Luther On Scholasticism

Quoting Dr. Martin Luther:

Let others determine for themselves what they have learned in scholastic theology. As to myself, I know and confess that I have learned nothing in it but ignorance of sin, righteousness, Baptism, and all of Christian life. Nor did I learn what the power of God, the work of God, the grace of God, the righteousness of God, faith, hope, and love are. I not only learned nothing (which could be tolerated), but I learned only what I had to unlearn again because all was contrary to Holy Writ. I should be surprised if others were more fortunate in their learning. If there are such, I frankly congratulate them. As for me, I lost Christ there; in Paul I have now found Him again. (W 2, 414 - E op var arg 3, 262 - SL 18, 840)

Quoted from What Luther Says (St Louis: CPH, 1959) 1366.

Motivation For Christian Living

Quoting from Professor Harold Senkbeil's book Dying to Live: The Power of Forgiveness:

I used to think the main motivation for Christian living was a thankful heart. Because of what Jesus did for me on His cross, I was supposed to thank Him by living a holy life. Of course it’s true that the depth of Christ’s saving love ought to move our heart to thanks and our lives to His service. We love, writes St. John, because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). But this love is more than skin deep. The love which prompts us to thankful service to others is not our own. It is the very love of Christ Himself, continually extended and dispensed to us in the proclamation of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments. Every deed of kindness, each work of love which Jesus Christ does, using us as His instruments. St. Paul describes it this way: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

Harold L. Senkbeil, Dying to Live: The Power of Forgiveness (St. Louis: CPH, 1994) 162.

Making the Gospel Relevant

Willow Creek Community Church is the evangelical megachurch located in the Chicago suburb of South Barrington, Illinois. Senior Pastor Bill Hybels has literally written the book on the Seeker Sensitive Church Growth Movement, influencing a generation of the world's pastors. G. A. Pritchard spent 2 1/2 years behind the scenes at Willow Creek, studying it for his doctoral dissertation. Part of that process resulted in the eventual writing of his book Willow Creek Seeker Services: Evaluating a New Way of Doing Church. The following quotes are taken from his book:

"The point behind this history? I did not want to write this book. I did not come to the study of Willow creek with a strong motivation to defend or attack Willow Creek. Although I am an evangelical, I did not come to my study of Willow Creek primarily as an advocate or critic, but as a researcher. This may have been my greatest advantage. My lack of an agenda has helped me describe the church more fairly." (p. 15)

...making the gospel relevant can easily compromise it. The unintended consequences of this approach are that Hybels incorporates large chunks of the American psychological worldview into his basic teaching and teaches that fulfillment is a consequence of the Christian life. There is a lack of critical evaluation to Willow Creek’s approach to relevance. This felt-need approach to relevance ultimately distorts their Christianity.
A more biblical approach to the current American fixation with fulfillment is to call it the idolatry that it is. Jesus does not guarantee that to follow him will make one fulfilled. In fact, at several points, the direct opposite is communicated: "I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" (John 15:19); "I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matt. 10:34); "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20). The temptation to say that Christianity will meet all one’s felt needs and provide fulfillment is not true to biblical Christianity. (p. 200)

G. A. Pritchard, Willow Creek Seeker Services: Evaluating a New Way of Doing Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996).

Pastor Harrison: "It's Time"

Pastor Matt Harrison, the Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, and frequent mention for LCMS Presidential candidate in 2010, has released a paper suggesting a solution for our mutual Synodical woes. Rather than spoil it for you with my favorite quotes, I suggest you dig right in:

Instructions for viewing: Click on the rectangular icon at the top and far right of the Scribd "window" below to view the document in full screen mode. To return, click on the "X" that will be at the far right.

Its Time: LCMS Unity and Mission

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What Is a Confessional Lutheran?

Frank Gillespie at Putting Out the Fire asked:

So, what is a confessional Lutheran and what does that mean?

Here's my answer:

What Is a Confessional Lutheran?

A Confessional Lutheran is someone who believes the Creeds and articles of faith contained in the Book of Concord, because they accurately reflect the doctrine contained in the Scriptures.

