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This week’s devotions are based on the Week 8 “Explore God” – What is a Lutheran? (WATCH HERE)

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Over the past weeks we have looked at seven key questions about the Christian faith.  Perhaps after all these questions are answered, the confusion of sorting through the many Christian denominations becomes the real challenge.  In any given community there is a Catholic Church, Baptist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Anglican, Methodist, Calvary Church, non-denominational and more.

So how does one sort out and find a church that will support and grow their faith and their relationship with God?  What is the difference between all the different Christian churches?  If you google this question, you may find a summary chart that is helpful, but what I find helpful in answering this question is to trace the history of all the denominations back to their origins in the “family tree of denominations.”  When you see the major breaks in the lineage, one can ask, “What happened there?”  By understanding the issues behind the reason for the breaks in the line, I can find it helpful to understand the basic differences between Christian denominations.  Today’s devotion isn’t going to answer every detail, but this week, let’s touch on some of the major issues and understand the Lutheran position on them.

Disclaimer: These devotions are not to negate the possibility of true believers in other Christian churches, but to highlight very important differences that have potential to mislead people away from Christ.

1517 is the year marked as the “Protestant Reformation.”  Since it was initiated by Martin Luther, we as Lutherans call it the “Lutheran Reformation.” 🙂 As one can see most of mainline protestant churches were offshoots of the initial work done by Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was raised in a Catholic home.  He grew up in the Catholic Church and was well aware of the tenets of that theology.  The Pope was the ultimate head.  The works of penance must be done to achieve satisfaction for sin.  The Church was the authority and to question that authority was tantamount to entering the fires of hell.  As a young man, he was caught in a thunderstorm and made a vow that if he survived, he would enter a monastery and become a monk.  Monasticism was viewed as the ultimate work of faith as one put off the material temptations to simply focus on the spiritual life. However, as Luther engaged in the full effort of being a monk, he found his conscience more troubled and his relationship with God more filled with fear.  The harder he worked to appease God the more guilty he felt.  He found no rest for his soul in the works of his life.

How is one right with God became a key question Luther wrestled with.  Fortunately, as a monk, he had access to a Bible and was also invited to teach theology in the University of Wittenberg.  As he read the Scripture, he discovered a righteousness that is by faith in Jesus Christ.  But what does one do when the authority of the Pope, the decrees of the church and the utterances of the Councils contradict the Scripture?  What is the ultimate authority for the faith and life of a believer?

This was a second question that Luther wrestled with, “What or who is the ultimate authority for faith and life?”  Perhaps a third question that was present was “How do the works of Christ become mine personally” – i.e. the matter of faith.

Still to this day these key questions of 1517 are questions that must be asked today.  As we delve into these questions this week, we will also see they are still important questions to have answered as we look for a Christian Church.  The answers that Luther discovered have become not just the Lutheran answer, but the biblical answer.  After all, Luther settled his heart in the amazing truths of Scripture.

John 17: 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

 

Apply: What has helped you find a church to support you in your spiritual growth and confidence of faith in Jesus?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for faithful servants like Martin Luther who were willing to risk their lives for the sake of the Gospel and the truth of your Word. Help us to have the same boldness and courage in our generation.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 7 “Explore God” – Can I Know God Personally? (WATCH HERE)

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Proverbs 4:10 Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. 11 I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.  

Do these words sound like ones your parents would say to you?  Perhaps you have words of wisdom that you maybe didn’t appreciate when you were younger, but now looking back, the words carried more weight and wisdom than you ever realized at the time.

A marker of a relationship is that there is care and conversation between the individuals.  This is very true of God’s relationship with us.  Really the whole Bible are his words that he wants his children to hear, take to heart and put into practice.  In these few verses from the book of Proverbs, you see God using the author of Solomon to speak to his sons, and people in general, the words and wisdom of God.

Here’s a few things about the words of God which them so amazing and important in our lives.

