Monday, June 11, 2018

The struggle of God's Yes. . .

While most people outside the Church would probably agree that Christianity is a negative religion, it is, in fact, the opposite.  Some may find it hard to get past the changes in sex, gender, family, culture, and society that have required the Church to demur from merely echoing the positions of a world seemingly out of control and disconnected from its own history but that negative is itself a positive.  For the Church is not merely saying "no" but working to preserve a positive and gracious perspective that comes not from the mind of man but from the saving will and purpose of God.

Christianity is a positive religion -- positive about who God is and where all things came from and our place within it all.  While sin is a decided "no", the Lord has not allowed sin to have the final word and therefore neither can the Church.  In response to the broken and contrite heart, God's "yes" of forgiveness intervenes to rescue the lost.  This is not because of some inherent worthiness or nobility within the person but simply and wholeheartedly from the love that was willing to suffer and die to make this "yes" possible. 

The world is caught between a posture of redefining what is sin and what is not and holding the sins of the past against everyone who has trespassed against the holy causes of the modern day.  Consider the #metoo movement and its long reach decades into the past to mark the character of individuals whose accomplishments would have been lauded in another time.  Consider how a so-called Lutheran seminary in Pennsylvania could forgive nearly everything of its new president but her youthful connection to a group that suggested sexual attraction could change.  Consider how a world that insists upon rights for all is so quick to dismiss the rights of the child in the womb.  To suggest that Christianity is negative and the world is positive is to miss the contraction and the lack of redemption the world offers to those who have violated the holy contract of right and wrong (at least for this moment).

In contrast, the Church enters this whole conversation with a word largely forgotten by the world -- absolution.  Sin is recognized the sinner called to repentance not to isolate or eject him but to connect and restore him.  The central arena of Christian truth remains in the context of absolution.  The forgiveness of the unworthy and undeserving is made possible not by the atoning acts of the guilty but of the redemptive love of the innocent Son of God.  So the cause of forgiveness is laid not upon the guilty but upon those who have suffered offense.  The goal is not to cement the wrong and the division that results but to break down the wrong and heal the division with the balm of absolution.  The mandate of the Savior to His Church is to forgive as you have been forgiven, enshrined in the most universal prayer so that it cannot be set aside even in piety. 

The Church is and has been a positive force for the sake of the family, for the cause of children, for the education and training of people so that they are able to provide for themselves, for the causes of the widow and the child when neither had many rights, and for the establishment and maintenance of community in a world that has born the poisoned fruit of individualism (to the extreme).  The Church has been on the forefront of the aged and the orphan, of the sick and mentally ill, and of the cast out and cast offs the world could not tolerate.  While suffering so often with the technology that did not always understand or offer good remedy to the causes of suffering, the Church has identified and prospered not among the elites but among the poor and downtrodden.  The Church has been both patron of the arts and music while at the same time working among those at the lowest level of society and the most vulnerable. 

The current popular perception of Christianity has largely been negative because it has been born of a world in which government exists to do what the Church had done and in the midst of a social justice agenda that has allowed no dissent.  In the face of this, one might expect the Church to stick with the negative.  Yet as the pro-life march has shown, the Church continues to rally for the positive causes of life in a world which views it as a settled issue.  In a world in which the world uses sexuality, gender, climate change, and the like as photo ops for the elite, the Church is still at work in places where suffering allows no luxury and where real oppression silences any challenge.

So don't allow the world to steal the headline and falsely characterize the Church as a negative agency in a religion dominated by God's "no".  We know not this Christianity!  We know the faith that heralds God's "yes" of grace and mercy to a world insistent upon a most intolerant tolerance that treats virtue as a trend defined by the moment.  As a pastor I am most frustrated when our own members have bought into the fake news perspective on Christianity and the Church and fail to see the good work that is done quietly and yet profoundly week after week on behalf of guilty sinners, those living in the shadow of death, the broken and their broken families, and the hopeless who find it hard to trust anyone.  We do not offer simply food or money or the empty promise that we feel your pain.  We are there at work in ways that the world refuses to see reclaiming the world for God's Kingdom through the real power of the means of grace and the fruitful lives of good works that bear witness to this faith.  Your pastors and your congregations and your fellow Christians are all in the army of the Lord conquering for eternity with the power of the love revealed most profoundly in the cross and the glory glimpsed in Him who came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

