but somehow reduced in proportion, so that those who were unable to behold the vast, all-enveloping stature could still say they had see it, for the other smaller stature preserved all the features of the great statue, and the limbs and features, and its form, and it was in no way distinguishable except in size.
So did the Son of God divest Himself of His equality with the Father and show us the way to knowledge of Him who is made the express image of His person; so that we, who are unable to look upon the splendor of the shining of the greatness of His Godhead, yet may behold His brightness and so, by looking upon Jesus’ brightness, behold the divine light."
Origen of Alexander 221 A.D.
During this Holy Week, may we all with great humility and reverence look upon the divestature of the Son of God that we might be invested with the riches of heaven itself.

LIVING THE FAITH

Pursue the course of living out the faith that God has given and you have confessed. This is way of God must be attended to with seriousness and diligence. We say with Luther: ”Therefore it false and not to be permitted if one would preach or teach thus: ‘Although you do not keep the commandments nor love God and your neighbor, yes, though you be an adulterer, -- that will not harm you. If you only believe you will be saved.’ No, my dear sir, you are mistaken; you will not possess the kingdom of heaven. For here it is written in concise and conclusive words: ‘the works of the flesh are manifest . . .; of which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.’”1
“Oh, it is a living, busy, active, powerful thing that we have in faith, so that it is impossible for it not to do good without ceasing. Nor does it ask whether good works are to be done; but before the question is asked, it has wrought them and is always engaged in doing them.”2
In justification, faith receives, in sanctification (living according to faith) faith works. The two are one organ. It is the same lung which breathes in the air that breaths out the air that makes speech. And just as we need always first to breath in order to be able to speak, so we always need first to receive forgiveness in order to produce good works. Always; for as it is not sufficient to breath once in our life, just so it is not sufficient to receive forgiveness only once. The chief concerns of every believer on earth is forgiveness in all things and sanctification (living by faith) in all things.
1) Luther, explanation of Galatians 2:17 & 5:19ff.
2) Luther’s Preface to the Epistle of Romans.


A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Blessed Father in heaven, by Your Word alone, light came forth in the midst of darkness at creation.
Then You spoke again and a greater light entered our sin darkened world in the person of Your only begotten Son.
Oh, how I, and those I love and serve,
need this greater light to shine within all our hearts this day.
As it is a day which You have made,
make also Your Spirit to shine in me and all those who lay upon my heart.
Prepare my heart and mind for the callings You have given me this day,
that Your will may be honored above all and in all.
Give me joy in all that I may do, for in each thing I do,
I do as Your chosen means of being and bringing good to bear in the lives of those around me.
Be King over my thoughts and desires so that they are nothing more or less than Your thoughts and desires.
Where I have been apathetic, slow, and inattentive to Your will for me,
I pray that You would forgive me and increase my dedication and diligence to You and Your will.
In all that my eyes may see, enable me to see only the holy things.
Where I see those things holy that need to be done,
make me holy for the doing of them.
Where I see those things holy that have been done,
make my lips holy for the praising of them.
Where I see things holy that are too great for me,
make my prayers holy for petitioning of them.
Be with each member of my church this day,
and protect them from the devil and his host.
Cleanse their thoughts and desires of all things sinful and wicked.
Let Your Word, recently heard, or heard long ago, be upon their hearts,
and by Your Spirit, increase their faith through that Word.
For those caught in the struggle with temptation,
make clear to them and guide them to the way of escape that You provide.
For those who succumb daily to the same recurring temptations,
work repentance in their hearts and grant them an increase of Your Spirit and grace,
that they may overcome such temptations and live by a more faithful walk in You.
For those suffering in any form,
ease their pain of heart, mind, and body.
For those alone and in despair,
let Your companionship be with them from the day of their Baptism:
fill their hearts and comfort them that they may have the joy of Your attending angels.
Be with all servants of Your Word,
and allow them to be only what You’ve called them to be: servants of Your Word.
Wherever Your Word is heard this day,
let the hearing thereof, work faith, hope, and confidence in the hearts of all who hear it.
These things I ask do not exhaust the list of all that is needed,
nor can they ever exhaust Your ability to answer.
For the sake of Christ, I ask, I pray, and I praise You. Amen.

