The Very Heart of the Evangelical System

Quoting Charles Porterfield Krauth, from his book The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology:

...All theology, without exception, has had views of the atonement which were lower or higher, as its views of the Lord’s Supper were low or high. Men have talked and written as if the doctrine of our Church, on this point, were a stupid blunder, forced upon it by the self-will and obstinacy of one man. The truth is, that this doctrine, clearly revealed in the New Testament, clearly confessed by the early Church, lies at the very heart of the Evangelical system – Christ is the centre of the system, and in the Supper is the centre of Christ’s revelation of Himself. The glory and mystery of the incarnation combine there as they combine nowhere else. Communion with Christ is that by which we live, and the Supper is “the Communion.” Had Luther abandoned this vital doctrine, the Evangelical Protestant Church would have abandoned him. He did not make this doctrine – next in its immeasurable importance to that of justification by faith, with which it indissolubly coheres – the doctrine made him. The doctrine of the Lord’s Supper is the most vital and practical in the whole range of the profoundest Christian life – the doctrine which, beyond all others, conditions and vitalizes that life, for in it the character of faith is determined, invigorated, and purified as it is nowhere else. It is not only a fundamental doctrine, but is among the most fundamental of fundamentals.
    We know what we have written. We know, that to take our Savior at His word here, to receive the teachings of the New Testament in their obvious intent, is to incur with the current religionism a reproach little less bitter than if we had taken up arms against the holiest truths of our faith. We are willing to endure it. Our fathers were willing to shed their blood for the truth, and shall we refuse to incur a little obloquy? The fact that we bear the name of a Church which stood firm when rationalizing tendencies directed themselves with all their fury against this doctrine of the Word of God, increases our responsibility. When, at a later and sadder period, she yielded to subtlety what she had maintained successfully against force, and let here doctrine fall, she fell with it. When God lifted her from the dust, he lifted her banner with it, and on that banner, as before, the star of a pure Eucharistic faith shone out amid the lurid clouds of her new warfare, and there it shall shine forever. Our Saviour has spoken; His Church has spoken. His testimony is explicit, as is hers. The Lutheran Church has suffered more for her adherence to this doctrine than from all other causes, but the doctrine itself repays her for all her suffering. To her it is a very small thing that she should be judged of man’s judgment; but there is one judgment she will not, she dare not hazard, the judgment of her God, which they eat and drink to themselves who will not discern the Lord’s body in the Supper of the Lord.

Charles Porterfield Krauth, The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, (St. Louis: CPH, 2007) 655-56.

You can purchase a copy of The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology from Concordia Publishing House, or download a free copy from the Internet Archive.

Biblical Archaelogy the Easy Way

Would you like to check out archaeological finds that corroborate the historical text of the Bible, without having to "read a book" to do it?  You might like Mike Caba's site Bible and Archaeology - Online Museum.  Mr. Caba is the Dean of Faculty at Kiln's College in Bend, Oregon, and has put together a very nice site which portrays 50 of the most notable archaeological finds related to the Bible.  Each artifact has a short vignette complete with a photograph and a description of its significance.  You can visit the site here.

Every Lutheran Sermon Is an Evangelism Sermon

This is a quote from a blog post by Rev. Dr. Norbert C. Oesch titled “Fishing or Pleasure Boating.” The quote comes from the PLI [Pastoral Leadership Institute] Leadership Blog. This particular post was directed to pastors who don’t spend enough of their time fishing for men:

Fishing, actually getting the line in the water, is not a take it or leave it proposition in the Lord’s Kingdom. It is what we are to do. Just like farmers are to farm and pilots are to fly, Christians are to fish. “Come, follow me; I will make you fishers of men.”

Try out an exercise. Look over your calendar for the past two months. Figure out just how many hours you actually had your line in the water (you can count preaching evangelism sermons and teaching people how to fish).