A Confessional Lutheran is someone who believes in the inerrancy, inspiration, sufficiency, and efficacy of Scripture, believing it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

A Confessional Lutheran is someone who believes that in Christ's body and blood offered in Communion, and in the water of Baptism, there is forgiveness of sins.

A Confessional Lutheran is someone who stands on the mighty solas of the Reformation.

A Confessional Lutheran is someone who confesses those same beliefs by sharing them with others and teaching them to their family.

A Confessional Lutheran is someone who believes that our Confession is worth defending, because it is Christ’s honor that is at stake.

A Confessional Lutheran is someone who renounces secret and shameful ways, avoiding deception and distortion of God’s Word, instead setting forth the truth plainly for all to see.

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You Died In the Font

Quoting Pastor Todd Peperkorn, from his paper "How Two Missouri Synod Leaders Handled False Doctrine and Dissent in the Twentieth Century: Francis Pieper and John Behnken," available at Consensus:

What are you willing to confess, and what are you willing to suffer for the face of the Gospel? Christ has won everything for you in His death and resurrection. God forgives your sins for Jesus' sake. You need not be afraid of men and what they may do to you. For you died in the font. Confess the faith, and don't be afraid.

On Apostasy

To the ecclesiastical supervisor in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod who made his bold confession this week that The Book of Concord is no longer relevant:

The Church does not consist of people in power or ecclesiastical or secular dignity, because many princes and archbishops and others of lower rank have been found to have apostatized from the faith. Therefore, the Church consists of those persons in whom there is a true knowledge and confession of faith and truth.

Ap. VII, 21

photo credit: bruckerrlb

In Casu Confessionis

Pastor Albert Collver delivered his paper "In Statu Confessionis: Origins and Development" to the Confession and Christ’s Mission: Challenges to the Future of the LCMS Conference in 2004 (available at Consensus). In it he explores the Confessional basis of the Latin phrase Nihil est adiaphoron in statu confessionis et scandali, nothing is an adiaphoron in the state of confession and scandal.

In the LCMS today Confessional pastors are occasionally harassed for standing up for our Confession, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes in more serious ways. With this persecution going on, it is appropriate to explore the "state of confession" and what a proper response to persecution should be.

Pastor Collver defines the time of confession (in casu confessionis) as a time of persecution. He goes on to explore in casu confessionis within the context of Formula of Concord Article X, and the Epitome, and determines that "although persecution could be defined rather broadly, the Formula of Concord clearly has in mind persecution by the government."

Here is a portion of his conclusion, one which might be disputed by some, and one which is worthy of discussion:

The Formula of Concord, Article X, does indeed describe a case for confession in the midst of persecution by the state. It seems that the confessors had in mind a rather limited scope. The struggles of the church over against the state in German lands and in particular with the Nazi regime brought about the expansion of a questionable concept to include a protest against the state for political and ethical reasons, rather than, strictly speaking, theological reasons. Bonhoeffer had in mind a corporate confession of protest. Karl Barth morphed Bonhoeffer’s corporate protest into an individual protest. Barth altered the direction by putting the church in a position to dictate to the state in accord with Reformed theology. The churches of the Synodical Conference completely removed the left-hand kingdom from the equation, instead applying the term to an intra-church conflict. This last application is perhaps further a field from what the Formula of Concord described than even Karl Barth’s version.

In light of the foregoing, a status confessionis protest against a church body does not seem to be a tenable option to those who take the Lutheran Confessions seriously. A better way is that of Dr. Luther and countless other saints who gave a good and faithful confession in the place and situation the Lord called them to do so. The faithful confession was made until it could not be tolerated by those who opposed the truth any longer. This is the key. How does one know when a church body is unreformable? A church body is unreformable when the true confession is no longer tolerated. By this, we do not mean to indicate merely a lapse in the practice of the true confession, but the snuffing out of the voice of the true confession. As long as the Gospel is confessed in truth and purity, there is the opportunity to hear the Gospel’s call. When the true confession is silenced definitively and permanently from a place either by force or by the power of the sword, that is, by the abuse of the left-hand kingdom, or through institutional and ecclesiastical measures, then there is no hope of reform.

