Hello, I must be going....

So much has occurred in The Clem and on The Blog for the sake of The Truth.  More posts to come.

On His side is pure grace and mercy...

A relative sent me this quote from Martin Luther's sermon for the first Sunday in Advent, 1522.

What could be more reassuring, more comforting, more important, more hopeful than hearing the preacher teach and preach Christ crucified for sinners? 

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller? 

He cometh, cometh unto thee. Yea, verily, thou goest not to Him, neither dost thou fetch Him. He is too high for thee, and too far away. All thy wealth and wit, thy toil and labour, will not bring thee near Him, lest thou pride thyself that thy merit and worthiness have brought Him unto thee. Dear friend, all thy merit and worthiness are smitten down, and there is on thy side nothing but sheer undeserving and unworthiness, and on his side is pure grace and mercy, Here come together man in his poverty and the Lord's unsearchable riches.
Therefore learn here from the Gospel what happens when God begins to build us into the likeness of Him and what is the beginning of saintliness. There is no beginning than that thy king comesunto thee, and begins the work in thee. Thou dost not seek Him, He seeks after thee; thou dost not find Him, He finds thee; thy faith comes of Him, not of thyself; and where He does not come, thou must stay outside and where there is no Gospel, there is no God, but sheer sin and destruction.
Therefore ask thou not where to begin a godly life; there is no beginning but where this king comes and is preached.    - Martin Luther

What Does the Name "Lutheran" Mean?

Reverend Christopher Maronde wrote an excellent article on LutheranReformation.org that explains what it means to be Lutheran.  The fifth excerpt is my favorite. There is nothing more important than confessing, teaching and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Christ alone. Grace alone. Scripture alone. Faith alone.

 

Here are a few excerpts:

• We are uncomfortable with labels. We refused to be pigeonholed; we abhor being placed into any category. Labels are simplistic, we say, they are too broad or too narrow, they exclude or include. We want people to take us as individuals. But what if a label has meaning, what if it can be tied to something specific and concrete.

• What does the label ‘Lutheran’ mean? This is a different question than, ‘What do those who call themselves Lutherans believe?’ We are not looking at what those who claim this name mean by it, we are trying to define what the label actually means. Its meaning is simple: The name Lutheran refers to a person, congregation, or church body who unconditionally holds to the teachings contained within the Book of Concord, first published in 1580.

• A Lutheran is not someone who worships Martin Luther; a Lutheran is not someone who subscribes to every word that flowed from Luther’s pen.

• What makes a Lutheran a Lutheran?  Not the name on the church sign, not the Luther’s rose on the wall, not hot-dishes and jello salads, but the doctrine, the teaching. If it is the doctrine of the Book of Concord, then it is Lutheran; if not, then the label is misleading not only you, but the one who wears it.

• For this label means that the Gospel is confessed, that Christ is confessed. This label proclaims what the Book of Concord proclaims: it’s all about Jesus, Christ alone given to us by God’s grace alone, revealed by the Scriptures alone, all received by faith alone.

Read the rest of Reverend Maronde's article here.

Advent and Christmas Devotions

Brothers of John the Steadfast has published an Advent and Christmas devotional booklet based on the hymns of Paul Gerhardt. Here is a description of the booklet from Brothers of John the Steadfast's web page:

This Advent and Christmas devotional was written by the pastors at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is focused on the Advent and Christmas hymns of Paul Gerhardt as they are found in LSB and TLH. Each day goes through a stanza of the hymn, a supporting Scripture passage, a short devotional thought, and then a brief prayer. It is designed to be used as a part of your household’s normal devotional or “family altar” time.

Download the devotional for your Advent devotions.

The deception of good words and fair speeches

Romans 16: 17-20

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad, therefore, on your behalf; but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Amen.”

The following explication of this text is from The Popular Commentary of the Bible by Dr. Paul Kretzmann: 

This warning comes into the postscript in the nature of an after-thought. Very likely the congregation at Rome had not yet been troubled, but Paul feels it necessary to warn his Christians against a danger which might strike them at any time. It is not the open enemies of the Christian Church that work the greatest harm, but the false teachers that call themselves after the name of Christ and purport to believe in, and to teach, the Bible, and who, by insidious propaganda, subvert the foundations of sound teaching. 