Being A Theologian of the Cross - Law & Gospel

“The words must be law and gospel in such a way that there is no escape.” "On Being a Theologian of the Cross"
According to Gerhard Forde, this is the goal a theologian of the cross must strive for if he is to be such a theologian.

The theologian of glory will have a perspective that cannot abide suffering in any form. This perspective can only see suffering as evil and that which is apart from the work of God. Suffering for such a theologian has no benefit for the believer. The theologian of the glory looks through or passed the suffering in hopes of finding some explanation for it and a way to escape it. The Law isn't the Law anymore and neither is the Gospel. As such, neither does it proper work.
The theologian of the cross has a totally different perspective. Through the cross, suffering becomes a means by which the believer is blessed, as suffering drives the old man to despair and finally death. The theologian of the cross knows that God is involved because it is the Law, the judgment of God that has driven his conscience to suffering the torments of dread and despair. The theologian of the cross looks at such suffering and sees the cross there and God in the midst of it. Seeing the cross, this theologian will look on to the resurrection of Christ and the new life that is freely offered to all those who have died in the cross – life that is eternal in the midst of and beyond all suffering. Here the Law is the Law and left to do its work. The Gospel is the the Gospel and it is sought to do its work and lives are saved.

Not According to My Righteousness

“And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” Jeremiah 23:6 (ESV)
Blessed God deal with me,
Not according to my righteousness.
Blessed God deal with me,
Not according to the cleanliness of my hands.
Deal with my unrighteous thoughts,
According to the righteous thoughts of Christ for me.
Deal with the uncleanness of my thoughts,
According to the purity of Christ’s thoughts for me.
Deal with my unrighteous words,
According to the righteous words of Christ for me.
Deal with the uncleanness of my words,
According to the purity of Christ’s words spoken for me.
Deal with my unrighteous works,
According to the righteous works of Christ for me.
Deal with the uncleanness of my works,
According to the purity of Christ’s works done for me.
Deal with me, my unrighteousness, and my uncleanness,
According to Jesus Christ, His righteousness, and His purity – for me.
“And this is the name by which he will be called:
‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” Jeremiah 23:6 (ESV)
Amen.

THE LAW AND GOSPEL DIFFERENCES

When reading the Scripture it is important to remember that it is divided into two great doctrines: Law and Gospel. Each has a purpose and each does different things to us. The Gospel alone can change us, save us, strengthen us, and inspire us.

HOW IS EACH REVEALED TO US?
LAW: Revealed as it is imperfectly written on heart and perfectly revealed in the Holy Scriptures
GOSPEL: Revealed only in the Holy Scriptures

WHAT DOES EACH TELL US?
LAW: Tells us what we are to do and the punishment we are due for failure to do.
GOSPEL: Tells us what God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit does for us, with no demands.

WHAT DOES EACH PROMISE?
LAW: Eternal life through perfect obedience and eternal death for lack of it.
GOSPEL: Eternal life because of what Christ has done for each of us.

WHAT THREATS DOES EACH MAKE?
LAW: Failure to be perfect means eternal death
GOSPEL: None

WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF EACH?
LAW: Tells what us to do, gives no power to do it.
GOSPEL: It gives what it demands of us: Faith

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF EACH ON US?
LAW: Causes rebellion, fear, & terror
GOSPEL: Creates faith, gives comfort & salvation

WHO IS TO HEAR EACH?
LAW: Those who are secure in their sins, feel not guilt for the sins they’ve committed.
GOSPEL: Those who are scared and alarmed by because of the sins they’ve committed.

