So many internet oddities. . .

So I read something on social media brought to me by a member where a Lutheran has said he repents of his good works.  Given that a few weeks ago we heard James insist that faith without works is dead and issue the challenge:  you show me your faith and I will show you my works, it is almost comical how we can raise up straw men and then end up saying something foolish and confusing.  No one but a fool would suggest that our good works are perfect in and of themselves or that they contribute anything to our salvation but Lutherans have always been on the side of good works that always accompany a living faith.  In fact, we cooperate with the Spirit in these good works.  So I guess if you help the homeless person or mow your neighbor's law when they are ill you should go right home and repent of those works to the Lord and beg His forgiveness.  But that is not all there is.

There are also those who insist that the love that is the fulfilling of the Law is a different love than the love born of the Gospel.  Hmmm.  I guess we need to add more words or definitions to nuance a difference that does not seem to be there in the text.  Oh, well, it would not be the first time we massaged a different meaning into the Scriptures.  In the end it only confuses and muddies up the waters.  One love is the love the Law expects and demands and the other is the love that Christ gives.  Because it is of the Law, that love is not nearly as good or as wonderful as the love that Christ gives.  It makes love one another as I have loved you into something radically different from the love one another as you love yourself.  Is it that love that is different?  Or, is it the heart that loves which is different?

There are also those who insist that the Gospel love not simply surpasses but negates the love that fulfills the Law -- sort of an end run around the commandments.  In this argument, Jesus is not merely fulfilling the Law but replacing it with a new Law -- the law of love.  This law is perfect freedom not because it changes the desires of the heart but because it releases the heart from having to change.  Jesus is the Savior not from immorality defined by the Law but so that you can indulge in it without guilt or shame.  Whata guy!

Perhaps chief among these is the whole idea "Jesus would not want me to..."   You fill in the blank.  Jesus would not want me to suffer, to deny myself, to give up what I enjoy, to sacrifice my desires, to endure threat for the sake of the faith, etc...  The only problem is that Jesus is recorded as having said that this is exactly what lies before us if we follow Him and this is His call to those who would be His disciples.  Take up the cross (suffer), deny yourself, be concerned with others before yourself, the desires of your heart are evil and must be transformed, you will be persecuted, threatened, and even martyred for His name...  All of these things sound so appealing to us and we are taken in by them because we know what we want better than we know God's Word.

So read Scripture.  Get a good and solid study Bible to help you.  Join a Bible study group at your church (hopefully with a pastor teaching it).  Connect with some of the great podcasts available (from Issues, Etc., to The Word of the Lord Endures Forever).  Do not get your theology from social media.  Caveat emptor.