St. Paul, therefore, warns the believers at Rome and the Christians of all times against such people as teach a doctrine at variance with the plain truths as he has proclaimed them. He begs them, as Christian brethren, most earnestly to mark them, literally, to keep their eye on them, to be on the constant lookout for them, that cause factions and scandals contrary to the doctrine which they had learned, which had been preached in Rome all these years, and to turn away from these false teachers. 

The apostle may have had in mind such opponents and disturbers of the peace as had attempted to hinder the course of the Gospel in Antioch, in Galatia, and in Achaia. Such men would undoubtedly try to enter into the congregation at Rome also and to spread their false teaching. But Paul distinctly tells the Roman Christians and the true believers of all times that they are not only to reject the false doctrine, but also to avoid the false teachers of every kind and degree. It is the express will of God that Christians and Christian organizations with sound Biblical basis must separate themselves, and remain separate, from all denominations in which false doctrine and false teachers are permitted. All unionism, which attempts to unite truth and falsehood in the same church organization, is clearly condemned in this passage. Cp. 2 Thess. 3, 6; Titus 3, 10; 1 Cor. 5, 11; 2 John 10.

What, then, can daunt my spirit?

While the title of this post is short on clever, it's eternally long on comfort.  Simon Dach, the author, referenced my favorite passage from Romans 8:38 - 39. There is no greater comfort than knowing that nothing can sever us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Art by Edward Riojas
www.adcrucem.com

Although I have not yet penned the message for my first chapel for the upcoming school year, I do know this will be one of the hymns we sing because of the temporal and eternal comfort it offers in Christ our Lord and Savior.

Through Jesus' Blood and Merit

Hymn 746 in the Lutheran Service Book

Through Jesus' blood and merit
I am at peace with God.
What, then, can daunt my spirit,
However dark my road?
My courage shall not fail me,
For God is on my side;
Though hell itself assail me,
Its rage I may deride.

There's nothing that can sever From this great love of God;
No want, no pain whatever,
No famine, peril, flood.
Though thousand foes surround me,
For slaughter mark His sheep,
They never shall confound me,
The vict'ry I shall reap.

For neither life's temptation
Nor death's most trying hour
Nor angels of high station
Nor any other pow'r,
Nor things that now are present
Nor things that are to come
Nor height, however pleasant,
Nor darkest depths of gloom

Nor any creature ever
Shall from the love of God
This ransomed sinner sever;
For in my Savior's blood
This love has its foundation;
God hears my faithful prayer
And long before creation
Named me His child and heir.

Is knowledge a mountain stream or a pump-filled ditch?

Motivating, nurturing and leading students to discover and understand the difference between these two attitudes concerning knowledge is every teacher’s arduous, yet worthy, goal.

“The difference between the pupil who works for himself and the one who works only when he is driven is too obvious to need explanation. The one is a free agent, the other is a machine. The former is attracted by his work, and, prompted by his interest, he works on until he meets some overwhelming difficulty or reaches the end of his task. The latter moves only when he is urged. He sees what is shown him, he hears what he is told, advances when his teacher leads, and stops just where and when the teacher stops. The one moves by his own activities, and the other by borrowed impulse. The former is a mountain stream fed by living springs, the latter a ditch filled from a pump worked by another’s hands.” –Dr. Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching

Luther on card-playing, singing, dancing and... reading

Replace "card-playing, singing and dancing" with travel soccer, baseball and gaming, and Luther's concerns still abound.  

I wonder if the parents who spend the time, energy and money on getting li'l Franklin to his U-8 weekend soccer tournament in AcresonAcresofSoccerFields, Ohio, spend the same amount of time, energy and money on li'l Franklin's access to books, stories and human laps on which he can sit and listen to more books and stories.

