Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Archive for the ‘Short Reflections’ Category

This Lord’s Day we will Celebrate Reformation Sunday, though as you know Reformation Day is always October 31^st, the evening before All Saints Day.

On October 31^st, 1517 things came to a head in Europe. If you think the TV Evangelists and phoney faith healers are bad today, in Luther’s Day the Vatican was financing a building project by for all practical purposes selling salvation. Johann Tetzel had a saying with which he coaxed the money out of people’s purses – “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory and into heaven springs.”

Luther wrote against them (Thesis 21): “Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope’s indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;”

Again in thesis 37: “Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.”

Thesis 52: “The assurance of salvation by letters of pardon is vain, even though the commissary, nay, even though the pope himself, were to stake his soul upon it.”

54: “Injury is done the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or a longer time is spent on pardons than on this Word.”

62: “The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.”

79: “To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set up [by the preachers of indulgences], is of equal worth with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy.”

It’s evident that in posting these theses in Latin on the castle church door, Luther had hoped for serious discussion. But in light of the outrages of the day and a new communications tool called the “printing press”, Luther ended up seeing far more than a discussion… he got a REFORMATION.

Luther’s questions go straight to the heart of the matter – just WHO IS LORD ? What is the CHURCH about?

Luther was not a lone voice in the church… the Holy Spirit was making many restless for the Good News to be faithfully preached and lived.  They yearned for the masses for whom Christianity as simply a routine exercise in Church Attendance to be brought to new life.

There was a growing unrest in many throughout the West to say “it’s time to get back to the Biblical Faith with Jesus Christ at the center.”  It’s funny how many people craved that and yet how entrenched forces who wanted control of money and power fought that.

You see, if people can be kept blind and compliant like a herd of cattle or a flock of sheep, they can be milked or sheared at will to keep the people at the top rich and at ease. Luther in his 86^th thesis asked: “”Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?””

Luther began quoting the scriptures such as Romans 3:19-28 which we read today to remind the people and the Church that Jesus Christ is the one who saves – as sinners none of us may earn salvation and none of us may sell it!

Naturally he received a great deal of hatred for telling the “people in charge” that, well, they had the message of God wrong.  They had missed God’s Good News!

It reminds you about what happened to Our Lord in John 8:31-36…

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who keeps on committing sin is the slave of sin.”The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus started talking about being set free by the Truth, and what was their immediate reaction – and these were the people who believed in Him!?

Their reaction: “Wait a minute!  We’re the children of Abraham and have never been slaves!”

Never been slaves? Are you kidding? What about that 400 years in Egypt, those 70 years in Exile, and now when the Roman soldiers told them to jump, they asked “how high”? How easily they deceived themselves! How easily we deceive OURSELVES! Ha!

Jesus doesn’t let that one pass. He tells them “Whoever commits sin is the slave of sin” – I’m sure they knew that included them! Jesus was going to give His disciples something they had never known as the Sons of Adam – the gift of being In Christ and being able, through Him, to have a clean conscience and a NEW HEART (Jer 31:31-34)

There is no hope for slaves of sin to stay in God’s house. God’s Son will remain in the house, He is the Adopted One, the One who will never be cast out and forever be blessed by God – if we are made free by this Son, Jesus, then the problem of our slavery will never be an issue again.

If we will simply admit our need for Jesus Christ to be set free from the hold that sin and Satan wish to have upon us to dominate and destroy us, then we will find freedom, then we need never fear the abandonment of God, then we need never live as orphans in God’s World again… Jesus Christ, the Truth of God, the one who suffered as a sacrifice for sinners become for us the place where God Himself offers atonement. We don’t go to a Temple, we go to Jesus. He receives us, forgives us, and gives us new life through the Holy Spirit. He sets us free.

Though Reformation Day recalls people in the past who were in need of Reformation, and we read about the Jewish People of Jesus’ day who needed their own Reformation, the truth is that we in America are slaves… we are slaves to debt, we are slaves to materialism, we are slaves to our addictions, we are slaves to an out of control government,  and we are slaves to sin.

This message that Jesus can set people free in every generation is our only hope … don’t be fooled because you grew up American thinking you lived in the “land of the free” and the “home of the brave”. We are every bit as enslaved as these Jewish people who protested so loudly that they’d never been slaves.

