I had planned to take a nap all afternoon, but I received crushing news and could not sleep.  Bettina, in her mercy, agreed to play Scrabble with me when I called her because I could not contain my grief.  She ignored my tears and my rather fierce play, allowing me to wipe her across the board in my hurt.

Magnificent woman that she is, Bettina also sent me many an audio clip this evening of hymns she knew in the Lutheran Service Book.  For one hymn, she sent me three versions:  one singing acapella, one her playing flute and singing, and one just flute. 

And...she told me I was forgiven, since I no longer was going to hear those words this evening.

~~~~
Walther's 11th Evening Lecture is based upon his VII Thesis:  In the third place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is preached first and then the Law; sanctification first and then justification; faith first and then repentance; good works first and then grace. (89)


He started off talking about false teachers, woe to them, but also to those who believe their teachings...for in innumerable passages of His Word, God has with great earnestness warned men against false teachers and prophets and has minutely described them. (88)


This gave me pause, especially since I have been thinking deeply on Bettina's plight (she would say "situation").  Her pastor is currently teaching on the Ten Commandments (you can listen here) and, to put it bluntly, has missed the mark by far.  Sunday, he tackled keeping the Sabbath and honoring parents.  In a nutshell, his teaching was that God gave us these commandments so as to learn respect, respect for rest and respect for parents.  His final charge:  go out and give respect that you might get it in return.  UGH!

First, these two commandments are NOT about respect.  Second, he has turned the Law into law for Christians.  If I had to choose a favorite of Luther's instruction on the Ten Commandments, I would (cheat) and choose the second and third commandments, for they are completely, completely different than I have ever, ever heard and are presented as just another way God loves us, knows us, and provides for our needs.  I would HIGHLY recommend you stop reading here and go look up this section of his Large Catechism.

But if you do not, please know that to take the Lord's name in vain does not mean to cuss (unless you are cussing using His name)--this is not about saying shit or damn.  We are charged not to curse or swear or use His name falsely or to cover our own sin with it.  There are don'ts in this instruction.  But more importantly, God means for us to use His name properly, to call upon it in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. He has, in our baptism, placed His name upon us, giving us the love and forgiveness and shield and power we need to have life and stand victoriously against the onslaught of Satan.  In His name, He has given us everything;  He longs for us to receive it, to use it, to hide ourselves in it.

Knowing our tendency to go on about our business and not stop for that which we need, in the third commandment we are given time for Him to come to us, to feed and sustain us, so that we might continue on in this life we lead.  Such is the gift of the Lord's Day.  Certainly no sabbath bound by restrictions and things we do or not do for us, for Him.  No, this commandment is all about what He does for us, because He knows our needs, is intimately acquainted with our weaknesses and failings, our doubts and terrors.  We need Him.  He comes to us.  This!  This is why we are commanded to stop our labors...not respect!

Bettina was greatly disturbed by what she heard, telling me that as she listened, she pictured me sitting beside her shaking my head and saying that is not what Luther would say.  [I guess I've gone on and on about Law and Gospel a bit much of late.]  She left in distress and hungry, having no division of Law and Gospel for she was given no Gospel at all!  Where, then, on the spectrum of false teaching, does his sermon fall? 

But I digress.

Walther teaches that there are four ways that the proper division of Law and Gospel can be perverted by improper presentation:

• preaching the Gospel prior to the Law
• preaching sanctification prior to justification
• preaching faith and then repentance
• preaching good works and then grace

The Antinomians and the Moravians taught that you must start first with the suffering and bleeding of Christ.  But...Their hearers were never made aware of their deep sinful depravity; they were never made to realize they were enemies of God, worthier to be cast down to perdition rather than to be saved.  ( 90)  How could they understand the magnificence of the cross if their sin was not presented first?

The proper order is maintained all through Scripture. Three examples Walther gives are Mark 1:15, repent and believe; Acts 20:21, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ's final charge tot his disciples before ascension that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name. (90)

I find it interesting that Walter presents the second perversion first in the Psalter, then in the epistles, and finishes with the words of Christ.  In some ways, his presentation emphasizes how, as sinners, as wretched men and women, we cannot walk in holiness without being made holy.

The words of Christ he uses are ones that fill my second most favorite sermon Pastor has preached:  Christ as our vinedresser.  So sweet his sermon, I have included it again below.  For now, consider Walther's words:  John 15,5 the Lord says to His disciples:  I am the Vice, ye are the branches.  He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing.  The Savior desires that we be grafted in Him like branches in a vine.  That does not mean that we are to be physically incorporated in Him, but that we believe in Him with our whole heart, put our confidence and trust in Him, and embrace Him wholly with the arms of faith, so that we live only in Him, our Jesus, who rescued and saves us.  When this takes place, we shall bear fruit.  The Savior, then, shows that we must be justified before we can lead a sanctified life.  If we become loose, severed branches, we wither and bear no fruit.  (91)

So incredulous is Walther regarding the third perversion of presenting faith before repentance his shock permeates his words, or so I think.  "Faith is the primary affair; after that you must become contrite and repent."  What a foolish direction!  How can faith enter a heart that has not yet been crushed?  How can a person feel hungry and thirsty while he loathes the food set before him?  No, indeed; if you wish to believe in Christ you must become sick; for Christ is a Physician only for those who are sick.  He came to seek and to save that which is lost; therefore, you must first become a lost and condemned sinner.  He is the Good Shepherd, who goes in search of the lost sheep; therefore you must first realize you are a lost sheep. (92)

For the forth perversion, teaching good works and then grace, I personally thought Walther should just have quoted the Second Article of the Augsburg Confession on Original Sin.  How can a sinner do good works, do anything that could possibly be construed and imputed as good?

I like his words, though.  There is a golden text in Ephesians, chap. 2,8-10:  For by grace are ye saved, through faith; not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.  The apostle does not say:  "We must do good works in order to have a gracious God," but the very opposite:  "By grace are ye saved; but by grace ye are created unto good works."  When you have received grace, God has created you anew.  In this new state you  have to do good works; you can no longer remain under the dominion of sin. (92-93)

But remember my earlier post on works.  Christ showed that when we visit the ill and imprisoned, give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, and clothe those in need, we have done so unto Him.  You do not have to go out and save a nation.  No, you could, perhaps, do as Bootstrap did today and come scrub a toilet or two for a friend in need.

Walther then gives six errant sermon outlines on popular topics.  Perhaps I shall post those tomorrow, after you have had time to swallow this some.

I would like to post one more portion of this lecture, because for me it was like an oasis in a vast, vast desert...not a desert of Walther, but the desert of my life in the Protestant church.

The Antinomians [those who did not believe in teaching Law] pointed to the fact that Luther himself at first had preached nothing but comfort.  They claimed that he had now departed from his former teaching and had become a legalist.  That, they said, explained his opposition to them.  But they misjudged Luther.  When he began his public activity, he did not have to instruct the people at great length in the Law.  The people were so crushed that hardly one among them dared to believe that he was in a state of grace with God.  For in their best efforts at preaching the Roman priests preached the Law, placing alongside of the divine Law the laws of the Church and the statues of former councils, theologians, and Popes.  When Luther came forward, he had passed through the agony that harassed the people; he knew that no more effectual help could be provided for the people in their misery than the preaching of the Gospel.  That was the reason why the entire Christian Church in those days experienced a sensation as if dew from heaven or life-giving spring showers were being poured out upon them.  (97-98)  [emphasis mine]

...We were all like castaways in those days and grievously tormented.  The water in the jug was gone that is, there was nothing to comfort men with.  Like Ishmael, we all lay dying under a shrub.  The kind of teachers we needed were such as made us behold the grace of God and taught us how to find refreshment.  (98)

For all I have been given in the wonder of praying the Psalter, hearing the Word properly divided, taking in His body and blood, dying and living in the waters of Holy Baptism, receiving the Book of Concord, and the lessons found in this book (Walther's Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel) I am sharing with you here, I still find myself crushed and tormented at times.  I cannot escape the inculcation of works theology drummed into me for 26 years.  I still need teaching such as can help me behold the grace of God and teach me how to find refreshment.

Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!