"If we take so much time and trouble to teach children card-playing, singing, and dancing, why do we not take as much time to teach them reading and other disciplines while they are young and have the time, and are apt and eager to learn? For my part if I had children and could manage it, I would have them study not only languages and history, but also singing and music together with the whole of mathematics.  For what is all this but mere child’s play? The ancient Greeks trained their children in these disciplines; yet they grew up to be people of wondrous ability, subsequently fit for everything. How I regret now that I did not read more poets and historians, and that no one taught me them! Instead, I was obliged to read at great cost, toil, and detriment to myself, that devil's dung, the philosophers and sophists, from which I have all I can do to purge myself."   - Luther

The Gospel Trifecta

So American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.  In order to complete the prestigious Triple Crown, American Pharoah must now win the Belmont Stakes. 

For my last chapel of the year I arranged a Gospel trifecta around the truth that our sins are forever removed through Christ's atoning sacrifice.

The text

I John 2:1  "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

The hymn
1^st and 2^nd graders from St. Peter, Macomb sang: "The King of Love my Shepherd Is"
The King of love my shepherd is,

Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine forever.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With thee, dear Lord, beside me,
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

The chapel's closing quote

“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: 'I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!' ”  - Martin Luther

The Ugly, The Bad, and the Good in Good Shepherd Sermons

He has risen.

He has risen indeed.

In many churches this past Lord's Day the sermons, texts and hymns all revolved around preaching and teaching Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The text pastors used to feed their flocks was John 10:11-18.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Here are some very good, Good Shepherd Sunday sermons where the pastors preach
the ugly - our wretched, sinful condition,
the bad - our inability to do anything about it,
and the good - as in the Good Shepherd whose atoning sacrifice delivers to His flock forgiveness and life eternal.

Rev. Matthew Dent of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Standish, Michigan

Vicar Zachary Marklevitz of Luther Memorial Chapel in Shorewood, Wisconsin 

Rev. Lewis Polzin of Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, Minnesota

Rev. Dr. Matthew Richard of Zion Lutheran Church in Gwinner, North Dakota

Rev. Bert Thompson of St. Luke Lutheran Church in Clinton Township, Michigan

Rev. Anthony Voltattorni of Zion Lutheran Church in Marshall, Michigan

These Good Shepherd Sunday sermons are suitable for grazing, feeding and inwardly digesting.

National Lutheran Schools Week: Part One

Today begins National Lutheran Schools Week. Thanks be to God, I have been a Lutheran teacher for twenty-nine years.  Celebrating Lutheran Schools means sharing, promoting and teaching Christ's redemptive work on the cross. This year's theme is Standing in Christ, Serving others.  Mercy Forever.

It's a privilege and  blessing to teach the young men and women sitting in my classes.  Teaching in a Lutheran school means that while I am in the midst of teaching Shakespeare's Macbeth, I can also allude to this Higher Things devotion from Rev. Cwirla.

Sin has left its mark on you - on your soul, your body, your mind, your psyche, your robes.  The damned spot of Adam, the original sin and the origin of all sins - your lies, your immoralities, your blasphemies, your idolatries, your greed, your coveting, your murders, your disobedience, insolence, arrogance, hatred - there’s no covering them up.  They have all left a mark on you. You have blood on your hands.  You search in this world for something that will wash that damned spot of sin away- drugs, alcohol, religion.  You discover the terrible truth of Lady Macbeth.  That damned spot doesn’t go away, no matter how hard you try.  Your prayers and pieties won’t do it.  Your guilt and shame won’t wash it away.  The smell of sin is on you and all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten it.  And then you hear Jesus say, “I am coming soon, bringing my recompense to reward everyone for what he has done.”  So now what?

Not only do I have the blessed opportunity to share Shakespeare's literary treasures, I can also use those as launching pads into the eternal treasures of forgiveness, grace, mercy and salvation that are ours through Christ's death and resurrection.

