1517 AD Blog

Understanding Law and Gospel

1517ad — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:00:59 +0000

Lutherans have an understanding that creates a peace that the world cannot destroy and an assurance that can’t be shaken. Understanding Law and Gospel makes the Bible so clear. The Law points out how lost and corrupt we are and we cannot help ourselves out of our lost condition. The Gospel brings us Jesus Christ. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV) That is the Good News… The Gospel! Christ has done for us what we can’t do. And the awesome thing is that it’s a gift. We don’t earn it. Because he loves his creation so much he did it all. When God comes to us with his mercy we receive the gift. It is not easy for our mind to comprehend. God is big and gives a big gift. Forgiveness of sin and eternal live through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Remember the duck?

1517ad — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:58:41 +0000

A story from the Internet…

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods.

He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma’s pet duck.

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved.

In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day Grandma said, ” Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.” Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck?” So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, ” I’m sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.” Sally just smiled and said,” Well that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.” She whispered again, “Remember the duck?” So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, he finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, “Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

Thought for the day and every day thereafter?

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done… And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) ….whatever it is….You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing….. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.

He’s just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but he forgets . It is by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved .

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Trust and Obey?

1517ad — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:04:04 +0000

Am I out of line? Last week I attended a early morning Lutheran men’s Bible study for the first time. I felt like an alien. It was started by singing the old hymn out of a Methodist hymnal, Trust and Obey. I couldn’t sing it. All I could think of is how often I don’t trust and obey. This group men sang it militantly. I can’t sing these words because the way I see it, to be happy in Jesus is to see what He did for me on the cross.

Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.

The verses are worse.

How can we know what God is thinking?

1517ad — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:39:00 +0000

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
(Matthew 9:36 ESV)

I have read and meditated on this verse before and have even heard sermons on this verse but there was a moment reading this when I thought about how people wish to see God in some grand way like a cloud by day or pillar of fire by night. People are looking for a BIG production. We see God when we understand His compassion. He understands that we are harassed and helpless and in need of a Shepherd. God comes to us as he did to the blind and deaf men in the ninth chapter of Matthew. God opened our blind eyes and opened out deaf ears so that we can know what Jesus Christ did on the cross for the whole world. The price was paid for our sins by the perfect 100% God and 100% man Jesus Christ. He has raised us up from our spiritual death and poured his compassion upon us and given us eternal life. Now we have a shepherd… The Good Shepherd.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
(Matthew 9:36 ESV)

I Really Need To Hear The Gospel

1517ad — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 03:25:11 +0000

Life is worth living when God has poured out His Grace and you have a sense of that Grace no matter what you are going through. I felt a need to blog because during the last sermon series at my Lutheran church I did not hear enough Gospel. When you spend 6 days and 23 hours outside the place where the sacraments are administered you really need the strong work of the Gospel to take place during that one hour you are in the Divine Service. The last four weeks the series “Living In HD” sounded like Dr. Phil giving me a sales pitch at my local Best Buy store. Don’t get me wrong. I very much respect my pastor and he has preached some fantastic Law and Gospel messages. I just know who I am deep inside and how much I need God’s Grace every minute of every day. I can’t decide to go “High Definition” on my own. It does not get “clearer, bolder, and brighter” just because I make a bold declaration to make it so. At that point, for me, it becomes a total mess because I am looking inward at myself and not the the Cross of Christ. If I don’t focus my gaze on Christ I am going down. Lutheran pastors please preach a strong Law and Gospel message every Sunday. The Christian in the pew can get all the worldly advice he needs from almost anywhere but he can only receive Life at the feet of Jesus.

Long Time No Blog

1517ad — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:20:16 +0000

Yes. It has been a while since I posted. My mother passed away last month. She is now completely healed and worshiping God before His throne in heaven. Communion the first Sunday after she died was very special to me. The words of the liturgy were very real. “with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven” Life is bigger that me, the church, or the world. God is our refuge and our solid rock. His mercy is so fantastic. We are all like the servant who owed more debt then he could ever pay. Christ has come to us and said that our debt was nailed to His cross and has been paid in full because of what He did. God takes the blindness from our spiritual eyes and now we can say what John the Baptist said. “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Our only response is to accept the free gift and be thankful. Eternally thankful!