“The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary,of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things are forbidden” G. K. Chesterton (1874 – 1936)
Narrow minded and restrictive? I think not.
We Christian are freed to do all kinds of things with "love, joy and peace, goodness, gentleness and kindness, patience, faithfulness and self-control." We are freed to serve God and to serve those we love in our various VOCATIONS.
I like Pastor Harrison recent post on the Joy of being a Lutheran. Much different from the gloom the world would try to project upon us.
Timothy Carter. Kingsport, TN.

Anonymous said...

“In contrast, the Church enters this whole conversation with a word largely forgotten by the world -- absolution. Sin is recognized the sinner called to repentance not to isolate or eject him but to connect and restore him. The central arena of Christian truth remains in the context of absolution.”

It seems American Christianity has largely forgotten the Absolution. According to Bryan Wolfmueller, the Lutheran distinctive of Absolution is lost on the other denominations found on the Christian landscape in America.

Streamed live on Sep 21, 2016
Google Hangout with the Task Force on Church Planting and the Revitalization of Churches for the North Dakota District. In this Hangout, Pastor Richard interviews Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller on his new book, "Has American Christianity Failed?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHjPf_jvYmY

“We (Lutherans) have the Absolution. No other church can speak the Absolution. The Catholic Church can’t speak the absolution without first assigning a degree of penance; the Reformed churches can’t speak the absolution – they have to speak “the assurance of pardon” because they don’t believe in the efficacy of the Word; the Orthodox doesn’t have any clarity on forgiveness of sins and justification so they might speak the absolution but it doesn’t come with the full comfort of the Gospel; Evangelical churches can’t speak the Absolution – they get offended by the Absolution, ‘What’s that pastor there forgiving my sins? I don’t need anybody to forgive my sins except for God alone.’ And when we (the Lutheran Church) speak the declaration of the forgiveness of sins – [it’s] not just telling people their sins are forgiven but that, in fact, the Word itself forgives sins. It’s exactly what Jesus told the Church to do on Easter Sunday (John 20:21-23)…. It just so happens that the Lutheran Church is the only church that’s doing it (speaking the Absolution).”

Anonymous said...

Oh Anonymous,

You said, "The Catholic Church can’t speak the absolution without first assigning a degree of penance..." It's no surprise that you said this because, being Lutheran, you believe in complete depravity of the individual and as such, said individual cannot give assent or cooperation with the grace of the sacrament. And that flies in the face of reason and intellect.

Since Christ speaks through the Church, the Church most assuredly believes in the efficacy of the word. But the penitent must make restitution. He/she is not, as Luther claimed, "dung" covered over with "snow" without and an interior resolution to do better. It's not once saved always saved. And furthermore, God doesn't make "dung"; in fact, He saw his creation and it was good.

And it's equally ridiculous to say that the "Orthodox doesn’t have any clarity on forgiveness of sins and justification so they might speak the absolution but it doesn’t come with the full comfort of the Gospel." That's a mouthful and it's baloney. This ancient Church, traces it's beginnings to the Apostles. They ARE the Church as is the Catholic (btw, I'm not ignorant of our differences). The practice of Confession and Absolution began with the Undivided Church founded on the Apostles. Luther broke with antiquity in his novel ideas of justification.

God made man in his Image with Free Will and Intellect. He must cooperate in his salvation; in other words, he must be willing to "work out his salvation in fear and trembling". God didn't make robots otherwise the dung covered with snow would be correct. It's not and never will be.

Dan

Anonymous said...