The Spirit and the Church, say “Come.”  You are invited.  Come.  Come, you sinners, poor, broken, needy.  Come, young and old, torn by guilt and shame.  There is living water to refresh you here, cleansing blood to wash away that damned spot.  Flush it down the drain of your Baptism together with the old Adam and all his sinful desires and deeds.  Let Jesus deal with it.  He already has.  Come, drink of that stream of forgiveness that flows from His cross to you.  Come the church, God’s inn of mercy.  Come to the ministry of forgiveness and healing, to your fellow priests clothed in Christ.  Come, sons and daughters of Adam, no matter how great your sin, no matter how deep the stain, it’s all washed away by the slain Lamb who lives and reigns.

Reading Buddy Basketball Night

Each month seniors from my AP Lit class meet with my wife's 2nd grade students from St. Peter, Macomb to read and write books. During one of our recent meetings, students read Eric Carle books and then wrote and illustrated their own Eric Carle-esque creations.

 

Another event that does not involve reading, but lots of fun and laughter is Buddy Basketball Night.  My students invite their reading buddies to a girls' basketball game. They sit with each other, eat lots of snacks and at halftime participate in the always intense uniform relay race. 

 

Galloping out of the corral for this year's Buddy Basketball night was Lutheran North's mascot, Marty the Mustang.  Marty cheered for the buddies and then posed for buddy pictures preserving a fantastic night.

 

A unique dimension to this year's Reading Buddies is that twelve of the second grade parents are Lutheran North alumni.  It's a unique blessing to see my former students return to Lutheran North with their families and walk the hallways of their old high school. 

It's even more important that all of these parents have selected Lutheran schools to help nurture their children's mind and more importantly, through the power of the Holy Spirit, their faith.

 

In his Large Catechism explanation to the Fourth Commandment, Dr. Martin Luther explains the important role parents have in their children's education:

• For if we wish to have excellent and able persons both for civil and Church leadership, we must spare no diligence, time, or cost in teaching and educating our children, so that they may serve God and the world.  We must not think only about how we may amass money and possessions for them.  God can indeed support and make them rich without us,  as He daily does.  But for this purpose He has given us children and issued this command: we should train and govern them according to His will...Therefore, let everyone know that it is his duty, on peril of losing the divine favor, to bring up his children in the fear and knowledge of God above all things (Proverbs 1:7)  LC I 172

"Feed my sheep; not try experiments on my rats" - C.S. Lewis

"Hearing the Word of God was once a weighty phrase, corresponding to an awesome reality. Today, in the thinking of many, the whole thing can be taken care of without inconvenience or loss of time if need be, by tuning in to the “Lutheran Hour” while devoutly chewing Kentucky Fried Chicken on the way to Six Flags!"  - Rev. Dr. Kurt Marquart

Unfortunately, we convenience church into our lives. It's a perfect fit as long as we can squeeze it between Starbucks and soccer practice or a late morning's sleep and tailgating or fishing and the NFL preview show… or  __________________ and ________________. 

Recently Rev. Matt Richard posted a quote from Dr. Marquart’s article, “Liturgical Commonplaces” published in Concordia Theological Quarterly.  The quote was so intriguing it compelled me to read the entire article.

Perhaps these excerpts will whet your appetite for a feast-filled reading of Dr. Marquart’s article. 

• Richard Wurmbrand, having noted the frequent refrain in church-bulletins that refreshments will be served after the service, asks pointedly: “Why do you not provide refreshment in the service?”

• The idea, for instance, that the Service should be “meaningful,” that is, clear and obvious to any casual visitor who might pop in from the street is short-sightedly pragmatic.  A “service” tailored to such a misguided ideal would comprise a mélange of threadbare banalities, which even the casual visitor is likely to find unbearable after the third time – not to speak of the faithful who attend regularly for threescore years and ten. People who come to the church seeking divine truths do not expect it to be huckstered like soap or soft drinks, with mindless jingles.

• What then shall we make of the idea that “the youth” get bored with sameness and therefore require constant innovations to keep them interested? The sentiment is well-meaning enough but is essentially misguided…In the long term, however, such an approach is bound to produce conscious or subconscious contempt for the church. Who, after all, could respect an institution which is, after two thousand years’ experience, so confused about its functions as to say, in effect: ‘Dear Children, help us! We are no longer sure about what we out to be doing.  Perhaps you might have some good ideas?’ Who could possibly take seriously the play-worship prefixed with that horrid word, ‘experimental’?