I thought all sermons were evangelism sermons, at least all sermons that actually contain Law and Gospel. “And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” The primary place for evangelism is the pulpit. It is here that God sends his designated representatives to preach His Word, and it is His Word that has the power to raise souls from the depths of sin to the mercy seat of God. No other explanation will do.

This Just In: One Catholic in Forty Is a Criminal

Okay. I stretched the truth a little. First off, the study from which these figures come wasn’t done by The Barna Group, so we might as well throw them out just because. After all, what Christian doesn’t base everything they do on what George Barna says. Second, the report is from 1873 – in England and Wales. Other than that, it should be accurate, since it comes from a Parliamentary report (unless you factor in that it’s taken out of a Jehovah’s Witness book, and they have a history of problems with factual reporting, both didactic and prophetic).

The report is taken from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s book Studies in the Scriptures, Series III: Thy Kingdom Come, p. 163, copyright 1908. The Watchtower, which is the official name of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, takes a rather dim view of any religion other than their own, collectively calling all other religions “Babylon the Great.” They take an especial dislike for what they call “Christendom,” which the rest of us call Christ’s Church, and have a real antipathy for the Catholic Church, not because of any doctrinal differentiation from other denominations, but because they’re a more recognizable target.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

The three paragraphs immediately preceding the report read:

    How strong the expression, “She is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” How true it is, that the most execrable of society seek and wear the garb of Christian profession and ceremonialism, in some of the various quarters (sects) of Babylon. Every impure principle and doctrine, somehow and somewhere, finds representation in her. And she is a “cage” which holds securely not only the Lord’s meek and gentle doves, but also many unclean and hateful birds. Of all the defaulters, and deceivers of men and of women, how many are professedly members of Christ’s Church! and how many even use their profession as a cloak under which to forward evil schemes! It is well known that a majority of even the most brutal criminals executed die in the Roman Catholic communion.
    Babylon has contained both the best and the worst, both the cream and the dregs, of the population of the civilized world. The cream is the small class of truly consecrated ones, sadly mixed up with the great mass of mere professors and the filthy, criminal dregs; but under favorable conditions the cream class will be separated in the present harvest, preparatory to being glorified.
    As an illustration of the proportion of the unclean and hateful birds, in and out of Babylon, note the following official report of the condition of society in a quarter of the wheat field where “Orthodoxy” has for centuries boasted of the fine quality and purity of its wheat and the fewness of its tares, and where “The Church,” so called, has been associated with the government in making the laws and in ruling the people.”

What can we glean from this study? Well, for one thing, only 1 in 20,000 “infidels” are criminals, whereas 1 in 40 Catholics is a criminal. I guess it’s a tough group over in England and Wales. Perhaps Barna can do a follow-up study to see if the Watchtower has managed to clean things up since 1908. The other thing that can be seen is the lengths to which the Watchtower will go to stuff straw men that can then be easily knocked down, all at the expense of the truth, a principle which they follow to this day.

The Good Wife's Guide

A few years back one of the women in the neighborhood jokingly emailed a copy of this article to some of the neighbors, which reportedly is a fake.  It certainly doesn't fit the vocation of housewife on all counts, but at any rate, it's funny.  My favorite: "Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even stays out all night.  Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day."  I haven't quite gotten the nerve to try this one out on my wife yet.  I think it might lead to another trite old-fashioned picture, the one of the frying pan bouncing off the side of my noggin with a "clank" sound.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

What Is the Sign of Authority for Ministers Today?

Quoting from an article written by the joint Departments of Systematic Theology of Concordia Seminary and Concordia Theological Seminary titled “The Office of the Holy Ministry” in the July 2007 Concordia Journal:

..."Call and ordination” are essential for conduct of the ministry. Ministers do things in the place of Christ. They forgive and retain sins. They judge doctrine. They administer the signs of God’s favor. They warn and admonish against sin and error. They exclude and include particular persons. In all these things they stand over against others, and so the question follows naturally: “By what right? On whose authority?” When Moses went to Pharaoh, he had his staff. When Elijah stood off against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, he could call down fire from the heavens. When Jesus was challenged for a sign, He gave them the sign of Jonah. These indicated their God-given authority. What is the sign of authority for ministers today? It is their call and ordination, which assure that they act by divine right and on the authority of Christ. This truth makes such ideas as “lay ministers” invitations for difficulties and troubles to ministers whose authority is doubtful and to laypersons whose assurance of God’s grace may be questioned.