And to clarify: He saw his Creation and it "was" good. Once sin entered into the world, His creation never ceased to be good only fallen and in need of redemption. Man through his arrogance brought sin through the world but his essence; i.e., the image and likeness of God is good and cannot be otherwise because God is Goodness itself. Luther who suffered from scrupulousness threw the baby out with the bathwater because he, himself, was tortured and could not live up to his own expectations. And so having no one else to blame, he put it on the Church.

Anonymous said...

What % of the work of "working out your salvation" do you do? Do you do 90% and God does 10% or is it 50-50%. Lutherans know that God does it all and that is why we are so humble and at peace with the world who claims to follow "reason and intellect" and needs to "help God out"."Luther came to see clearly what he would call the “joyful exchange” —
1. Christ takes our sin, death and hell; and
2. we, by faith alone, receive
o His birth, life, perfect faith,
o good deeds,
o crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension and
o eternal life.
Luther came to see that in Christ we are granted a “passive” righteousness — that is, the righteousness of another, the righteousness of Christ Himself."
That does "fly in the face of reason and intellect" as Anonymous 2 states above but it does agree with Scripture. "Surely I was sinful at birth" is not just poetry but fact. We cannot "Help God out" or "climb up to God." Remember what God told Samuel when the people wanted a King? "They have not rejected you, Samuel: they have rejected me." Luther was right about "our reason and strength " being worthless. God does it all.
The Holy Spirit plants faith through Means; Baptism, Communion, the Word Preached and Confession/Absolution. God goes it all and we are forgiven and receive the gift of "the peace of God that passes all understanding keeping our hearts and minds upon Jesus" as we say in the Liturgy every Sunday.
Timothy Carter, Kingsport, TN

Anonymous said...

Good morning Mr. Carter and God bless?

The Church has understood that verse in scripture, Phillipians 2:12 to mean that although we are redeemed by the Cross, we still have to do our part. It's not completely done, especially as we are still alive on Earth. Recall the parable of the seeds. There are some who will accept the word but some have no root and others have the cares of the world take over and fall away. Are they still justified?

You ask, "What % of the work of "working out your salvation" do you do? Do you do 90% and God does 10% or is it 50-50%. " Good question!!!!!! Perhaps you should ask St. Paul that. As for Catholics, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we cooperate with the Grace given to us in the Sacrament of Confession. We HAVE to do our part. We HAVE to make a firm resolve to continue on in sanctity. And it doesn't matter how many times we fall. We have to pick ourselves up and continue on in the hope, THE HOPE, of salvation. The important thing is to not lose HOPE and fall into despair.

You said, ". "Surely I was sinful at birth" is not just poetry but fact. We cannot "Help God out" or "climb up to God."" Well that's not news. "Sinful at birth" is called Original Sin. As for helping God? You confuse that with COOPERATING with God. God doesn't need our help as you surely know. But he WANTS our cooperation otherwise we would not be acting freely if he just covered us dung with snow and wash all the sins away.

You are right when you say, "The Holy Spirit plants faith through Means; Baptism, Communion, the Word Preached and Confession/Absolution. God goes it all and we are forgiven and receive the gift of "the peace of God that passes all understanding keeping our hearts and minds upon Jesus" as we say in the Liturgy every Sunday." Too bad that that does not happen in the Lutheran church because it is not the Church that Christ founded. Your orders are not valid and therefore your pastors cannot confer absolution or confect Holy Communion. The only valid sacrament that your church confers is Baptism as it is in the Trinitarian formula.

The bottom line is that Luther got it wrong. Because of his scrupulosity and the penances that he put himself through, he could not bear it any longer. He couldn't imagine that he was forgiven his sins in the sacrament of confession. He didn't trust that God had forgiven him because he couldn't forgive himself. His concept of forgiveness was man's not God's.

Dan

Anonymous said...