A PRAYER OF CONFESSION
O blessed Lord God, heavenly Father, who am I that I should be given the privilege of repenting my sins to You and finding You ever ready to forgive me? Yet according to this privilege, I do humbly confess that most of my thoughts, most of my words, and many of my actions have gone the way of sin and self-service. Those thoughts, words, and deeds of mine that were in and of themselves not sin, are still yet tainted with sin; for I confess that I am sinful. For the sake of Jesus Christ, for the sake of his perfect thoughts, perfect words, perfect deeds, perfect life, and His perfect suffering and death – forgive me. Deal with me according to Jesus Christ that I may be forgiven and renewed in Your grace. Further grant, heavenly Father, that Your Holy Spirit may work in me the continual amendment of my thoughts, words, and deeds in this life which You began in my baptism. This I seek and ask in Jesus Christ and for His sake. Amen

Distain for the Little Things?

My God and my Father, forgive me my prejudice against and disdain for the lowly ways You’ve chosen to give and work the life of Jesus Christ in me for my salvation.
Forgive me for when I struggle and don’t return to my baptism and believe that simple water used with Your Word still:
gives and works Your saving grace in me,
unites me with Your Son, Jesus Christ,
forgive me my sin and the curse of original sin,
regenerates me by the power of Your Holy Spirit, and
gives me eternal life.

In all things I have put my faith in my ability to experience these realities and their effects, and I have lived by sight and not by faith in Your all sufficient Word that works what it says in me and through me. Forgive me, my Father, for the sake of Your Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Amen.

LITTLE SINS

There is an old saying that goes: "It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out, it's the grain of sand in your shoe." Many a man, worried for fear he would not be able to cross a mountain, has had to stop some miles before he crossed the foothills because he had not taken time to clean out his shoes.
That has been the source of failure in many Christian lives. Eager to avoid the big sins, and often being successful at this, your life may outwardly appear as one of good Christian. Seeing such success, we allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of rightness with God. Having forgotten about your often hidden imperfections and sins within – the little pebbles in your shoe - these will surely cause failure, disappointment, disillusionment and frustration in your living the Christian faith.
Daily repentance is the always and only first step of faith in every journey. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

A PRAYERFUL CONFESSION:
Gracious Lord, You reign over all the times and places of our lives.
Hear my confession of the times when I have made Your times, my times.
For all the times in Your house when I have come with less than a faithful heart, forgive me.
For all the times in Your house when I claim to believe and love Jesus, and yet willingly treat other members of Your house without the love of Jesus, forgive me.
For all the times in Your house when I worshipped myself and not You, O Savior and Lord, forgive me.
For all the times in Your house when I was apathetic and inattentive to worship and prayer, forgive me.
For all the times in Your house when I have justified not being a Christian, a member of Your house, forgive me.
For all the times in Your house when I sought to serve my kingdom rather than Your kingdom, forgive me.
For all the times I have neglected Your house to tend to my own, forgive me.
O Lord my God, Lord of Your House the Church,
have mercy upon me and forgive me for the sake Jesus Christ –
the Holy Head of Your house, Your Church. Amen.

SEVEN ABOMINATIONS IN MY HEART

I find to this day seven abominations in my heart:
1. An inclination to unbelief.
2. Suddenly forgetting the love and mercy that Christ shows us.
3. A leaning to the works of the Law.
4. Wanderings and coldness in prayer.
5. Forgetting to watch for that which I have prayed for.
6. A tendency to murmur because I have no more, and yet a willingness
to abuse what I have.
7. I can do none of those things which God commands me, but my
corruptions will thrust themselves upon me so that “When I would do
good, evil is present with me.”

These things I continually see and feel and am afflicted and oppressed with; yet the wisdom of God in Jesus Christ, orders them for my good.
1. They make me abhor myself as the sinner.
2. They keep me from trusting my heart.
3. They convince me of the insufficiency of all my own inherent
righteousness.
4. They show me the necessity of always and ever flying to Jesus for my
hope, love and peace.
5. They press me to seek and pray to God.
6. They show me the need I have to watch and be sober.
7. And they provoke me to look to God, through Christ, to help me and
carry me through each day through this world. Amen.

