Tag: Martin Luther

Weekend Extra – Don’t Settle for All-Natural

In 1802, British Christian apologist William Paley published what has become one of the most famous arguments for the existence of God.  He wrote:

“In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for any thing I know to the contrary, it had lain there forever…But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer which I had given before…For its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose.”[1]

This argument is classically called “the argument from design.”  The argument runs like this:  When we look around at the irreducible complexity of our world, we cannot help but wonder about the origin of our stunning surroundings.  For someone certainly had to knit together this vast and intricate universe!  And that “someone,” Paley argues, is God.

In his argument, Paley appeals to what is known as “natural revelation.”  Natural revelation describes the human ability to discern God’s existence by means of basic reason.  And basic reasons deduces, when confronted with a remarkable creation like ours, that there is indeed a Creator!  Thomas Aquinas explains natural revelation thusly: “There are some truths which the natural reason is able to reach.  Such are that God exists, that He is one, and the like.”[2]  John of Damascus describes natural revelation similarly, but adds that we not only deduce God’s existence by our reason, but know of God’s existence from our very creation: “The awareness that God exists in implanted by nature in everybody.”[3]

Scripturally, the doctrine of natural knowledge is asserted in Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voicegoes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

The verbs in verse 1 are striking.  “The heavens declare the glory of God…”  The verb “declare” is often translated as “number.”  The glories of God are infinitely numbered by the heavens!  After all, every star is a testament to its Creator!  “The skies proclaim the work of His hands…”  The verb for “proclaim” in Hebrew is nagad, meaning, “conspicuous.” In other words, God is not hidden by His creation, He is plainly revealed through His creation for anyone who cares to see!  This is natural revelation.

As wonderful as natural revelation is, it only goes so far.  For although natural revelation can tell us there is a God, it cannot tell us who this God is.  Indeed, the Thomas Aquinas quote I cited earlier is only the second half of the quote.  The whole quote reads: “There is a twofold mode of truth in what we profess about God.  Some truths about God exceed all the ability of human reason.  Such is the truth that God is triune.  There are some truths which the natural reason is able to reach.  Such are that God exists, that He is one, and the like.”  Aquinas knows that human reason can only get you so far when it comes to the divine.  In fact, human reason won’t get you very far when it comes to the divine!  Martin Luther explains why:

All heathen known to say that much of God as reason can know from His works, i.e. that He is a creator of all things, and that one should be obedient to Him etc.  We know, however, that they don’t yet have the true God, because they do not want to hear His word, which He has revealed about Himself from the beginning of the world to the holy fathers and prophets, and at last through Christ Himself and His apostles.[4]

Luther here makes a critical distinction between natural revelation and biblical revelation.  Natural revelation can declare the glory of God.  But only biblical revelation can tell someone about Jesus and His sacrifice.  Natural revelation can reveal God’s power.  But only biblical revelation can comfort with God’s grace.  This is why the Psalmist does not leave us stuck in the realm of natural revelation.  He continues:

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is Your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. (Psalm 19:7-12)

The Psalmist moves from God’s glory in creation to God’s forgiveness in Scriptural revelation.  He asks the Lord to forgive his sins.

The sunny days.  The starry nights.  The majestic mountains.  The gentle breezes.  The lazy rivers.  In all of these we see God.  But only in Scripture do we hear God.  For in Scripture God declares to us His intention for us.  And His intention is one of salvation.  Praise God that we can not only see His handiwork, but read His Word![5]

Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message!

[1] William Paley, Natural Theology (London: J. Faulder, 1809) 1-2.

[2] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 1.3.2.

[3] John of Damascus, De fide Orthodoxa, 1.1.

[4] Martin Luther, WA 51:151 (Roland Ziegler, trans.).

[5] For a nice discussion of natural revelation, see Roland Ziegler, “Natural Knowledge of God and the Trinity,” Concordia Theological Quarterly, vol. 69:2 (April 2005) 133-154. Many of my thoughts in this blog are indebted to this article.

ABC Extra – Unbaptized Money

Though I’m almost sure it’s apocryphal, Martin Luther is credited with saying, “There are three conversions necessary – the conversion of the heart, of the mind, and of the purse.”  Regardless of whether or not Luther actually spoke these words, this quote can serve to remind us of the importance our Lord places on faithful stewardship.  What we do with money matters.