1. They bring blessing and longevity to our lives.  Following God’s word and wisdom certainly bring blessing to our lives as we listen to them and put them into practice.  They keep us out of trouble, replace stress and anxiety with peace, foster healthy relationships and much more.  The result is not only blessings emotionally and spiritually but also physically.
2. God’s Words guide us in ways of wisdom.  The world has a lot to offer in the way of wisdom and philosophies and teaching that are easy to buy into, but do not convey accurate and life-giving truth.  God’s wisdom guide us along a path that has dangerous ditches on either side.  One ditch can lead us away from God’s truth and the other side of the ditch can make God’s Word say something it wasn’t intended to.
3. Life has fewer obstacles.  Parents have the perspective of life experience and in the sharing of information simply wish to prevent their children from experiencing the same challenges in life they faced.  How the child responds is not in their control, but the purpose is to prevent them from getting in trouble and experiencing hardship they could have avoided. So it is with the Word of God.  God speaks into our lives with the perspective of eternity and infinite experience to guide us in a way where we will not stumble or face unnecessary obstacles.  Life will still have its challenges, but perhaps we can avoid many of them simply by listening and putting into practice the loving words of God.
4. The wisdom, teaching and insight it gives is priceless.  Social media, the internet and bookshelves are filled with individuals sharing human wisdom.  Reading or listening to some of it may provide some value for this life, however, the Word of God communicates both great value for this life, but most importantly the words of God speak into our hearts eternal life.  It’s this value that is priceless.

Apply: What aspect of God’s communication to us in his Word is the most significant for you?  Which aspect is one  you maybe didn’t think about much, but encourages you to put the Word more actively into your life?

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for initiating and preserving your relationship with us.  As you speak to us in your Word, help us to find the joy and blessing of you taking the time to speak to us.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 7 “Explore God” – Can I Know God Personally? (WATCH HERE)

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Galatians 6:6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. 

Can you have a relationship with God…is like asking the question, “Can I have a relationship with my dad.”  I get that there are all too many kids who do not know or have a relationship with their dad.  This is a terribly sad state of affairs in our country and world.  However, one of the reasons God established the family unit with a committed marriage into which to bring children is so that individuals could experience a microcosm of his relationship with us and our relationship with him.  How so?

Parents are always the one who establish the relationship with their child.  A child doesn’t choose their parents, the parents’ love for a child establish the relationship with their child.  The child may not always appreciate it or may question it or even walk away from it, but a faithful parent will never walk away from their child.

When God makes us his child by faith, he is the one who takes the initiative to bring us to himself.  He gives us his Spirit in the waters of baptism and puts his name on us, making us his child.

The result? We get the privilege of calling God our Father.  Like every attentive parent can pick their child’s voice out of the crowd, so God, our Father, tunes in whenever his children pray to him.  We can be assured as children of God that when we cry out “Abba, Father” that the Lord hears and will respond for the best of his children.

The result? We are given the status of heir.  This is a big deal.  Like a parent who writes into their will a portion of their estate to each of their children, so God writes us into his will and ensures us a portion of his estate…a room in heaven.  Again, the child doesn’t earn a spot in the will, the will is an expression of the parents’ love for their children and the fact they want to bless them after their death.  However, a child can turn against their parents and say, “I don’t care.  Take me out of the will.”  This response is not the fault of the parents, but the fault of the child.  In a similar way, God in his love and grace write us into his will, a promise of his grace that he has a spot in heaven for us.  Of course we can break the relationship by indicating to God that he should write us out of his will, that would be entirely our doing.

The reality of our relationship with God is that he gets the credit for establishing it and we get the benefit of living in the relationship with our Father who loves us immensely.  The relationship is secure, not because we have earned or deserved the relationship, but because God is our Father, and our Father loves us, loves you tremendously.

 

Apply: What changes when you know God is your Father and he is the one who initiated and secures your relationship with him?

Prayer: Father, thank you for your love that never fails and never gives up on me. AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 7 “Explore God” – Can I Know God Personally? (WATCH HERE)

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How do you become a saint?

Today in the historic Christian church year is “All Saints Day.”  In the 1500s when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany, he did so on October 31, 1517, knowing people would come to church on November 1 in observance of All Saints Day.  This was a day where the saints of the church were honored and the relics connected to them were put on display. 

The saints that were honored and recognized were ones that had “earned” the title by a great performance in life, a miracle attributed to them, and recognition by the Pope of the supernumerary works.  In essence the saints were individuals who got a straight pass to heaven (do not go to purgatory) because the amount of their good works were determined to give them life in heaven AND they actually had extra works that the church could assign to you or a loved one if you paid the right price.  Their status was revered and their performance was one to emulate.

But the very thing that people came to church to honor is what Luther was challenging on November 1, 1517.  The question was if the status of “saint” was one that was earned through life of good works or if it was one that was given by the grace of God. As we looked at yesterday, Luther was becoming convinced that a saint was not one that the church deemed a perfect person by their life of performance, but one that God gave the title of saints because he applied to them, by faith, the perfect life of Jesus Christ.

