I Love Blogging. But Jesus Is Better

If you can't tell yet, I enjoy blogging. I enjoy writing, and I hope and pray that people read my ramblings and get something out of them. Namely, I hope they get the Gospel out of them. I am an avid blogger and an unapologetic Lutheran. If you must know, I haven't been an actual Lutheran for that long. The journey was long, and me, being the introverted thinker that I am, studied all things Baptist, Lutheran, Calvinist, and yeah, even Roman Catholic for some time. I wanted to be sure. I can't stand church hopping. I think it's foolish. So, I have been a Lutheran by conviction for some time now; close to or even over a year. Yet, I wanted to keep studying, to let it sink in. To make sure I was headed the right direction before I left my church and joined a Lutheran church. To make sure I was not chasing a temporary fad. In due time, the doctrines of the Lutheran church, as summarized in the Book of Concord and the Small Catechism, became irresistible to me (pun intended, Calvinists), so I made the jump. Why? Because they parrot Holy Scripture. I chronicled some of my reasons in my first "Lutheran" blog I did last month.

I Became A Lutheran Because It's Cool. Or Not.

But, Lutheranism is all about Christ. That's the biggest thing. If you're not all about Jesus, don't bother, because you're inserting something other than Jesus into Christianity. The whole of Holy Scripture is about Jesus. The Old Testament included. Look at Luke 24:27 for instance.

And here are my thoughts this morning...

St. Luke 16:14-17:  The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. ¹⁶ “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. ¹⁷ But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

The Pharisees are responding to what they heard Jesus teach in the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, found in Luke 16:1-13. Jesus finishes up the parable saying:

St. Luke 16:13:No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

The Pharisees didn't like this. St. Luke tells us that the Pharisees were lovers of money and didn't like what Jesus just said. What else is new? The Pharisees were the false teachers of the day; trusting in their works and law-keeping to merit something before God.

Now a lot of people these days have decided that instead of Pharisaical law-keeping they'll improve their law-keeping. They look and Scripture and surmise that what the Pharisees were doing was clearly wrong and was rebuked repeatedly by Christ. So instead they insert social justice, feeding the poor, helping the needy, and so on. They reject the law-keeping of the Pharisees and replaced it with better law-keeping in their effort to fulfill the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-39). They then proceed to call this Gospel. But Jesus is clear: Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself - is not the Gospel. It's the summary of the two tables of the Law.

I did a 2-part series on this topic of social gospel yesterday in response to a blog I came across.

Watering Down the Gospel - Uno!

Watering Down the Gospel - Dos!

The key verse from St. Luke's Gospel is this one:

St. Luke 16:17: But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

And this is exactly where our new theologically liberal friends miss the point just like the Pharisees did. The Law is not going to become void. After all, it's God's Law. And that, for us, is both bad news as well as good news.

It's bad news in that we are incapable of keeping this law and all stand comdemned universally by it.

The Law shows us to be sinners:

Romans 3:20: For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:23: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 5:20: Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more

Romans 7:7: What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

1 Corinthians 15:56: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

And YOU are incapable of keeping it. The Pharisees could not and neither can the social justice Gospel folks.

James 2:10: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

1 John 1:10: If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

More bad news. God requires perfection from you. Period. His Holy standards do not change. He is God.

Matthew 5:48: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

And...oh-oh...The Law will not be made void and will not pass away.

St. Luke 16:17: But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

So, no salvation for you according to the Law. It's impossible. You can't do it. Not by being a Pharisee and not by inserting a better law of social justice in place of the Gospel.

Thanks be to God, He has another, more glorious Word on the topic. We call it the Gospel. The Gospel means "Good News." It's good news for me, for you, and for everyone. But it's not the Law. The good news is about someone else, outside of you, who comes to you in grace and mercy. And you're lost without Him, His work for you at Calvary, and His grace given to you through Word and Sacrament.

The Law is not going away, St. Luke tells us in verse 17. You're a sinner, you can't keep it perfectly, and God requires that you do. Not good.

But wait, oh yes. It actually IS good!

Not that your sin is ever good, of course. Your sin put Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. But it's actually good that you are incapable of earning or working to get salvation.

Why? Because that puts salvation outside of yourself and makes it certain. It puts it solely on the Crucified and Risen One who fulfilled this Law on your behalf. His righteousness, given to you. This is pure grace. It's Gospel.

It's certain because the work is already done. It's perfect work accepted by God. The resurrection of Christ shows this. If it were not so, Christ would not have risen and we would still be dead in our sins. St. Paul tells us this:

1 Corinthians 15:12-14: Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

The crucifixion is everything. And the resurrection is everything.

JESUS CHRIST is everything.

He died for you and objectively justified the whole human race on the cross.

Romans 5:18: Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

It now must be received. it is received by God's grace alone, through faith alone, apart from works. Your works, as Holy Scripture tells us repeatedly, can merit nothing.

He gives this grace through means. It's objective and mediated. What are these means? The Word of God given to you is the means. The Word of God given to you is given through water in Holy Baptism, the true Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Supper, and the preaching and absolution proclaimed by God's ministers whom He ordained.

Believe this. Christ outside of you, dying and rising for you, given to you by grace to save you from your fallen and sinful state, in which you stand wholly condemned and can do nothing.

We continue to sing:

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever. Amen.