My AP Lit. trifecta: Huxley. Walther. Christ Alone.

My AP Lit. class was recently discussing Huxley's Brave New World.  The conversation focused on absolute truth vs. the fabricated truth present in Huxley's dystopia. 

Me:  If people don't believe in absolute truth does that mean it does not exist?

Student A:  It doesn't exist for those people who don't believe it.

The Ever-Patient Me: That's not what I asked.  Does absolute truth exist even if people don't believe it?

Student B: It must. It's like Christianity.  There are many who don't believe Christ is true God and true man.  Believe it or not, Christ alone saves.  Christ is the world's Savior. That absolute truth is undeniably true even if people deny its truth.

At this point I strolled to my desk and picked up God Grant It, Daily Devotions from C.F.W. Walther and read from the day's devotion: Thursday of the Eleventh Week After Trinity:

Whoever has not experienced any of the pains of true repentance, whoever has not yet felt the force of the Law and regarded himself as a sinner through the enlightenment of the Holy Ghost, whoever has never groaned for the depths of his distressed heart of Christ’s grace, and whoever still fails to recognize that a person cannot believe in Christ by his own powers but alone by the working of the Holy ghost is certainly still without faith.  The birth of faith in the soul of a sinner cannot leave him unmoved.  Indeed, it is a work that transforms the whole person – from darkness to light, from spiritual death to spiritual life – and brings him out of powerlessness into a divine strength.
                                                               -Walther


And this is precisely why I love teaching in a Lutheran school.

The Glory Without the Cross

In his book, Grace upon Grace: Spirituality for Today, Dr. John Kleinig discusses a problem with the Pharisees: 

Their problem was that they put their own brand on their acts of piety; they claimed their achievements for themselves rather than for God. Their righteousness and their holiness, they thought and taught, were self-generated rather than God-given. They were so full of themselves that they displaced God.  They refused to acknowledge their dependence on God and his gracious provisions for them...
We face the same dangers in our spiritual lives. We quite readily imagine that we are actors performing before God to gain His applause rather than beggars receiving His gifts. Nothing excites us more than the desire to do something great, achieve something extraordinary. Of course, we don't do this for ourselves but only for God!  Since we secretly admire those who seem to be spiritual superheroes, devotional highfliers, we focus on our spiritual performance and our religious achievements.  We use God's gifts to gain spiritual kingship, power, and glory for ourselves, though we say we use them for God and the growth of the Church!  We therefore become blind to the depths of our sin and the extent of God's grace. All too quickly our spirituality becomes an exercise in blatant self-deception and glossy self-promotion.  We cover up before God and advertise ourselves as our own creation.  We want the glory without the cross.  We avoid full exposure to the scrutiny of God's Law; we belittle the call to repentance; we protect the old self from demolition and reconstruction by Christ.  And all this because, like the Pharisees, we want to be seen to be holy, approved, admired, and praised by those around us, rather than by God."

This is why preaching that skirts the Law and preaches about the Gospel but does not actually preach the Gospel is disturbing.  Preaching that vaguely alludes to sin but does not horrify us is dangerous. However, it does make sense that if the Law is not preached in its severity, there is no need for the eternal comfort of Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross.

That's why LCMS president, Matthew Harrison's insight on the importance of  Law/Gospel preaching is important. "The Law should be preached like there is no Gospel and the Gospel should be preached like there is no Law."

What is the solution?  Harrison, Kleinig and God's Word proffer the only solution to the damnation of our sin:

President Harrison:

I want to hear declarative application that tells me my sins are forgiven right now and that I am directed to Christ and his comfort.

Dr. Kleing:

God always wants us to start where we are, rather than where we would like to be, on our spiritual journey.  We are justified by God's grace and approved by Him.  That's given! Our justification does not depend on our piety and our spiritual performance but on Christ and His performance.  We can therefore face up to our recurring failure to live as His holy people and people of prayer.  In fact, our failure is meant to teach us to ask for what we lack and receive everything from Christ.