In his book The Money Map, Howard Dayton writes, “When the Crusades were fought during the twelfth century, the Crusaders purchased the services of mercenaries to fight for them. Because it was a religious war, the Crusaders insisted that the mercenaries be baptized before fighting. As they were being baptized, the soldiers would take their swords and hold them up out of the water to symbolize that Jesus Christ was not in control of their swords, that they retained the freedom to use their weapons in any way they wished.”  Like Crusaders wielding swords in whatever unbaptized way they saw fit, many people wish to use money in whatever unsanctified way they see expedient.  But God wants our money to be “baptized,” so to speak, in that He wants us to steward our money faithfully and well.  And first and foremost, stewarding our money faithfully and well means being generous with others even s God has been generous to us.

In our text from this past weekend, Solomon writes, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25).  God wants us to be generous and refreshing toward others.  Notably, the Hebrew verb for “refreshes” in this verse is rawah, meaning, “to water.”  In Hebrew, this word is in the Hiphil mood, which is an intensive form of the Hebrew verb.  Thus, when Solomon encourages us to “refresh others,” he encourages us to do so intensively.  That is, we are to be as generous as we possible can be.  And as we do so, we ourselves will “be refreshed.”  This phrase “be refreshed” is in the Hophal voice, another intensive Hebrew verbal form.  Thus, as we intensively refresh others through our generosity, God will intensively refresh us through His generosity.

Money that is not baptized by the gospel only causes harm and grief.  Judas, when he sells his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, despairs and commits suicide (Matthew 27:1-5).  Hezekiah, when he shows off his temple treasury to envoys from Babylon, seals the demise of his nation (Isaiah 39).  And Ananias and Sapphira, when they duplicitously hold back some money from the sale of a field, claiming that they had given all the proceeds to the Church, are struck down by God (Acts 5:1-11).  Money used apart from the purposes of God ends in disaster.  Conversely, money that is “baptized” by the gospel can be used to illustrate the gospel itself!  The apostle Paul writes, “You were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23).  What is this price?  It is the price of Christ’s blood.  The monetary picture of a price is used to describe our redemption.  Indeed, the very word “redeemed” is monetary, for it describes how Christ purchased us “from the empty way of life” (1 Peter 1:18), that is, from the empty ways of sin, death, and the devil.

Do you allow the money with which you have been entrusted to be used at God’s pleasure and for His purposes?  Or, are your finances an area in which you remain functionally “unconverted,” holding your pocketbook out of the water while the rest of you is baptized into Christ, too afraid to heed Christ’s invitation to steward your finances in a way that is commiserate with His Kingdom values?  True financial joy and freedom is found only when your money is brought under the authority of Christ.  Jesus has been generous enough to give you all that you have.  Do you trust Him to be wise enough to use the money you have for your good and His glory?

Want to learn more? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!

Holy Week Sorrow and Celebration

Right now in my personal devotions, I am reading through the book of Lamentations, a sorrowful song written by the prophet Jeremiah, which describes Israel’s defeat and exile at the hands of the Babylonians in 586 BC.  Some of the language Jeremiah uses to describe Israel’s demise is grotesque and gut wrenching:

  • The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst. (Lamentations 4:4)
  • Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry as wood. (Lamentations 4:8)
  • The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people. (Lamentations 4:10)

Clearly, this is a tragic, despairing time.  Indeed, even for a professional prophet such as Jeremiah, who has seen much sin and tragedy, the despair of the exile seems overwhelming.  And Jeremiah places the blame for this despair squarely at the feet of God.

In chapter 3, Jeremiah laments his plight:

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath; He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me He turns His hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; He has broken my bones; He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; He has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, He shuts out my prayer; He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; He has made my paths crooked. He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; He turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; He has made me desolate; He bent His bow and set me as a target for His arrow. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; He has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes. (Lamentations 3:1-16)

Notice the pronoun Jeremiah employs again and again to describe who is responsible for his misery: “He.”  “He” has brought Jeremiah misery, trouble, pain, and despair.  It’s “His” fault that Jeremiah’s plight is what it is.  Who is this “He”?  None other than God, of course.  God has afflicted Jeremiah in the most miserable of ways.