~~~~
Jesu Juva

“A Blade for Life”
Text: John 15:1-8 (Acts 8:26-40; 1 John 4:1-11)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

Jesus told us today: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

What’s the difference between “taking away” branches or cutting them off, and pruning? Jesus mentions both in the verses I just read. But how can you tell one from the other? Both involve a plant, both involve branches, and both involve cutting. But there are two entirely different results.

Well perhaps, we might say, the difference is one of purpose, or sincerity - what it is that you intend to do. But that doesn’t work. Because there are times when I sincerely intend to prune a plant, and make it better and stronger, but what I wind up doing is cutting off the branches and killing it. And the opposite is true as well. There are times when I sincerely try to take away a plant and cut off its branches, only to have it come back and grow stronger than ever! Perhaps the same kinds of things have happened to you. So intent, or sincerity, isn’t the key.

No, what makes the difference between taking away and pruning is the eye and skill of the one with the blade. Branches that I think are dead and fruitless and should be cut off, the skillful eye of the pruner will leave. And then I’ve watched knowledgeable pruners at work, and I see all the stuff they’re cutting off and I think their killing the plant! But in a little while, their expertise - and my ignorance! - begins to show, as the plant roars back to life, better and more fruitful than ever.

That’s why it’s good to have people who know what their doing. And that’s why it’s good that Jesus said to us today that when it comes to our lives as Christians, we have someone who knows what He’s doing. Someone who knows which branches are dead and which are not. Someone who knows how to prune and make us more fruitful. Someone not just with good intentions and sincerity, but the One who created us, and so knows how to best care for us. “I am the true vine,” Jesus said, “and my Father is the vinedresser.” So, dear Christians, you’re in good hands!

