"The end of Free Will is the beginning of Faith."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Sunday, August 9, 2009

9^th Sunday after Pentecost

From an old sinner for whom Christ Died.

Gospel: John 6:35, 41-5

“Jesus said to them; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (verse 35)…”No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (verse 44).

There is NO FREEDOM OF CHOICE here; NO FREE WILL. The Father will draw the person otherwise it won’t happen. All the invitations in the world by preachers to come to Jesus fall flat and accomplish NOTHING because Jesus says it simply can’t happen that way.

God does the choosing. It is out of our hands. It is in his hands ONLY.

SO where does that put you and me? Are we excluded or included?

The answer is found only in an outside Word that comes to us. “FAITH comes by hearing and hearing by the preaching of CHRIST” (Romans 10). Paul therefore writes, “As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news’” (Romans 10:15). They come, not on their own free will, (because there is no free will), but because they have been sent.

They are sent to speak the Word: “YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN FOR JESUS’ SAKE!” And where there is forgiveness there is already before the forgiveness the real presence of CHRIST in you as a redeeming reality. He is now your LIFE, “for you are dead and your life is now hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3-4)! That Word is proclaimed here: “you are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” It is proclaimed here: “Take and eat. This is my body given for YOU…This is the cup of the New Testament which is shed for YOU…”

Oral Word, water Baptism, Holy Communion, all three; declare God’s action for you and NO ACTION on your part AT ALL.

As Salvation is TOTALLY an act of God in Christ for you so also those who are to declare this WORD are totally chosen by God. There is no FREE WILL here either. Baptism (yours and all others) is the authority to declare this WORD to the world. All baptized are “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who are perishing; to one a fragrance from death to death to the other a fragrance from life to life” (II Cor. 2:15-16).

As Jesus said to his disciples so he says to YOU and ME: “You did NOT choose ME, but I chose YOU and appointed YOU that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide… (John 15:16). “I am the vine, YOU are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, FOR APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (John 15:5)!

SOLA DEO GLORIA!

©Dick Smith

"Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!"

The Reverend Richard Smith preaches at the first night worship service of the 9th Annual Gathering of Augsburg Lutheran Churches, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, El Paso, Texas.

2009-07-26 Sermon on Mark 6:7

The Reverend Timothy J. Swenson preaches at the pre-convention worship service of the 9th Annual Gathering of Augsburg Lutheran Churches, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, El Paso, Texas.
Mark 6:7--"Jesus called the Twelve to himself and then sent them out two-by-two."
(three videos)

Part One



Part Two



Part Three

Christianity Complements Citizenship

Roger Scruton

Forgiveness and Irony

What makes the West strong

Here's an excellent and well-written piece from the City Journal that describes the necessity of the Christian virtues of forgiveness and irony to "fill up" citizenship with meaning. The author contrasts these "virtues" with the culture of repudiation that has driven them from the public square and with existential threat posed by a "terrorism" which has as its target concepts abstracted from its victims.

http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_1_the-west.html

Here are the essay's concluding paragraph's:

What, then, should our stance be in this existential confrontation? I think we should emphasize the very great virtues and achievements that we have built on our legacy of tolerance and show a willingness to criticize and amend all the vices to which it has also given undue space. We should resurrect Locke’s distinction between liberty and license and make it absolutely clear to our children that liberty is a form of order, not a license for anarchy and self-indulgence. We should cease to mock the things that mattered to our parents and grandparents, and we should be proud of what they achieved. This is not arrogance but a just recognition of our privileges.

We should also drop all the multicultural waffling that has so confused public life in the West and reaffirm the core idea of social membership in the Western tradition, which is the idea of citizenship. By sending out the message that we believe in what we have, are prepared to share it, but are not prepared to see it destroyed, we do the only thing that we can do to defuse the current conflict. Because forgiveness is at the heart of our culture, this message ought surely to be enough, even if we proclaim it in a spirit of irony.

The Breath of God

In and Out
...so goes the breath of God
gathering in disciples to their death and the revelation of Christ their life,
and scattering out apostles to the death of Christ their life and the revelation of their life as
disciples needing the "discipline" of the Word once again.