And yet, even in his misery, Jeremiah has not lost all hope: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23).  Jeremiah believes that finally, ultimately, God’s steadfast love will prevail.  Indeed, it’s interesting the way Jeremiah describes this steadfast love just verses later:  “Though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men” (Lamentations 3:32-33).  Though God does afflict and grieve people because of their sin, Jeremiah says, He does not willingly do so.  God’s will is not to pour out His hot wrath, but His steadfast love.  The Hebrew word for “willingly” is milibo, a word meaning, “from His heart.”  Thus, Jeremiah is saying that from God’s heart does not come affliction.  Rather, from God’s heart comes His steadfast love.  God’s will is wrapped in love.

Luther describes God’s wrath at sin and God’s will of love by making a distinction between the “alien” and the “proper” work of God:

We must know what is meant by the work of God. It is nothing else but to create righteousness, peace, mercy, truth, patience, kindness, joy, and health, inasmuch as the righteous, truthful, peaceful, kind, joyful, healthy, patient, merciful cannot do otherwise than act according to His nature. Therefore God creates righteous, peaceful, patient, merciful, truthful, kind, joyful, wise, healthy men…But He cannot come to this His proper work unless He undertakes a work that is alien and contrary to Himself…Therefore, since He can make just only those who are not just, He is compelled to perform an alien work in order to make them sinners, before He performs His proper work of justification. Thus He says, “I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal.” (AE 51:18-19)

God must judge us before He can justify us, Luther says.  His alien and His proper work go hand in hand.  Thus, both God’s alien work of judgment and God’s proper work of love are needed in Jeremiah’s life.  And both God’s alien work of judgment and God’s proper work of love are needed in our lives too.  But lest we forget, through faith in Christ, God’s proper work prevails!

The alien and the proper work of God meet most clearly in the death and resurrection of Christ, which we remember during this Holy Week.  Luther explains:

God’s alien work is the suffering of Christ and sufferings in Christ, the crucifixion of the old man and the mortification of Adam. God’s proper work, however, is the resurrection of Christ, justification in the Spirit, and the vivification of the new man, as Romans 4:25 says: “Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification.” (AE 51:19)

God judges His Son on the cross, killing Him for the sins of the world.  This was not something He delighted in doing – it was alien to Him – but it was necessary.  For Christ’s crucifixion satisfied God’s righteous wrath at sinners…sinners like you and me (cf. Romans 3:25-26).  And with God’s wrath satisfied through Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, God could now move to His proper work:  Giving to His children His steadfast love which never ceases.

This Holy Week, spend some time meditating on both the alien and the proper work of God.  For both are needed.  But finally, one prevails!  For God’s work does not end in an alien way.  Rather, it ends in its proper way.  It ends in our salvation through faith in Christ.  Praise be to God!

Weekend Extra – “If it’s good enough for Jesus…”

It’s an apocryphal story, but one that has tenaciously hung on, thanks to everything from its publication in the New York Times to its unrelenting retelling by Kinky Friedman.  The story goes that Ma Ferguson, Texas’ first woman governor, was infuriated by the suggestion that Spanish speaking immigrants would benefit from public school classes taught in their own native language.  In a fit of rage, she picked up a copy of the King James Version of the Bible and exclaimed, “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas!”

English, at least in the way we know it today in the King James Bible, did not arise until 1550.  And the King James Version was not translated until 1611.  Jesus did not speak English.  He spoke Aramaic.  Whoops.

Though Ma Ferguson’s fabled declaration is goofy because it betrays a complete ignorance of the history of language, the principle behind her statement, even if she never said it, is actually quite profound:  “If it was good enough for Jesus, perhaps it ought to be good enough for us.”  Indeed, Jesus Himself puts forth this principle when He says things like, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).  Jesus is essentially saying, “If the way of suffering, persecution, and the cross is good enough for Me, it’s good enough for you also.  You too will suffer.”  As Jesus elsewhere teaches, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).