Adiaphora: The Fig Leaf of the Old Adam

In a May 10 Issues, Etc. segment, Pastor Wil Weedon, Director of Worship for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, began a multi-show discussion of the historic liturgy. This was a great segment. Here's a taste, where Pastor Weedon explains adiaphora, which he calls "the fig leaf of the old Adam":



You can listen to the whole segment here.

An Executive Pastor Position: The Kiss of Death

A graphical depiction of the job description for the Executive Pastor.

We were working on the “job description” for our Associate Pastor at church (ugh), and somebody dredged up the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod document titled “LCMS Job Descriptions: Clergy” on the LCMS website. Oddly, while there’s a job description for Pastor, Executive Pastor, Senior Pastor, Senior Pastor (2), Pastor of Visitation, Pastor of Education Ministries, Pastor—Adult Education and Mission, Pastor of Membership Development, Pastor of Evangelism, Pastor of Mission Outreach, Pastor of Adult Ministries (Discipleship), Pastor of Family Ministries, Pastor of College Ministries, Pastor of Single Adults, and Pastor of Senior Adults, there’s no Associate Pastor job description. There are a couple of other notable things about these job descriptions.

Every pastor’s position should first include the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, which isn’t the way the job descriptions are set up. This should be at the forefront of every position, because this is what it is to be a pastor. Everything else in the Right Hand Kingdom flows from these twin descriptors. Just because you happen to be the Pastor of Membership Development doesn’t mean that you skip the sacramental basis of our theology. The closest most of these positions come is a boilerplate duty of “Assist in worship and preach at the request of the pastor” somewhere down the list.

The Senior Pastor job description, overall, is well written, at least as far as the primary duties and responsibilities are concerned. However, additionally, the Senior Pastor

1. Provides vision for the congregation and all its entities as it seeks to provide dynamic ministry for the members of the congregation, the community and the world.

2. Supervises all staff members, called and contracted, in their work and ministry so that there is unity and consensus centered on the vision for the congregation.

3. Works with the congregation officers to build unity around a common vision for the congregation….

Apparently, we sometimes forget that the Holy Spirit comes through the Word and Sacraments, not through the Senior Pastor’s vision and dynamism. Vision isn’t a new means of grace. And I don’t know about you, but personally, I’d prefer that unity and consensus be built around doctrine, not the Senior Pastor’s vision. CAUTION: Three sarcastic sentences coming up. Since the Senior Pastor is the only pastor required to have vision, perhaps this is why they generally get paid more. It takes years of experience to develop vision, and certainly couldn’t be expected from some noob straight out of seminary – after all, this is a skill that comes with practice, not a spiritual gift. Too bad for you congregations out there who only have a younger sole pastor.

And now we come to the kiss of death, the position that no confessional pastor wants – the Executive Pastor position. This is the spot in the lineup that, if followed to the prescriptive letter, equates to the Chief Pilot position in an airline. Like the Chief Pilot, who sits behind a desk and pushes paper all day long rather than fly airplanes, the Executive Pastor is tasked with building “solid staff relations” and “taking primary responsibility for the preparation and policy management” rather than retaining and forgiving sins. Of the nineteen primary duties and responsibilities of the Executive Pastor, the only one that would absolutely require a pastor is number 15, where “preach at the request of the senior pastor” certainly sounds like it ought to demand a pastor, and even there, I’ve seen elders totally butcher an “emergency” sermon of their own making a time or two.