Read the sermon:
"In and Out"

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

From an old sinner for whom Christ died.

6th Sunday after Pentecost July 12, 2009
Second Lesson Ephesians 1:3-14

This is a remarkable passage about predestination: how God has chosen
us from the foundations of the world, as it reads, "...even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons
(/daughters) through Jesus Christ,..."(1:4-5a).

God does the choosing and declares us holy and blameless through
Christ, regardless of our sins as well as our sinfulness that is
hidden from our conscious minds.

THE QUESTION AT HAND is this: Do we fit in here somewhere or we are
excluded? Is predestination for others and not for us?
If one views the message of Scripture in a static sense, that is,
ideas on a page, then one can step back from it and look at it from
afar. This allows for all kinds of speculation about God, others,
ourselves, whose saved, whose not, etc.

HOWEVER the Message of Scripture is not a static reality but a DYNAMIC
REALITY. That is, it draws us into the message and places the message
around us and in us.

SO when it reads in this Lesson, "you" its means you, the one reading
this. When it reads "us" it means you and me as well as others. This
is the significance of predestination. It places all of the action
with God and none with you and me.

Verse 13 emphsizes the fact that "believing" is an act of the Holy
Spirit not our doing. Thus the words apply to you and me.
"In him YOU also, WHO have heard the word of truth, the gospel of YOUR
salvation, and have believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy
Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until WE acquire
possession of it, to the praise of his glory"(1:13-14).

As Brother Martin Luther wrote and we learned in Confirmation
instruction, from his "Small Catechism," "I believe that I CANNOT by
my reason or strength (understanding or effort) believe in Jesus
Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by
the Gospel enlightened with his gifts and sanctified and kept me in
the true faith."

And so he has for YOU and for ME.

THANKS BE TO GOD in Jesus Christ our Lord!

@ Dick Smith

CRAZIER TALK than "Crazy Talk" #1

Rolf Jacobson edited a book of theological definitions entitled "Crazy Talk"--a fun read that makes even the most boring theological words interesting. And, after all, we are "theological beings" and should at least know the language of our "being-ness."

Of interest was the take on the CHURCH:

I quote--

God's action is key in the definition of the church in the ancient creeds, which describe the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic:

• The oneness of the church refers to the fact that although th church, like amoebae in a petri dish, disagrees and divides, God keeps it spiritually united under the one Christ.
• The holiness of the church refers to the fact that although the church is full of sinners, God forgives them and makes them holy.
• The catholicity (that means"universality") of the church refers to the fact that although human beings set up churchly insitituions that are specific to time and place, God unites the church in all ages and places.
• The church is apostolic (meaning "sent") because althou it is always turning in on itself and serving its own needs, god is always at work to send it out into the world as part of God's mission to save, love, and bless the world.

NOW...

Let's take take this crazy talk and make it even CRAZIER by radicalization in the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed categorically; that is, in light of Galations 2:20 "It is now longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" and, Colossians 3:3 "You are dead. Your life is hid with Christ in God."

So, then...

Oneness: the church is one because it has only one living member, Jesus Christ. To say that it is "spiritually" united with Christ is to tempt sinners into examining and emphasizing their own 'spirits' and how they may or may not be united with Christ. Spiritually must refer to the Holy Spirit only who puts sinners to death that their life may be Christ alone and hid with him in God for safekeeping during this between the times.

Holiness: Since Jesus is the only living member of the church, his holiness suffices for all. The church is indeed full of forgiven sinners but they are still dead. The righteousness of Christ will not be revealed in his saints until that day when they stand with him in glory. For now those saints are protected by being hidden away in God.

Catholicity: sinners are limited to the particulars of space and time. Jesus Christ is not. To say that the church is "catholic" is to recognize the ubiquitous Christ filling all space and all time.

Apostolic: The church is sent into the world because Jesus Christ was/is sent into the world bearing witness to himself as the breaking in of the Kingdom of God, that is, the new creation. This is God's mission through the church: to bear witness to such a Christ. Everything else the church might do in love and in blessing is our very human task of having dominion over creation.