But we need to consider that a bit today, because knowing that and believing that is a matter of faith. Of faith believing and trusting that when the blade is coming down on you, and it feels as if you’re being cut off, or punished, or thrown away, that your Father is - in goodness and love - doing what needs to be done not to hurt you, but to help you. His careful eye and skillful hand pruning you, that you bear much fruit, more fruit. Now, to our untrained and disbelieving eyes, it may not look or seem that way. We feel what’s happening to ourselves and see what’s happening to others, and think the worst. But while our minds may think the worst, faith believes the best, and trusts the merciful and compassionate hand of our Father in heaven. His hand which connects us to Jesus and keeps us in Jesus.

That work began for you and me at the font. For the water of Holy Baptism is where we were connected to Jesus and given life. We were cleansed and forgiven and given the new life of faith in the Spirit. Some of us came to those waters as infants, some as children, some as adults. No matter. It was the same hand of God taking us and joining us to Jesus, that we grow in Him and He in us. He the vine and we the branches. We heard about a baptism today: the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, and how God worked to bring Him to the water of Baptism and life. It sounded all simple and easy, but it probably wasn’t always so. For what had the eunuch been through? What hardships and struggles?  What brought him to this point? . . . Was his an extraordinary story? Yes, in some ways. But no more extraordinary than yours, and how your Father has worked in your life, through His Word, through His servants, through the water, to connect you to, and keep you in, Jesus. It’s not always easy, but in the end, we too will go our way rejoicing.

But the work of the font doesn’t end at the font. We are not begun in this Christian life and then left on our own, as some false prophets would teach - left to make the best of it; left to reach our potential; left to see if we will make it to the finish line of heaven, where God is waiting for us. No, the hand of our Father-Vinedresser continues to work, in your life, in your heart, to keep you in the life He has given you. To keep you in Christ. Because it is a life we often wander from, isn’t it? Drinking in the wisdom of the world instead of the wisdom of Christ and His Word. Growing into the ways of the world instead of the ways of Christ. Branching off in directions contrary to Christ and His life. Wild branches, we might call ourselves. Uncontrolled branches, maybe. Branches that the blade ought come down on, no?
But which blade? To give up on us, cut us off, and take us away? Or to lovingly prune us, with a skillful eye, at just the right time, and in just the right way, that we grow right again? And how do we know? How can we tell the difference?

Well we can know by looking to the cross. For there we see that Jesus became for us the one cut off in our place. By taking all our sin, all our wildness, all our uncontrollability, all our rebellion, all our unfruitfulness upon Himself, and receiving the death blade of the Father in our place. What we deserve, He received. My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? Cut off. I thirst. Cut off from the life and juice of the vine. It is finished. Dead. Cast away. Ready to be burned.

Except He is not burned, but this tree roars back to life in resurrection! The fires of hell cannot consume Him - He is victorious over them. The bonds of the grave cannot keep Him - He bursts them. The penalty of sin cannot enslave Him - it has been paid in full. And so the Tree of Life lives again! The true and new Tree of Life, once barred because of sin, is available again! And gives life to you. For He is the vine, the tree, you have been grafted onto. And so His life is now your life. A new life, a true life, that is yours to live now, and to live forever.

And so the death and resurrection of Jesus shows us that the blade we often feel in our lives in no blade of death, but a blade of life. For those connected to Christ, death is done and life now reigns. Our merciful and compassionate Father prunes us only to discipline us, to correct us, to get us to grow straight, to get us to produce more and better fruit - to keep us in Christ. And so He is working. He calls us back to the font in repentance, calling us to Christ, to wash again in His absolution - His forgiveness - and be once again raised with Christ to a new life. He calls us back to the altar, to eat and drink the body and blood of Christ - the fruits of the cross, the fruits of the new Tree of Life - to be nourished and fed, forgiven, and raised with Christ to a new life. He calls us back to the Gospel, that we abide in Christ and Christ in us, and so produce much fruit. The fruits of faith. Not our own fruits, but the fruits of Christ and His Spirit, which come from Him and flow through us branches.
Apart from Him, we can do nothing, because apart from Him, we are dead. Dead, lifeless, dried up branches. But abiding in Him, we not only have life, but His promise: that we will produce fruit. For notice that there were no commands to produce fruit in these verses - only the promise of fruit. The command is to abide in Christ. As we do so, He will work in you and through you, producing the fruit of lips that confess His name, and the fruit of love that loves as He has loved us. And so the key is not anything in us or what we do, but in Christ and what He has done. And connected to Him, His love becomes our love, His compassion our compassion, His life our life. A life to live, a life to lay down for others, a life that will never end.

And if you feel like that pruning blade has been at work on you overtime, well thanks be to God for such attention, love, and care. Thanks be to God that your life and love matter that much to Him. Thanks be to God that Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] And that His life now lives in you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.