If your church is large enough to require an “Executive Pastor,” it’s also large enough to hire a business manager. Maybe putting a person whose real call is to be an undershepherd of Christ into a position that primarily utilizes the skills of someone whose station is in the Kingdom of the Left isn’t the best way to utilize a called and ordained servant of the Word in a congregation.

Considering the broad sweep of these job descriptions, it seems like we’ve lost our ability to speak and think in churchly terms and categories. In many ways, it sounds like these things came off the drawing board of Human Resources, not the papyrus of Holy Scripture. When, like the Specific Ministry Pastor program, we begin to chop pastors up into little program pieces, “you do this and he does that,” we lose sight of the bigger picture of Augsburg Confession Article V,

¹ So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. ² Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith, when and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake. ³ This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ’s sake.
⁴ Our churches condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that through their own preparations and works the Holy Spirit comes to them without the external Word.

It’s Time to crack open that Book of Concord.


HT: Wordle

graphic credit: UNLV Libraries Digital Collections

Same-Sex Marriage: Like Hiding Behind a Fig Leaf

Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was the guest on a May 11 Issues, Etc. talk radio show segment discussing President Obama’s recent announcement of his personal support for same-sex marriage. Dr. Mohler pointed out that the gay rights movement wants not just the legalization of same-sex marriage, but the normalization of same-sex marriage, and that marriage is a huge instrumentality to get to that normalization. I agree with Dr. Mohler, and suggest that there is a further motivation of the gay rights movement beyond the normalization of same-sex marriage. I suggest that what the gay rights movement ultimately seeks is a free pass for their sinful behavior. By normalizing same-sex marriage, homosexuals will gain the appearance of legitimacy, which will be a way for at least some of them to assuage their conscience, while others, their rage.

Homosexuality is clearly condemned as sin in Romans 1: “…And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error“ (v. 27 ESV). Of course, Scripture doesn’t stop there – it condemns all unrighteousness – that includes every sin, whether it’s that little white lie on your taxes or failing to help your neighbor when you should have done so. This is the function of the Law – to point out how we have fallen short of God’s demand of perfect obedience. The Gospel, on the other hand, tells of God’s grace. Through trust in Christ’s atoning work on the cross, our sins are forgiven, even though that grace is unmerited. In today’s climate, a lot of people view this sort of talk as bigoted. They may not recognize that for many Christians, their concern is for the spiritual well-being of another person, and not motivated by a mean-spirited quest against anyone not “just-like-me.” Christians should not be afraid to engage homosexuals and share with them Law and Gospel as appropriate. We should not shy away because our actions might be perceived as politically incorrect, but instead, always speak the truth in love  The Law must be proclaimed where needed, otherwise people will see no need for the Gospel, and continue in a life of idolatry. (I should point out that while arguing in the public square, one should use arguments which point out the harmful effects homosexuality has on society rather than using arguments based on Scripture, since not all people recognize Scripture as an authority. I wouldn’t be making this argument if I were appearing on Good Morning America.)

And though Romans 1:18-32 specifically discusses the condemnation of those who reject Christ, believers still need to take notice, because all sin is condemned by God, and Christians too are sinners. While Christians are covered with Christ’s righteousness and thus forgiven, that doesn’t mean that a Christian who is a homosexual can continue to act out on their homosexual desires, any more than an adulterer could do the same: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (Heb. 10:26-27). Where willful sin continues, the Holy Spirit is driven out.

Even if same-sex marriage becomes the law of the land, that doesn’t make it right. It will still be a sin, just as visiting a brothel in Las Vegas is a sin, even though it’s legal. Legitimizing same-sex marriage is a lot like Adam and Eve hiding behind the trees in the Garden of Eden after they sinned. The only person you’re fooling is yourself if you think you can hide your sin against God behind a tree or a fig leaf. The good news is that Christ has come to set all of us sinners free from sin. God-given faith breaks Satan’s hold on our sin-filled lives as we are turned in repentance to a new life in Christ. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" Romans 1:16-17 ESV


photo credit: See-ming Lee

Contemporvant Worship

ht: Christine Blackerby Pack