It’s Reformation Day – it’s not a day to gloat over our illustrious past. Churches that celebrate Reformation Day in the US these days are, by and large, rapidly dying out and very ineffective at spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ! Sure, God gave us a great start.

But what are we doing with the Good News and the Word of God today?

If we are not taking the message of Jesus Christ to the streets, if we are not living out the Good News in Word and Deed, if we are not winning people to Christ and seeing Jesus Christ set them free, we are still in bondage ourselves!

This Reformation Day, we need to make sure we ourselves are not slaves.

This Reformation Day, we need to return in repentance and trust to Jesus Christ the one who died for sinners and who is able to, as Psalm 51 says, “Create in us a clean heart!”

This Reformation Day, our renewed love for Jesus Christ and the freedom He gives should drive us to our knees to pray for the ongoing Reformation of ourselves, our homes, our churches, our nation and for the Gospel to spread to the farthest part of the earth.

I bid you a blessed Reformation Day… but I likewise must remind one and all that we ourselves must daily be renewed by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and empowered by His Spirit, lest we too fail to live in the fullness of His blessing!

Sermon Audio is available here.

Scripture Readings:

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 46
Romans 3:19-28
John 8:31-36

Collect:

Gracious Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; and where it is divided, reunite it in all truth. This we ask for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever lives to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

St. George's Dragon "Tamed" Embroidered Dragon with Cross

The story of St. George alternatively slaying or taming a dragon dates back centuries. While it is considered a legend in many ways, there is a strong historical foundation that explains the “dragon” in it’s original context and also explains well the nature of St. George’s conquering love. The historical St. George was a Roman soldier and a martyr for the cause of Christ.

Either version of the story relates to the Church’s classic struggle of spiritual combat against the powers of darkness. In Eastern Orthodoxy icons of St. George in battle with the dragon have been used to inspire the faithful in their own private war with sin and lawlessness for generations. At the present day, St. George’s Day celebrations in the UK recall the legend and allow participants to “act it out”

As Americans devoted to newness at any cost, we often fail to recognize the power of Classical Christian Symbols and understandings of history to inspire people in the present however. Many relics of the past, to be sure, must be reinterpreted in light of scripture because as Reformed and Evangelical Christians we do not consider St. George our patron in terms of things eternal. Like St. George, we have the Risen Christ alone as our heavenly patron and intercessor! But as the embedded You Tube video shows, modern people can be engaged through the historic symbolism of the Church when we are engaged by it ourselves.

Here you can see the band “Toto” singing their song “St. George and the Dragon”. It would indeed be cheesy to create a “Got Dragons Lately?” bumper sticker, though Christian attempts at relevance have not failed to stoop to that depth. This should be a reminder that if we live our lives in light of the Christian view of life and history, such living faith can’t help but grasp the imaginations of people who have their own dragons to slay yet today.

Enjoy the music. But look beyond it to our Lord whose own Conquering Love inspired “St. George the Martyr” in his original battle with the “Dragon”!

For the 17th Lord’s Day after Trinity (Proper 24b) the readings are:

Isaiah 50:4-10
Psalm 116:1-9
1 Peter 4:12-19
Mark 8:27-38

In our Gospel reading today, we’re confronted with the very real danger that we may claim to follow Jesus Christ, but in reality be His adversary, His Satan. Why? Because despite our profession of faith – it’s quite possible that, like the Apostle Peter, our plans for our life, our understanding of our mission is at odds with what Jesus is about. I’m not talking about demon possession, but I am talking about wasting our lives by living them without regard to Jesus’ priorities. Have you ever thought about confronting “The Satan in Me?”

But I’m getting ahead of myself. As Jesus is marching towards Jerusalem He first stops to clarify for His disciples just who He is and what His mission is about! Some say He’s doing this in Casesarea Phillipi because that Herod is less of a danger to Him than the Herod (Antipas) who ruled over Jerusalem. Perhaps so. That makes sense – John 6:15 reminds us that people would gladly have made him just the kind of King the Romans would put to death instantly.

Whatever else was going on behind the scenes, Caesarea Phillipi was a hot bed of idolatry and also Emperor worship. There in one of the most pagan places that could be near the Holy Land, where the ugliness of paganism was so apparent, where the power of darkness was unquestioned, Jesus asks “who do people say that I am?”

Whatever their answer, it would stand in direct contrast to the statement made by the region itself: that Caesar is Lord. So who is Jesus?

