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Tag: Augustine
Weekend Extra – “Departing ____ Peace”
As a pastor, I have had the weighty responsibility, but also the profound privilege, of counseling with many people who are near death. Over the course of these conversations, I have noticed some themes have emerged. Many of the terminally ill are scared of death, which, at least in my opinion, is completely understandable. Others are worried about organizing their affairs before they pass away. One theme that always emerges from these conversations is a wish for a peaceful death. “I hope I die in my sleep,” some say. “I hope I have friends and family with me,” others say. No one wants to die in fear or alone. People want to die peacefully.
This desire to die peacefully is nothing new. Indeed, in our reading from this past weekend from Luke 2, we are introduced to an old man named Simeon who himself is near death. Knowing this, Simeon gives thanks to the Lord that He is “letting His servant depart in peace” (Luke 2:29). Simeon believes, even as his prayer indicates, that his death will be a peaceful one. But why does Simeon believe such a thing? How does Simeon know whether his death will peaceful or agonizing?
Luke explains why Simeon believes he will die peacefully:
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation.” (Luke 2:25-30)
Simeon believes he will die peacefully because he has seen and held the One who is “the consolation of Israel” (verse 25) and “the Lord’s Christ” (verse 26). Because he has held the One who is peace (cf. Ephesians 2:14), Simeon believes that he will depart in peace.
Notably, when Simeon thanks the Lord for allowing him to depart “in peace,” the Greek word for the preposition “in” is en. This preposition is one of the most versatile in the Greek language. One Greek-English lexicon translates this single preposition as “in,” “at,” “near,” “before,” “for,” “with,” and “among,” among many others. In other words, this preposition is a catchall preposition. Indeed, Simeon’s words could nearly be translated, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart *INSERT PREPOSITION HERE* peace!”
This catchall preposition en reveals a profound truth of the peace that Christ gives us. For Christ’s peace makes us at peace with God (2 Peter 2:14), near God in faith (Hebrews 10:22), before God as His justified people (Luke 18:14), for God in love (1 John 5:3), with God unto eternity (Revelation 21:3), and among God as we serve His people (Matthew 25:40). There is no preposition that the peace of Christ cannot cover! And this makes Christ’s peace a profound peace.
What peace do you need? Do you need peace with your past? Do you need peace at work? Do you need peace for an upcoming decision? Then pray with Simeon, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart *INSERT PREPOSITION HERE* peace!” For the peace of Christ covers whatever preposition you might have in this life – or even in the next. What a precious peace is the peace of Christ! As Augustine says, “Peace shall be your gold. Peace shall be your silver. Peace shall be you lands. Peace shall be your life, your God Peace” (Augustine NPNF1 8:94)!
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from this weekend’s message!
ABC Extra – Lots on the Last Day
This weekend in worship and ABC, we talked about God’s Kingdom and its final and full arrival on the Last Day when Jesus will return to, as we confess in the Apostles’ Creed, “judge the living and the dead.” This Last Day is the subject of endless conversation and speculation. Indeed, visions of a gloomy apocalypse are frequently advanced in books and movies packed with foreboding buzzwords like “tribulation” and “antichrist” and “plagues” and “rapture” and “millennium.” Because there is so much discussion concerning the return of Christ – and so many different theories concerning the precise nature of His second coming – I thought it might be helpful, in this week’s blog, to survey some of these theories and then, to best of my ability, offer a more biblical picture of the end of days.
When it comes to Christ’s second coming, most interpretations of the nature of His coming center around this passage from John’s Revelation:
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. (Revelation 20:1-3)
The question that has been the subject of much debate is, “What does it mean that an angel, perhaps representing Jesus, comes and binds Satan for a thousand years?” Four main answers have been given.
The Answer of Historic Millennialism
Historic Millennialism teaches that Christ will visibly return, raise the believing dead from their graves, and set up an earthly kingdom and reign for a thousand years. This will be a time of perfect peace and prosperity. After this, Christ will loose Satan for a small time to make his final assault against the redeemed before our Lord finally casts him into hell for eternity.
The Answer of Postmillennialism
Postmillennialism teaches that the “thousand years” of Revelation 20:3 is not to be taken literally. Rather, it represents a time of ever increasing peace and prosperity on this earth, with more and more people becoming Christians, reaching its climax in Christ’s visible second advent.