Over the course of my ministry, I have occasionally encountered Christians who, for one reason or another, do not want to be baptized.  Sometimes they will tell me, “I’m just not ready yet.”  Other times, their excuses are a little more nuanced: “I already believe in Jesus and that means I’m already saved!  So why do I need to be baptized?”  My response to such objections echoes Ma Ferguson’s:  “If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for you!”  Indeed, this is precisely what Jesus Himself teaches in the text we studied this past weekend in worship.

In Matthew 3, Jesus travels from His home in Galilee to the Jordan so that He may be baptized by John.  John, knowing that Jesus is sinless, and, as far as he can tell, in no need of a regenerative bath, objects:  “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me” (Matthew 3:14)?  Jesus responds, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).  I appreciate Hippolytus’ paraphrase of and commentary on Jesus’ statement:

Let it be so now, for it so becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. I am the Fulfiller of the law; I seek to leave nothing wanting to its whole fulfillment, so that after Me Paul may exclaim, “Christ is the fulfilling of the law for righteousness to every one that believes.” Let it be so now, for it so becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. Baptize Me, John, in order that no one may despise baptism. I am baptized by you, the servant, that no one among kings or dignitaries may scorn to be baptized by the hand of a poor priest. (ANF 5:236).

Hippolytus states Jesus’ point this way:  Christ is baptized so that no one may despise, eschew, or reject baptism.  In other words, if baptism is good enough for Jesus, it ought be good enough for us!  So do not despise it!

Have you been baptized?  If not, let me ask you a simple question:  “If baptism is good enough for Jesus, shouldn’t it be good enough for you?”  Moreover, think about the promises attached to this Sacrament.  Luther explains:  “Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare” (Small Catechism).  With promises such as these, why wouldn’t you want to be baptized?

Finally, baptism is good enough for you not only because it was good enough for Jesus, but because you’re bad enough for baptism.  You, as Scripture declares, are sinful.  And you need God’s holy bath to wash you clean.  So, “be baptized and wash your sins away” (Acts 22:16)!

Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message!

ABC Extra – Many Workers, Same Denarius

One of my favorite parables is that of the Laborers in the Vineyard.  Jesus says:

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, “You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.  About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” “Because no one has hired us,” they answered. He said to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.” When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.” The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. “These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.” But he answered one of them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?  Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:1-15)

This is a parable, of course, about how all who believe in Christ, whether they have come to faith through baptism as an infant and have labored in the vineyard of Christ’s Church all their life, or whether they believe on their deathbed, finally receive the same heavenly reward.  This is what the “denarius” stands for:  eternal life.  And Jesus’ point is that eternal life is a gift of God’s grace.  It cannot be merited by our piety and works.

In verse 2, the landowner agrees “to pay them a denarius for the day.”  The NIV here makes it sound as though the workers are somehow meriting their award of a denarius because they are getting paid for what they do in the vineyard.  However, in Greek, the word “pay” never appears.  The ESV does better: “After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.”  There is no notion of payment, only a predetermined agreement.  Finally, we learn that the denarius was not a payment at all, but a gift.  After the laborers who began work at the start of the day begin to grumble because they receive the same denarius as those who began work at the end of the day receive, the landowner asks, “Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?  Take your pay and go.”  (And again, the word “pay” does not appear in the Greek.)  “I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous” (verses 13-15)?  It is the generosity of the landowner that leads to the gift of the denarius, not the work of the laborers.  For eternal life is a gift of God’s grace.

Luther explains this well when he writes that in eternity, “In his person none shall be more or have more than the other, Saint Peter no more than you and I.”  Even the most notable saints on earth finally all receive the same heavenly reward.  For, “in short, all are to be alike before God in faith and grace and celestial bliss” (St. L. VIII:1223).  It is important to note that Luther goes on to say that we are indeed recognized with differing degrees of glory for our good works (cf. Luke 19:12-19, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Galatians 6:8-9), but the reward of eternal life itself is universal for all who trust in Christ.

Thus, all Christians are all on their way to the same destiny:  eternal life in, with, and through Christ.  And when the days in the vineyard of this earth get long, that is a great hope.  So lift up your eyes to the heavens!  Your denarius awaits.

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!