The first answers they gave – who the people said Jesus might be were predictable and safe: “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say You are one of the other prophets.”

These answers required no commitment on the part of those giving them. They are piously repeating what they’ve heard  but not sticking their own necks out.

So Jesus asks them emphatically – so who do YOU say that I am?

This answer will change the course of their lives. They have seen Him heal and do the works only the Messiah can do. The backdrop behind them is a city dedicated to Caesar as Lord.  Their answer could get them killed by the Romans. Their answer could make them hated by their own people even more than they despised those hayseed Galileans anyway.  The way they answer might also mean that, in addition to the cost they’d paid to follow Jesus already, there might be more they had to do.

So it was a costly answer they were being asked to make.

In the early church, Christians could be spared a painful death if they would only tell their Roman Captors that “Caesar is Lord”. But saying “Jesus is Lord” could get them tortured, killed or killed by being thrown to wild animals.

What do you say if you’re trapped in Nazi Germany and you’re a stone’s throw from the headquarters of the Secret Police and you’re walking with an “enemy of the state” who asks you if what you believe about what they’re doing?

What do you say? Jesus asked them and Jesus looks us in the eye and asks us – “Who do YOU say that I am?” And the question remains – are you willing to risk your life on the answer?

When the silence broke, Peter opened his mouth and spoke up: “You are the Messiah!”

That answer changes everything.

In that very place where the Roman Emperor was worshipped Peter says that this Jesus who’s standing there with them is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ, the one that all the Jewish nation had been looking forward to – the One who would bring all God’s promises to a climax!

You knew that was the right answer because Jesus told them not to tell anyone – it wasn’t God’s Time.

Now he begins to explain to them what He  meant when he said there’d be a time for fasting when the bridegroom had been taken from them (Mk. 2:19-20).

He explained to them that as the “Son of Man”, he must first become a prophetic parable like Ezekiel who was called the “Son of Man”, he must become the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 if he is to fulfill God’s call. But he must be a prophetic riddle and become the sacrifice who dies to take away the sins of God’s people before he can be the “Son of Man” of Daniel 7:13-14  and receive dominion over the nations and rule as God’s appointed King (Psalm 2; 1 Cor 15:25-28).

For Peter, it was too much to believe that in order for the Messiah to reign triumphantly he must first suffer terribly and then die redemptively.  Rise victoriously? Who’d ever heard of that?

So Peter decided to talk some sense into Jesus. What Jesus had just said wasn’t part of Peter’s agenda for the Messiah.

Think of it.

If the Real Live Messiah gets killed…what’s going to happen to his sidekicks? It can’t be good. Remember Bonnie and Clyde we’d say. Remember Ahab and Jezebel Peter might have said. The sidekicks always died too.

So Peter gives Jesus a piece of his mind only to have Jesus set him straight. Peter’s ideas are so out of touch with God’s plans, that if Peter insists on having his way, Peter will be an adversary, a “Satan”. And like Satan, Peter’s words invite Jesus to succumb to the temptations He has already defeated once (Mt 4:8-10).

You can understand Peter’s situation. We too are a people who are bent on a mission. Whether we have a “mission statement” or not, we are all people on a mission – either one bent on serving ourselves or one bent on serving Jesus Christ.

Peter’s mission became evident. Unfortunately, his mission for his life – fame, riches, and glory perhaps – were diametrically opposed to Jesus’ mission.

That’s what makes Peter’s blunder so horrendous. Like the demons who could confess Israel’s creed or Shema all day (Deut 6:4; James 2:19), Peter offers the correct confession but he is in danger, unless he repents, of putting himself at odds with the true Mission of Jesus.

How do your (our) confession and mission stack up? The most dangerous thing for orthodox believers is to congratulate ourselves on our good confession only to deceive ourselves when it comes to grasping the implications of what Jesus came to do for our own lives.

So that Peter would no longer be confused about the costliness of following Jesus the Messiah, and so we might not be, Jesus makes know the requirements of being a disciple. Jesus tells us how to align our MISSION with our CONFESSION.

Jesus offers us the Way, along with a Warning:

In a world where people follow others for what they can get, like scavengers, or hyenas tracking a herd to see what will drop away for them to pick up, some follow Jesus for what they can gain.

Jesus says – If anyone wants to be my follower, it’s time to recognize that life as you knew it – a life that you lived for yourself and for your own pleasure is over.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it like this: “When Jesus calls a man, He bids him come and die.”