God's Word: 

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

-Romans 5:1-2

Preaching Law like there is no Gospel. Preaching Gospel Like there is no Law.

Recently Issues, Etc. interviewed President Matthew Harrison concerning the basics of preaching. President Harrison made some excellent points about the basics of preaching. This poor, miserable sinner agrees with President Harrison's points on preaching the severity of the Law and the cleansing assurance of the Gospel.

Here are some of the points President Harrison made in the interview: 

• I think we are in a preaching crisis.
• The biggest problems I see is very little dealing with the actual text.
• I think we have a great challenge because in preaching we hear preaching that talks about Christ, about the Law about people who break the Law, about the Gospel.
• The sermon is a proclamation
• I hear very little preaching of the Law that stings or hits home.  They will not hit at the gross sins that adhere in every one of us.
• Step into the office and say this Christ is for you and for sinners just like you.
• If I don’t realize the depths of my own sin how do I view people around me when they sin against me?
• Paraphrasing Luther, President Harrison said, “If the pastor fails to give you the Gospel in a sermon you should on the way out say ‘You are a thief and a liar.  You have robbed Christ from me.’”
• I want to hear clear Law, clear damning Law in all its severity. The Law should be preached like there is no Gospel and the Gospel should be preached like there is no Law.
• I want to hear declarative application that tells me my sins are forgiven right now and that I am directed to Christ and his comfort

Listen to the interview and let me know what you think.

Never be thirsty again

This past Sunday the Gospel reading was from John 4, the Samaritan woman at the well.  I've read or heard various sermons on this text and while each pastor's approach differed, each pastor's message was the same: Christ's cleansing water is unconditional, eternally cleansing and eternally satiating.

John 4:16-17
¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

Why would Christ point out the Samaritan woman's sins?  In his commentary, Dr. Paul Kretzmann insightfully explained:

The Lord told her all this, by His omniscience, for the purpose of making her realize her sinfulness, of making her see the depth to which she had fallen. She must become fully conscious of her guilt against the Sixth Commandment and the entire Law before she would have the proper desire and longing for the riches of Christ's salvation. Note: It is always thus when the Lord converts a sinner. At first there are only a few faint sparks of penitence, which would be extinguished without the aid of the Holy Ghost. But then He deepens the consciousness of transgression and guilt, in order that the longing for salvation may be instilled by the sweet message of salvation, by the Gospel. Very often the real battle in the heart of a person begins only after the desire for salvation has been felt. Then Satan tries to drive the sinner into despair. It is then that grace must much more abound. 

In The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, CFW Walther stated similar truths on the purpose of the Law and the Gospel:

These two points must be made: The Law creates a thirst and leads us to hell; the Gospel, however, satisfies the thirst and leads to heaven.  The Law states what we must do, but that we have fallen short of doing it, no matter how holy we may be.  Thus it produces uncertainty in me and arouses this thirst.

"but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  - John 4:14

If your are thirsty for more sermons on this text read Rev. Charles Henrickson's sermon or listen to Rev. Anthony Voltattorni's sermon.

Strenuous attempts to gain adherents...

Always test the spirits

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  - 1 John 4: 1-6

Dr. Paul Kretzmann's commentary offers worthy insights on why we should always test what is taught us:

 
Good prophets are preachers through whom the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, teaches and preaches, whether it be by direct inspiration, as in the Old Testament, or whether it be by the teaching of the pure Gospel, as in the case of all true ministers today. In that sense they are spirits. But the Christians are here warned to use all care, to be on the lookout in ceaseless vigilance; for unfortunately not every man that claims to be a true prophet is able to present such credentials as the Word of God demands in such a case. These men, who presume upon the rights and duties of true Christian ministers, go out into the world, they display a remarkable missionary activity, they make the most strenuous attempts to gain adherents for their false tenets. Therefore Christians, as they value their soul’s salvation, must examine, test, such spirits and their doctrines, whether they are of God.
 