That’s Human Nature

1517ad — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:20:31 +0000

What I thought would be a touching father-daughter moment turned into a lesson on human nature. I gave my daughter, ten years old, a new Bible and we were reviewing a few verses. After looking at John 3:16 I said, “Let me show you the John 3:16 of the Old Testament”. I turned to Exodus 34:5-8 and thought how wonderful it would be for her to read about God’s mercy, love, and faithfulness. As human nature goes she commented on God punishing not only the guilty people, but also their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, and their great-great-grandchildren. How many time does God speak mercy, love, and faithfulness to us and we hear punishment?

Exodus 34:5-8

5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses, and the Lord called out his name: the Lord. 6 The Lord passed in front of Moses and said, “I am the Lord. The Lord is a God who shows mercy, who is kind, who doesn’t become angry quickly, who has great love and faithfulness 7 and is kind to thousands of people. The Lord forgives people for evil, for sin, and for turning against him, but he does not forget to punish guilty people. He will punish not only the guilty people, but also their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, and their great-great-grandchildren.”

Pray, And Then Pray

1517ad — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:30:34 +0000

Today I was looking at a devotional published in 1926 titled ”FIVE MINUTES DAILY WITH LUTHER”. Reading the devotion for today it ended with this quote…

Those haughty spirits, Lord, restrain,
Who o’er Thy Church with might would reign,
And always set forth something new,
Devised to change Thy doctrine true.

All we can do when the pure truth of the church is challenged is PRAY.

My Two Year Old Lutheran Blog

1517ad — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:23:50 +0000

I started my blog two years ago with Martin Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation Thesis 26.

“The law says, “Do this,” and it is never done.
Grace says, “believe in this,” and everything is already done.”

I started this blog to track my Lutheran journey. I didn’t expect it to be read by anyone but me, to reflect on what I had written. The past two years I have thought often about Thesis 26 and have seen the effects of it in my life. I spent many years thinking that since God saved me, I then had to work as hard as I could to become worthy of God’s grace. While working with all of my might I knew deep inside that whatever I did I could never do enough, but I must work hard. My greatest seasons of peace came when I realized that I could not do it and I called out to God for help. Time after time I have seen that His grace is made perfect in my weakness. He is the supplier of everything I need. I now understand more that ever…

“The law says, “Do this,” and it is never done.
Grace says, “believe in this,” and everything is already done.”

A Sad Day As A Lutheran

1517ad — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:08:31 +0000

A couple of months ago in a small meeting I asked Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, a highly respected Lutheran theologian, what do I say to my pastor who is in full support of the ELCA decision to allow openly homosexual clergy. His response, along with a deep sigh was… “I don’t know…I don’t know…” I didn’t know either. I prayed again, studied again, and looked for wise counsel again. This week I had a meeting with my pastor to tell him that I would be leaving the ELCA. It was a very surreal meeting. I was admonishing my pastor to return to the orthodoxy of the church and the teaching of Scripture. He stated that he believed the vote of the ELCA was led by the Holy Spirit and time will tell the story. I said that the Holy Spirit is not doing anything other then what He did on the day of pentecost and He has been doing the same thing for the last 2000 years. Saying that he was sorry that he could not change to see it the way I see it we part ways as fellow servants of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He sent me an email later that afternoon thanking me for the work I have done in the church and expressed his sadness to see me and my family leave.

I replied to his email with this response…

Pastor —–,

After reflection on our meeting I wanted to leave you with a few thoughts. I do consider you a dear brother in Christ and I know that your desire is to serve our Lord with your whole heart. It’s not my place to turn you from your firm convictions. However, since you are taking a position that is contrary the historic position of the Christian church I encourage you to revisit this subject often and be open to change. If our dear brother Martin Luther had gone along with the church and not wrestled continually with the issues of his day we might not have the rich reformation heritage of justification by faith that we both hold as precious.

“Love the sinner but hate the sin.” This saying has many different meanings to many different people. This saying can be used as law or gospel. For me I do not hate the sin for the sin as an action. I hate the sin for the separation it creates between man and God. One of the most impacting portion of scripture in my life has always been St. Matthew’s narrative telling about Jesus looking over Jerusalem. Never has man been able to see so clearly into the heart of God. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, yet you were not willing!” I find my peace in the shadow of His wing.

Grace and peace.

Your brother,
Byron