–John Bunyan

WE CONFESS, HE BUILDS

In his Church Election sermon of July 23, 1933, Dietrich Bonhoeffer confessed the Christ who builds in a church that confesses Him.
It is not we who build. [Christ] builds the church. No man builds the church but Christ alone. Whoever is minded to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it; for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it. We must - confess-he builds. We must proclaim--he builds. We must pray to him--that he may build.
We do not know his plan. We cannot see whether he is building or pulling down. It may be that the times which by human standards are times of collapse are for him the great times of construction. It may be that the times which from a human point of view are great times for the church are times when it is pulled down.
It is a comfort which Christ gives to church: you confess, preach, bear witness to me and I alone will build where it pleases me. Do not meddle in what is my province. Do what is given to you to do well and you have done enough. But do it well. Pay no heed to views and opinions. Don't ask for judgments. Don't always be calculating what will happen. Don't always be on the lookout for another refuge! Church, stay a church! But church, confess, confess, confess! Christ alone is your Lord; from his grace alone can you live as you are. Christ builds.
This selection is found in No Rusty Swords, Vol. I of the collected work; of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Harper and Row, 1965).

PRAYER:
Blessed Lord of the Church,
Lord my calling, that I may answer,
Lord my thoughts, that I may think,
Lord my words, that I may speak,
Lord my actions , that I may act,
Lord my steps, that I may walk,
Lord my seeing, that I may see,
Lord my hearing, that I may hear,
Lord me, and my all, according to and within the bounds,
of Your calling, O Lord, my God and Savior.
In the boundless blessings of Your name,
I pray Lord Jesus. Amen.

WISDOM FOR LIVING IN MIDST OF DEATH

When it comes to living and dying, it is believed that the struggle for most people is often the inevitability of death, of things coming to an end. Yet, I believe that this is not so much the struggle as is the issue of how to live daily with this reality and inevitability of death.
Everyday, death is always in the picture of every person’s life. For some, it is very prominent and overwhelming. Christian are not immune to this same struggle but the struggle is perhaps a little different. If someone, say an angel came and told someone that they were going to die tomorrow at noon, it would be hard, but they would face it and know that the Lord would come and take them to the place prepared. The issue is not death, the issue is how to live if you know you’re going to die. What plans can one make if they’re going to die? What future do they have apart from what Jesus will do for them in death?
The believer life isn’t about dying, it’s about living in the midst of dying. Jesus died and in Him we have already died. The issue for the believer is about living the life Christ redeemed each of us to live. The life God created us to live. Jesus told us that tomorrow will take care of itself, today has enough of its own troubles. By faith in Christ, we live today for the sake of others who are facing today’s troubles, helping them to live through and beyond their troubles by faith in Christ alone.
It’s God’s job to deal with death and no one else’s. That is why He sent Jesus to live and die for us so that we could live in the face of and the midst of death. The death Christ died, he died so that we would only have to live in the shadow of death. The believer’s life is about living, not dying. The Bible is not a book about death, it’s about life, new life and living by faith in Jesus Christ, even in the midst of and despite the power of death.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Second Corinthians 5:17.

PRAYER
Blessed God and Father,
how great must be the curse of sin,
that You’ve judged the power of death to be its consequence.
Yet, O Lord, how much greater must be Your love for me,
in that You sent Your only begotten Son, to suffer
- the curse of my sin and the sin of the whole world,
- the power of my death and the death of the whole world,
- and Your omnipotent wrath that I and the whole world rightly deserves.
Yet as great as all these, so much greater is the Son of God and the Son of Man.
He is truly the propitiation for my sins and those of the world in that
- His suffering and death, He has paid the price, the ransom for my release and the release of the whole world.
- And by His perfect life, He has gained the Holy Favor of God toward me and the whole world.
Give my heart a right measure of Your Holy Spirit that I might rightly grasp this blessed grace and believe accordingly.
Give my heart a right faith that I may trust in no other love or Lord, but Jesus Christ alone.
And ever open my lips that I may praise You,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
now in this world and even in the world to come
through Jesus Christ, my Lord and the Lord of all.
Amen.