One of the fundamental facts of Christianity is the doctrine that Jesus Christ came into the world, became flesh. That is the touchstone which enables the believers to distinguish between true and false teachers. For in this doctrine is included the confession that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who, according to the promise given by God, became man, and by His vicarious suffering and death, and by His victorious resurrection and ascension merited our righteousness and salvation. He that accepts and confesses these truths unequivocally, with all that they imply, may be considered a preacher from God. But every professed teacher in the Church or outside of the Church that denies the incarnation of the eternal Son of God; that denies that Jesus Christ is our only righteousness and salvation; every one that teaches that we, in order to be saved, should not trust in Christ and in His merits alone, but also in our own works: such a man is not of God.
 

The apostle adds another reason for carefully examining the claims and for guarding against the evil influence of the false teachers: They are of the world, therefore they talk as of the world, and the world listens to them. No matter what their pretense and their glamour, the false teachers belong to the world, they have the world’s manner and mind. This is shown also in their talking, in their teaching and preaching, for its substance is not divine and leading to godliness, but it is inspired by the world, by its manner of thinking and acting. False teachers usually have messages that tickle the itching ears of their hearers. The children of the world will gladly hear them, the world receives their doctrines with enthusiasm. It is an almost unfailing criterion: if a certain preacher is widely advertised and acclaimed as a prophet for our times, he has probably managed to accommodate the old Scriptural language to some of his own philosophy in denying the fundamentals of the Bible. Witness the so-called Christianity of the social gospel.

 

 

The steady advance of veterans...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, some more and some more and some more....

While many are snow-weary and snow-spent, I'm just one pull away from firing up my turbo-charged, XLT-Hubba-Hubba SnowThrower Deluxe™.  Bring it, Winter. 

With this recent blast, I've been granted another respite from the academic rigors of high school. Snow Day #8.  

In addition to grading some papers, I began reading Dr. Gregory's book, The Seven Laws of Teaching. When I discovered this literary nugget, I knew I had blog fodder. 

"Unreflecting superintendents and school boards often prefer enthusiastic teachers to those who are simply well educated or experienced. They believe, not without reason, that enthusiasm will accomplish more with inadequate learning and little skill than the best-trained and erudite teacher wholly lacking in zeal.  But why choose either the ignorant enthusiast or the educated sluggard?  Enthusiasm is not confined to the unskilled and the ignorant, nor are all calm, cool men idlers.  There is an enthusiasm born of skill – a joy in doing what one can do well – that is far more effective, where art is involved, than the enthusiasm born in vivid feeling.  The steady advance of veterans is more powerful than the mad rush of raw recruits.  The world’s best work, in the schools as in the shops, is done by the calm, steady, and persistent efforts of skilled workmen who know how to keep their tools sharp, and to make every effort reach its mark."   

-Dr. John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching published in 1884.

Oh, this is going to be a good day and an even better read.

Retaining and defending the confession

“As in war the banner and the one who carries it draws all the enemy fire - for when the flag falls the enemy cries victory - , so in the great church battle of our day everything is also directed at the flag of the confessions and against those who carry it. Oh, so let us, then, raise that flag of our pure confession that much higher, even as we are all the more reviled for it, courageously battle under it, boldly proclaim it, and, when it is necessary and possible, die a thousand deaths rather than to shamefully and cowardly concede even the most insignificant part of the same to the enemy. “Hold fast,” the apostle declares to our synod, “to the pattern of sound Words that you have heard from me by the faith and the love in Christ Jesus. Guard this good deposit through the Holy Ghost, who dwells in us.” Oh that our beloved Synod would not finally grow weary in her retaining and defending the confession, but that she might become ever more zealous and bold in doing so! So will she progress even further in her victories, in all of her battles, which are appointed her in these last times, that, finally, she be brought into the ranks of the eternal triumphant host of God in heaven, as victorious warriors. To this end, may we be helped by the Captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, who is worship, loved and praised to all eternity. Amen.”                  

 -From CFW Walther’s 1877 Synodical Convention sermon