To begin to follow we must want to follow Jesus more than we wish to follow our own hopes and dreams. We must die is to turn from our selfish ways – that means stop telling Jesus what He’s going to do! (That didn’t work for Peter. It’s never worked for me. It’s called submission to God’s plan and providence. It hurts!)

The extent to which we must follow Jesus means that, like Him, we must carry our cross.  For St. Paul in Galatians 6:14, carrying the cross had come to mean that his life had no meaning for himself or the world as he used to know it apart from what each day meant for the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We don’t want to go there – someone might call us fanatical! It might mean that our interest in Jesus Christ took the fun out of the things we used to love. People might – gasp – think we were trying to be fundamentalist fuddy-duddies! They might think we weren’t cool!

Our worst fear these days is that someone might think we’re not “relevant”! But Jesus fear is that we’ll be so relevant we’ll go to Hell. So he offers this warning.

Following Jesus IS  about no longer hanging on to our lives lived on our terms. Following Jesus means we stop trying to hold on to people, places, things and even relationships that keep us from serving Christ the Lord.   And it means that even the good things in our lives that begin to approach the status of “Lord” in our lives have to be put back in their proper place.

That’s because of Jesus’ love for us – you see, He tells us – if we are ashamed of Him now, and our lives are continually shaped and our actions governed by the fear that someone will call us a “Jesus Freak”… then when the Son of Man does return as the full inheritor of all the nations, He will be ashamed of us and we will be as doomed as those who shake their fist in His face this day.

That’s why we must ever fear the presence of the “Satan in Me.” The Satan in Me will delight in telling Jesus what to do while never listening to what Jesus requires US to do. The Satan in Me will offer a good confession of faith while doing whatever he pleases… and whatever mocks what Jesus really wants us to do.

The Satan in Me will confess that Jesus is the Messiah, and then seek his own life instead of losing his life for Jesus Christ.

How are you dealing with the Satan in You?

The following reflection (based on a sermon preached at the Chapel of Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis today) is based on 1 Timothy 5: 1-16.

In our reading today from First Timothy, we are reminded of the solemn duty to respect our Christian brothers and sisters, especially those who are not only a part of our family of faith but those who are a part of our lineal family as well. While general precepts make up the first two verses of our reading, the following fourteen deal with regulations regarding widows. While the application is narrow in the Biblical narrative, its application for today has far reaching implications.

The ancient Church recognized her responsibility to those among her number who were unable to properly care for themselves. From early in her life in Jerusalem the Church practice voluntary giving – to the extent of living a communal lifestyle (see Acts 4:32 – 5:10) for the benefit of all. This voluntary arrangement ensured that every believer, no matter their station in life, had their basic needs met.

In our own era, it is difficult for us to meet our own basic needs, let alone the needs of others. When our checkbooks are low and our wallets thin, we tend to gravitate towards providing for ourselves, even if it means that our charitable contributions to the less-fortunate take second place.

And yet in the midst of persecution and hardship, the earliest believers were known because of their love and compassion for one another. Their voluntary ’socialism’ worked far better than any civil form ever could for one key reason – people entered into it willingly and under the soveregnty of God. They implicitly trusted him for their well-being, and did not stop to count the cost when ensuring that their brothers and sisters had their basic needs met.

At the same time, the Church did not suffer deception gladly, as Paul’s strong words of advice to Timothy display. The first and foremost responsibility in Timothy’s community was for the family of a widow to assist in meeting her needs. Of course, that requires that families remain intact and strong in their love for one another. In our era, far too many families find themselves divided, without strong leadership, without godly submission, and without provision for the needs of everyone in the family unit.

Christians must stop looking to the civil government to meet their needs. Social Security, Medicare, and other federal programs have a place, but in the end it is the Christian charity rooted in the home and in the Church that must rise to the challenge of meeting the needs of those who have nobody else to care for them.

May God give us the courage to reach out to help others sacrifically, not counting the cost, to ensure that our families and the less fortunate among our brotherhood are cared for. In doing so, we will continually strengthen them with the witness of a grace-empowerd faith, and through our works will reinforce the Gospel message to one and all. May our non-believing friends be enabled to say, “See how they love one another,” and recognize the transforming power of the Gospel in our lives.