Dan, "Bottom line is that Luther got it wrong. Because of his scrupulosity and the penances that he put himself through, he could not bear it any longer. He couldn't imagine that he was forgiven his sins in the sacrament of confession. He didn't trust that God had forgiven him because he couldn't forgive himself. His concept of forgiveness was man's not God's."
What in the world are you talking about? Confessional Lutherans confess that God forgives sins because Christ "paid-in-full" upon the cross and the Holy Spirit has planted faith through "Means" Lutheran clearly taught that God is Gracious and God plants faith and that he was a FORGIVEN SINNER:Saint and Sinner. Luther was not unbalanced by his guilt but liberated by a Gracious God who gave us the remedy for our sinful nature having violated the 10 Commandments: the remedy of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
You state "We HAVE to do our part. We HAVE to make a firm resolve to continue on in sanctity." We do good works, not to "Cooperate" or to earn forgiveness but because we are grateful to the Trinity. THEY have done it all. We RECEIVE and we can and do serve God and serve those we love through our Vocations though that service will always be imperfect.
Also, I am pretty sure Jesus gave the church the authority to "forgive and retain sins" in John 20. Confessional Lutheran Pastors forgive repentant sinners "in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ."
Why did you put a ? after your God Bless greeting?
Timothy Carter

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Sorry about the question mark, that was a typo. Will respond later to the rest of your post. God bless.

Dan

Anonymous said...

Dan,
If no offense is intended none is taken: it's the Hillbilly Way.
God HAS blessed me: my Primitive Baptism Father and Roman Catholic Mother both converted and I was blessed being raised and catechized Confessional Lutheran.
My father named me Timothy, not Tim, by the way.
Timothy

Anonymous said...

Very well then, Timothy.

Anonymous said...

Good morning Timothy,

You said, "Confessional Lutherans confess that God forgives sins because Christ "paid-in-full" upon the cross and the Holy Spirit has planted faith through "Means" Lutheran clearly taught that God is Gracious and God plants faith and that he was a FORGIVEN SINNER:Saint and Sinner." Well Catholics have no doubt that Christ "paid in full" the debt owed that we humans could not possibly pay for sins committed. We were redeemed but it didn't END there. Salvation is an ongoing process while we are here on earth. Again, I refer you to Phillipians 2:12. Lutherans refuse to see the reality of what it means. It is quite clear.

Again you say, "Luther was not unbalanced by his guilt but liberated by a Gracious God who gave us the remedy for our sinful nature having violated the 10 Commandments: the remedy of Christ and the Holy Spirit." Well let's look at what Luther himself said:

When I was a monk I tried ever so hard to live up to the strict rules of my order. I used to make a list of my sins, and I was always on the way to confession, and whatever penances were enjoined upon me I performed religiously. In spite of it all, my conscience was always in a fever of doubt. The more I sought to help my poor stricken conscience the worse it got. The more I paid attention to the regulations the more I transgressed them…

A list of sins: the Augustian order or any order within the Church requires its adherents to make a list of their sins. If they do then it's of their own volition.
In spite of it all, my conscience was always in a fever of doubt, etc

Like I said in an earlier post, he couldn't believe that he was forgiven. That was on him, not the Church or the order that he belonged to.

You say, " We do good works, not to "Cooperate" or to earn forgiveness but because we are grateful to the Trinity." There it is again, the concept that Catholics believe we "earn" our salvation. You confuse the terms. We don't earn our salvation. We are given grace in the sacrament of confession. Since God gave us free will, how we respond to that grace, cooperate or not, is the issue. Again, God wants us to want Him but He doesn't force us. To do so would mean that we lack free will and that would then mean that we are not in the image and likeness of God Who, acts freely.

You say, "Also, I am pretty sure Jesus gave the church the authority to "forgive and retain sins" in John 20. Confessional Lutheran Pastors forgive repentant sinners "in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ." Well yes Christ did give the Church the authority you stated above, but which Church are we talking about? Since Christ founded ONE Church on the Apostles, then that Church, Roman Catholic and (although separated from us) the Orthodox,they have the ability to forgive and retain sins. The Lutheran church lacks that ability since it has departed from the True Deposit of Faith.

Dan

Anonymous said...

Timothy,

Correction: The Augustinain Order and other Orders DO NOT require their adherents to make a list of sins.....