The Answer of Dispensational Premillennialism
Dispensational Premillennialism takes different forms, but in its most popular expression it envisions a “secret return” of Christ where believers are raptured into heaven. Following this rapture, the Antichrist arrives on the scene and a seven year period of tribulation ensues. The Antichrist allies himself with, and then breaks his alliance with, the Jews, persecuting them fiercely. Following this seven year tribulation, Christ visibly returns, sets up a perfect millennial kingdom, and then, at the end of a thousand years, releases Satan for a short time to wreak havoc on humanity until he is finally cast into the Abyss and Christ judges the living and the dead.
The Answer of Amillennialism
Like Postmillennialism, Amillennialism sees the “thousand years” of Revelation 20:3 as symbolic, referring to the time of Christ’s Church when the gospel is preached and eternal destinies are changed. However, Satan still works in this world and Satan’s work will become more pronounced shortly before Christ’s second coming.
I would humbly suggest that, out of the above accounts concerning the end of days, the answer of Amillennialism fits best with the biblical data. I say this for several reasons:
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Following two World Wars in the previous century and terrorist threats and attacks in our own century, most people do not believe the world is slowly becoming better and safer or more Christian. Postmillenialism does not make sense of the world around us.
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Dispensational Premillennialism is both a relatively new theory, being promoted on a widespread basis by John Nelson Darby in the 1830’s, and speaks of a secret return of Christ in a rapture, a theory nowhere promoted in Scripture. Indeed, according to the Bible, Darby’s so-called “rapture” will be quite visible and quite audible: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This hardly sounds like a secret rapture to me.
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Historic Millennialism has much to it to commend, but does not account for the highly symbolic nature of apocalyptic literature, and specifically the symbolic use of the number “one thousand,” and it essentially promotes a two-fold return of Christ: first at the beginning of the millennium and then again when He judges the living and the dead at the end of time. These events are elsewhere pictured as one episode (e.g., Matthew 25:31-46).
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Amillennialism recognizes that in the Bible, the number “one thousand” is regularly used in symbolic terms to express completeness (e.g., Exodus 20:6, Deuteronomy 1:11, Psalm 50:10, 84:10, 90:4, Isaiah 60:22, 2 Peter 3:8). Thus, the millennium of Revelation 20:3 expresses the complete time of Christ’s Church on earth.
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Amillennialism accounts for the fact that Christ’s second coming, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment are portrayed by the Bible one event, not as separate events separated by a thousand years (e.g., John 6:44, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Matthew 25:31-46).
- Amillennialism, unlike Dispensational Premillennialism, has a long and distinguished history in the Church, being promoted by the likes of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Calvin.
On balance, it seems as if a simple return of Christ to judge the living and the dead at the end of days is to be preferred to the more complicated end times schemas of Historic Millennialism, Postmillennialism, and Dispensational Premillennialism. Christ’s second return of Christ need not be complex and, for the Christian, it need not be frightening. For Christ’s coming means our salvation, as the preacher of Hebrews reminds us: “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28). Come, Lord Jesus!
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
Being Interrupted: A Lesson from Augustine
I am most definitely a “Type A” personality. I like to plan, organize, and execute – preferably in a deliberate, linear, and flawless manner. Yet, as anyone who has walked this earth for more than a second knows, life does not always proceed in a deliberate and linear manner. And it certainly does not proceed flawlessly! Interruptions, accidents, and personal catastrophes make life an adventure in which you never know what the next chapter will bring.
Perhaps it is my penchant for planning that makes me appreciate so much this quote from Augustine (pictured above):
But I am annoyed because of the demands that are thrust on me…arriving unannounced, from here, there, and everywhere. They interrupt and hold up all other things that we have so neatly lined up in order. They never seem to stop. (Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography, 468)
I can honestly say that I know how Augustine feels. For when I get things “neatly lined up in order” and am then “interrupted,” I get “annoyed.”
But should I get annoyed? I suppose a little bit of a human annoyance is inevitable. And yet, I can’t help but remember the attitude of my Lord when He got interrupted:
Then Jesus took His disciples with Him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed Him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. (Luke 9:10-11)
Jesus desires to withdraw His disciples to get a little bit of rest and relaxation with His disciples. But then, He gets interrupted. Crowds, eager to hear Him teach and have their ills healed, follow Him so that He cannot get a moment’s rest. They arrive “unannounced from here, there, and everywhere.” They interrupt Him.
How does Jesus respond to this crowd’s insensitive interruption? He welcomes them (cf. verse 11). The Greek word for “welcomed” is apadechomai, meaning, “to accept,” or “to receive.” Interestingly, this word is sometimes used to describe the forgiveness of sins (e.g. Genesis 50:17 LXX). Thus, Jesus welcomes the crowd, and in His welcome, there is forgiveness. And this too is our hope: That in Christ, we are welcomed in spite of sin because we are forgiven of our sin.
