1517 Blogcast

Did Jesus ever marry? Yes, He married you! He did not marry a single woman because He came to make each of us His bride. In Baptism, He makes a vow to you, and He is faithful. No one has ever seen such a husband. For even though we trespass our vow, He remains vigilant. He wipes our tears of regret and shame with words and meal, “Take and eat, take and drink the blood of the new covenant for the forgiveness of your sins.”

After many years of serving as a certified court interpreter, the matter before me in a criminal sentencing was nothing new. A jury had found the defendant guilty of domestic violence with aggravated assault, and he was now before the judge for sentencing. As I expected, the judged handed him a stiff sentence. Seven years in the State penitentiary, of which he would serve two-thirds time with good behavior. I remained at his side in case the defense attorney would need my services to further explain the sentencing. But the unexpected happened. As we waited, the man opened his heart to me.

This is the fourth installment in our special series on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation. Translation of Theses 7 and 8 by Caleb Keith.

Luther establishes the human condition in two, and only two realities; the Christian (Thesis 7) and the unbeliever (Thesis 8).  There is no third purgatorial state of “figuring out if one is a Christian.” There are no levels of Christian holiness based on one’s avoidance of sin or one’s success at good works. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is not based on works or sins, but on where they place their security.

The Christian faith is like no other. We do not give to God. God gives to us. We do not get right with Him. He declares us righteous, for the sake of His Son, dead on a tree, victorious from the grave. The Law is not a vehicle. It is a death trap for the sinner. We need something more, something else, and not of our creation.

he last line of Psalm 137 is about as awful a Bible passage as you could find. Most church hymnals include all the psalms along with church services and hymns, but some leave this one out because it seems so inappropriate for worship. Although Psalm 137 stands out like a thumb struck by a five-pound sledgehammer, the attention it draws to itself also reveals a God who’s not afraid of dealing with what it means to be human.

If we’re re-discovering anything about ourselves in the 21st century, it may be this: We are all storytellers at heart. A relevant story told by an authentic voice captures our attention and can move our hearts, change our minds, and even redirect our behavior. Emotional and aesthetic appeal are important factors in the modern man’s decision-making process. That, we’ve seen, is rooted in a long history of storytelling.

At times, we treat the Holy Spirit like the red-headed step-child of the Trinity. Why is that? It is the Spirit who sends His preachers armed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit calls, gathers, and enlightens people with His gifts handed out through earthly words, water, bread, and wine. He is the One who daily and at all times forgives our sin. He will raise us from death on the Last Day. When we look closer at what Scripture says about God's Spirit, there is not a single aspect of our salvation that is not overseen by the Holy Spirit. But, that is why we downplay the work of the Spirit.

This is the third installment in our special series on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation.

Hard truth works both ways. As the apostle Paul declared, “If Christ be not raised from the dead, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17). Should this be hard truth, it means that we also will not be raised from the dead. In which case, Paul advised believers to eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (v. 32). However, this is not the case. Our faith and God-talk are grounded in the corroborated multi-sensual testimony of the women, the Apostles, and over 500 witnesses. Their testimony provides overwhelming evidence of the hard truth that Jesus did rise from the dead, and therefore so will we (1 Cor. 15:3-8, 20-22).

The last prayer I’d ever want to pray is, “Lord, lay me down helpless.” Yet isn’t that the same as “Lord, I believe. Help, thou, my unbelief”? True preaching of the Gospel allows me to be a pew-sitter who can speak such a terrifying prayer. True preaching has an answer to such a prayer. “You ask who can save you from that body of death? Christ the Lord, the first-born of the dead, can and does.