The church at the time of Luther was encouraging and challenging every sinner to strive for sainthood.  If they didn’t quite get there in this life, they could keep working at it in purgatory.

Sadly this mindset is still around…even in our own hearts.  We find ourselves more in “control” when we can determine our destiny by our performance.  It happens in sports.  It happens at work.  It happens in the classroom.  The harder you work, the higher status you achieve.  Wouldn’t it make sense that God would operate this way?  To us, yes, it would make sense.

But reason doesn’t always drive the will of God.  God’s love for sinners does.  God knows that there is no one perfect, not even one.  He does not lower the standard of perfection, but rather upholds it and then chooses to do something no one could have determined.  He gives perfection to those who believe in him.  He MAKES us a saint, in spite of our performance.  This status is one that is graciously and legally ours.

Heb 10:12–14 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 

Romans 4:4-5 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

So, today as we observe “All Saints Day” we can joyfully realize that our status before God is one of “SAINT”!  This title is evidence of the gracious goodness of God that was willing to embark on the task of a perfect life so we could be given the status of sainthood.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Enjoy your relationship with God today.  You are a saint because of Jesus!

 

Apply: What makes it hard to embrace the status God has given you as “saint”?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for making me a saint through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection! AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 7 “Explore God” – Can I Know God Personally? (WATCH HERE)

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Open for debate.

506 years ago today in Wittenberg, Germany a catholic monk named Martin Luther sparked a debate in the church and among people about the core tenets of Christianity.  At the heart of the question he challenged was, “How does one have a personal relationship with God?”

In the Catholic Church of Luther’s day, the answer to this question was that the only way a person could get right with God was by a pattern of life that was filled with acts of penance (paying something for your sins), trips to “holy” places on pilgrimages, or the paying of money for indulgences (pieces of paper that were signed by the pope declaring sins forgiven).

Martin Luther struggled mightily inside his heart and outside in his environment of the monastery to find peace with God.  He would deprive his body of its needs; agonize in prayer and yelling at the devil; and meticulously carrying out the duties of a monk.  Yet, even though he was following the path laid out by the church to find peace with God, he had no peace.

One of the unique privileges Luther had as a monk and also being asked to be a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg and so had access to a Bible.  Access to the Bible was a big deal because the average person would have to rely on what the priest taught about the Bible but never had access or ability to read it for themselves.

As Luther struggled to find peace with his relationship with God, he knew God knew him personally but saw him as a righteous judge who could and would punish him for all his sins.  Terror filled his heart until he discovered this truth in Romans 1:16-17:

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

In the reading of this Scripture the reality came to heart for Luther that the righteousness that God demanded was not to be found in the works of man, but in the works of Christ.  Trusting the work of Christ is yours give the certainty and the peace that salvation, eternal life in heaven is yours.

When God’s Spirit solidified this truth in Luther’s heart, he went from doubt and fear about his relationship with God to one of peace and hope.  When the focus shifted from his performance to the perfection of Jesus, his conscience finally found the rest it had.

But Luther was not settled with this truth just for himself.

He saw how the hearts and consciences of individuals all around him and under the teaching of the Catholic Church were being tormented by fear.  People were afraid of the punishment of God and so they were being convinced to buy indulgences that were guarantees from the church that their sins would be forgiven.  Not only were they encouraged to buy them for themselves, but for their loved ones who they were taught were languishing in purgatory until enough forgiveness could be earned or bought to free them.  People were spending the little money they had to fill the coffers of the church based on a false teaching that forgiveness could be earned or bought.

Luther could not stand by idle.

So he wrote 95 statements or Theses regarding the sale of indulgences and posted them to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany to begin a debate and what he hoped would be the return of the church back to the clear teaching of salvation and forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus.  The day he did this was October 31, 1517 on “All Hallow’s Eve” or All Saints Eve.  He knew that people would come to church on November 1 for the celebration of All Saints Day, so he ensured the issues for debate were made available for all to see.

October 31 is recognized in the Lutheran Church as Reformation Day.  On this day, the debate was started, but instead of the Catholic Church returning to the truth of the Bible, they dug in their heels and the Lutheran Church was born standing on the clear truth that our relationship with God is secured FOR us by the perfect life, innocent death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It’s in the grace of God that we are secure in our relationship with God.

 

Apply: What changes for you when your relationship with God is based on Christ’s performance for you rather than your performance for God?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the truth of your word and the message of salvation by grace alone.  Thank you for faithful and bold servants of yours to always teach and rely on the truth of your holy Word to bring the comfort, joy and peace of your grace to the hearts of people.  AMEN.