Augustine pens his candid admission of being annoyed by interruptions as he is trying to write his greatest work, The City of God. And so it is understandable that, while working on such a weighty tome, he would be annoyed by the delays. After all, his task is vital! But so are his interruptions. For a man named Vincentius Victor is interrupting Augustine, questioning him on his view of man’s soul. And a man’s soul is a big deal – not only as the subject of theological debate, but in the eyes of God. And so, Augustine takes a break from his work on The City of God to answer Victor.
Like Jesus, do we welcome those who interrupt us? Yes, what we are working on at the time may be important, but the interruption may be just as important. Moreover, how do we respond to interruptions? With annoyance in our hearts or with the welcoming spirit of our Lord? Although interruptions are bound to annoy us, especially if you’re a “Type A” personality like me, it is worth it to see some interruptions not simply as glitches in your plans, but as divine appointments for your soul. So welcome an interruption today! After all, the interruption may just be the most important – and even the best – part of your day.
For Women Only (But Men Can – And Probably Should – Read Too)
I have recently taken note of a trend which troubles me. In many a conversation, I have met with a husband and a wife in crisis. Their marriage is usually on the rocks, barely hanging by a thread, and steadily heading – if not speeding – down the road to divorce. Although marriage trouble is almost always the product of both parties sinning against one another, I have noticed that, in these situations, the husband often lacks the fortitude to faithfully lead his marriage and his family according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. His interest in the things of God is weak if not non-existent. Indeed, it is often the woman who seeks biblical answers to important questions while the man is interested only in satisfying his own fleeting desires and infatuations.
To be fair, there are many men out there who are faithful, Godly leaders of their homes. I praise God for these men. But I want to speak for a moment to the women, for I know there are many, who are in relationships where the man does not dependably steward his mantle as the head of the household.
Through probably apocryphal, St. Francis of Assisi is quoted as saying, “Preach the gospel always, if necessary, use words.” Certainly this maxim cannot be used to excuse us from clearly and cogently proclaiming the gospel, for Holy Scripture mandates just such a proclamation, but sometimes, a quiet witness to the gospel is a faithful one. Indeed, this is precisely Peter’s argument to wives when he writes: “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives” (1 Peter 3:1-2). As the apostle pens these words, he is addressing a group of women whose beliefs do not match those of their husbands, probably because they have converted to Christianity while their husbands have not. Peter recommends holy living as a way to witness to these men who refuse to be the spiritual leaders of their households.
It is important to note that Peter’s direction radically contradicts the standard thinking of the first century. For a woman to defy her husband’s sensibilities was considered an affront to his masculinity. If the husband lived as a pagan, the wife was to live as a pagan too. The first century Roman historian Plutarch explains:
A wife ought not to make friends on her own, but to enjoy her husband’s friends in common with him. The gods are the first and most important friends. Therefore it is becoming for a wife to worship and know only the gods that her husband believes in, and to shut the front door tight upon all peculiar rituals and outlandish superstitions [such as Christianity]. (Moralia 140D)
According to Plutarch, a wife is to believe only what her husband believes. Thus, if a husband worships at the altar of football or lust or alcohol or crassness, the wife is to worship there as well. Put Peter directs ladies differently. A wife’s first and foremost responsibility is to the Lord, even when her husband refuses to honor and worship the true God.
Ladies, I know it is hard witnesses to men who do not know or care for the Lord. And yet, there is hope! For Peter’s guidance concerning a quiet witness to unfaithful husbands actually works! Perhaps most famously, it worked with the father of St. Augustine. Augustine writes of his mother:
When she had arrived at a marriageable age, she was given to a husband whom she served as her lord. And she busied herself to gain him to God, preaching God unto him by her behavior…For she waited for God’s mercy upon him, that by believing in Him, he might become chaste…Finally, her own husband, now towards the end of his earthly existence, did she gain over unto the Lord. (Augustine, Confessions, IX:19,22)
This woman’s dear faith proved persuasive to her husband…and to her son as well. Indeed, her faith proved so persuasive that she raised one of the greatest theologians ever to serve the Christian Church.
Ladies, even in difficult circumstances, continue to serve your Lord faithfully. Lead by your behavior if your husband will not lead according to his responsibility. Know that I am praying for you. Gentlemen, if you have fallen short in spiritually leading your household, repent and ask forgiveness from your family. Then teach and live the faith. Know that I am praying for you as well. For there is nothing more important, heavy, and joyous than to teach and live out than the gospel of Jesus Christ!