For further reflection: Isaiah 55: 1-3 

Scripture Readings for the Lord’s Day from the Provisional Book of Common Prayer RESA:

Deuteronomy 4:1-9
Psalm 119:97-104
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-23

In our Gospel reading today, our Lord ignores a trivial complaint, unfolds the self-deceptions of our legalism and man-made “spirituality”, and identifies our ultimate problem – our sinful hearts. In our last three Lord’s Days, John 6 has reminded us of the absolute necessity of our union with Christ to translate us from death to life, from ‘in Adam’ to ‘in Christ’, from darkness to light, and from death to life itself because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

As Jesus’ ministry threatens the power of the establishment leaders and they cannot dispute that true miracles have been done, experts from Jerusalem are seemingly brought in to consult how best to halt our Lord’s progress and make clear how He and His ministry cannot be of God. So they attack the disciples for failing at the point of failing to comply with one of a myriad of traditions that had been created to help the people of God obey God’s law but which had become a law unto themselves… and a system, Jesus shows, that helped corrupt hearts evade the intent of God’s Law.

The real issue is their pseudo-spirituality and pretense of godliness when their hearts are wicked. They want to appear pious. Jesus condemns them because they rejoice in practices like the practice of “Corban” which let them evade God’s will while deluding themselves and others about their hearts’ true condition. Corban was the practice of giving something to God to be held in trust. Resources that might have been used to obey the command to help frail parents were enjoyed by children instead under the pretense of Corban.

The problem is not ultimately the food from outside. In light of Christ, we realize that all food is “clean” in the sense that it cannot truly defile the soul. These “traditions” are but a symptom of our true problem – that our hearts, to paraphrase Calvin, into factories which ceaselessly generate idols. We are corrupted from the inside out and straining at gnats while swallowing camels is our favorite method for denying our corruption and seeking to look good. The world’s greatest modern thief, Bernie Madoff, was known before his arrest as a “generous philanthropist”. Like him we are thieves with smiles pretending our good will before God. Our only hope is to be incorporated into Christ as Question & Answer 20 of the Heidelberg Catechism remind us: Our need is not for a change of opinion or for new mental furniture. Our need is to be grafted into Christ and to receive his benefits! Jesus Christ is the only cure for the sickness of our sick hearts. We must be delivered by the One whom God has appointed to be for us our wisdom, righteousness (justification), sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). Luther’s Small Catechism makes the same point in its discussion of the sacrament of initiation into Christ, baptism, when it says: What does such baptizing with water signify?–Answer. It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

This amazing transformation is beyond our power. It comes only from the One who has died for sinners, risen to the Father’s right hand, and poured out His Holy Spirit to fit a people for eternal life. When confronted with the corruption of our hearts, when our deceitful legalisms are exposed for what they are, and when all human hope is lost – we are, by the grace of God, finally ready to receive Him who is all mercy and grace, the One able to transform us and give us eternal life, Jesus the Christ.

Here’s an audio version of this sermon as preached at St. Andrew’s Church

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 2: 8-10, 20-23 (ESV)

We live in the culture of the self-help guru. Someone, with some kind of experiential background, has come to a realization about some aspect of life, and needs to share it with us. They publish countless books, have a television show, go on a speaking tour. They are well known, and appear on all the fashionable talk shows. Their advice seems sound enough, and they obviously have benefited in some way from their experiences, so they must have some idea of what they are talking about.

Certainly there is nothing wrong with the Christian choosing to listen to someone who might fit the description above, but as a Christian, we have a solemn responsibility to evaluate the choices of our lives (and the advice of such individuals) by the light of the unchanging Word of God.

Christ has freed us from worldly wisdom and has given us, in his holy Word, a wisdom rooted in his mercy and compassion. He has not abolished laws and guidelines for the believer (the New Testament is replete with examples of how God expects us to live and conduct ourselves), but he has made it clear that it is a part of our responsibility as his people to evaluate wisdom by his standards, and to make our stand where Christ directs.

This does not mean that every self-help strategy is ungodly or a bad choice for the Christian – hardly so! Many people enter into such a profession in order to share the wisdom that God has shared with them. The problem comes when we uncritically follow down the garden path of anyone and everyone claiming a degree of wisdom in a matter. We must evaluate their counsel, and we must take upon ourselves the responsibility of calling on the Spirit for guidance as we consider moving forward with plans, decisions, choices in life.

May the Spirit guide us in right paths and decisions for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.