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Not a Critical Event

In March of this year Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller posted these comments on his Wittenberg Trail blog. I've been carrying his list of not-critical events in my head ever since, waiting for the day when I would repost them, and that day is today. Rejoice with me, with Pastor Wolfmueller, and with all the Saints past and present in these not-critical events:

It has been synodically mandated and convention approved that, being Ablaze!(r), we are all supposed to be critical-eventing. I, on the other hand, have had a blessed year full of not-critical events.

Today I baptized a twelve-year-old girl, the granddaughter of a member of my congregation who is in hospice. She renounced the devil and all his ways, confessed the name of Jesus, and as we knelt together over the living room table, she was born-again in the waters of Holy Baptism. This was not a critical event.

Two weeks ago a dear saint, fighting with all her faith, broke through her depression, left her house for the first time in months, and drove to church. She was welcomed with joy, and welcomes the Lord's Word with joy. This was not a critical event.

A few days ago my wife and I learned, joy of joys, that we are expecting our fourth child. This was not a critical event. In eight months, if the Lord answers our prayers, our newborn baby will be marked with the cross and reborn in baptism. This will not be a critical event.

Last year I buried nine of the Lord's dear people. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we committed their bodies to the earth in the great hope of the resurrection of all flesh. With prayers and hymns and Scripture and sermon the Lord's people found solace that the same resurrection is for them. These were not critical events.

In the past few months my daughter lost a tooth, my son wore his first tie and learned the Lord's prayer, my baby said, “Dada.” These were not critical events.

A year ago I preached in the Lutheran Church of Serowe, Botswana, Africa, first in English, and then a sermon that was translated into Tshwana. We ate and drank the Lord's Body and Blood together. We traveled to the edge of the Kalahari and celebrated the Divine Service in a mud hut with families ravaged by AIDS. These were not critical events.

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Quotable Podcast Quotes #1

Quotable Quotes From Christian Radio

Issues, Etc.™
Pastor Klemet Preus

Host Todd Wilken:

Is it a two way street? Will false practice produce false teaching in time?

Pastor Klemet Preus:

Oh, yes it will if people accept it, and practice becomes part of you so that you accept it uncritically, and people ultimately will accept the false doctrine which stands behind a poor practice. And that’s what’s tragic about many Lutheran ministers. I think they have doctrine in their hearts and their heads, they just don’t seem to understand that if they engage in false practices they’ll undermine their own doctrine. The Church is one generation away from losing its vibrancy and possibly even losing its soul.

Issues, Etc.™
Pastor Todd Wilken

I had Mexican for lunch today, okay. And Mexican can sometimes do a number on you. There’s a burning in the bosom! I don’t know if it’s Mexican or if it’s the Holy Spirit. Can I feel the Spirit working?

Issues, Etc.™
Pastor Todd Wilken

Jesus didn’t come to show us the way, He came to be the way, in a perfect life, His death and His resurrection, to be the way of salvation for every sinner on earth, every person, man, woman, and child.

Issues, Etc.™
Web Extra Open Mics: David Strand’s Q & A
Pastor Todd Wilken

They should post this on the wall at the International Center: “People who work for an organization facing financial difficulty realize that continued employment in such circumstances can be precarious.” They should post that as a sign on the front door of the International Center.

Issues, Etc.™
Dr. Rod Rosenbladt discussing the first sola of the reformation, Christ alone.

Host Todd Wilken:

What is this kind of not Christ alone but kind of the Christ-less or the cross-less preaching? What is it doing? What will it produce?

Dr. Rosenbladt:

Well I think in the end it produces atheists. It just takes a while to come to fruition. I think some of these stadiums that are filled with thousands, I just hope I’m wrong here, but when it can’t make good on the happy happy promises, “become a Christian and your life will get better,” I thing the next chapter to that is “I tried it,” and they become immune to the real thing. They thought they tried it, and it didn’t work, or it didn’t pan out.

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